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INSIGHTS: A DISCUSSION ABOUT “PUBLIC SPACE” DESIGN
Gaddis Architect specializes in all phases of commercial and commercial retail design, design management and construction. If maximizing the success of your business by optimizing the performance of your store, or commercial space design is a goal, then attending the following “Insights” could provide some very real benefits. Many common, and some not so common, design challenges are analyzed. Solutions aimed at increasing retail traffic, creating visual presence in various environments, and expressing not only a particular shopping experience but also the business’s brand, are presented. We think that all design is, on some level at least, retail design. Please scroll on, start a dialogue, contact us anytime.
Retail Architect: pattern, color and scale that delivers a marketing message
I took this photo of a new Bath & Body Works store in a recently renovated local mall because the project is instructive on several levels. First there is no doubt about who the retailer is. The name is perfectly highlighted on the front of the main entry fixture, again above the wall display, and of course on the storefront sign, there but not shown. Some landlords try to limit the number of times a retailer can repeat their logos in the line of vision. I find that, recently, this practice has been giving way in favor of more flexible design guidelines, possibly in response to tighter retail markets. Either way, repetition is good for the brand.
This project is about more that the name though. It is about delivering a marketing message, which is done here by the clever incorporation of text into the very context of the store. Let’s consider the context first. The checked wall covering is extremely busy and could have, in a different application, gone totally wrong. It is working here because the high contrast both attracts attention and supports the message in terms of scale. In fact, it functions as a connection between the blocks of small merchandise and the actual text messages which are all offset in large solid color fields. These solid color blocks show up as more that just backdrops for signage. They are used in the back of displays, as plain color coded markers used to define categories of merchandise, and even as fat text turned into color blocked display fixtures. The result is interesting and completely readable.
Retail Architect : perpetual student of store design.
Three design principles to focus attention into a store.
I took this photo in a newly renovated local mall because I thought that Pandora did a nice job of focusing attention into the store and onto the tiny merchandise. Any retailer faced with marketing very small products knows what a challenge this can be. Three principals come together to make the design effective. First, areas of high contrast jump out of an otherwise mid tone world. Think of the dark blue showcases on the left as the real shop entrance. Notice that if this is the visual entrance, then Disney is written on the door. Second, a progressively lighter version of the carefully placed pastel backdrops draw the shopper further into the space, until the brightest showcase is in the back. Third, the progression is further reinforced, this time in terms of scale. If the storefront is thought of as a single large display case then we see it divide into progressively smaller units as we move toward the perimeter of the store, effectively pointing until we find ourselves staring directly at the tiny products featured inside of the smallest showcase in the rear. Such a sophisticated approach is very difficult for even the most experienced designer to achieve, often happening more by good luck than planning. Planned or not, a retail architect will surely find several store design lessons to be learned here.
Retail Architect: Asking when is enough enough?
Every time I see one of these pink T Mobile stores I wonder if the glowing pink walls, circa 2011, have translated into increased sales. The design, we are told, creates a positive customer experience by sporting an open plan, service desks, interactive centers, merchandising that puts device and accessory together, and mostly a wow factor. In 2013 & 14 the number of customers increased dramatically thanks, we are told, to T Mobile’s “Uncarrier” program. Whether the store design has had an impact is hard to say, excepting the wow factor part, which to my way of thinking has little to do with the customer’s experience and everything to do with presence in the mall scape. Maybe, in a retail market where products are sold across every media type, showing up is all that is required from the actual “bricks & mortar” store.
I question whether the same “just show up” type of design strategy works very well for product lines more dependent upon customer interaction to complete a sale. I would suggest that, in this situation, the wow factor can actually cancel the customer experience, which is exactly what is happening to the sun glass shop in the photo. Extreme light levels, positioned behind the merchandise, combine with the white “daylight” color temperature to obscure all product detail and and cast a ghoulish glow onto a shopper, even to the extent that the very white walls actually appear gray. If this is not enough, the edge lit shelves become a focal point, a gimmick, attracting more attention than the merchandise placed upon them. Theses are expensive displays with a lot of technology, and if creating a positive shopping experience is the goal, they fail miserably. It was actually painful to stand in the space. They do cause the store to jump out of the mall scape, though. Is it enough?