Brand Building through Spatial Design

With the rise of E-commerce, omni-channel retailing and ubiquity of “brands” in the last few decades, the relevance as well as design approaches for retailing and brand building have evolved significantly. These novel challenges are demanding new approaches in retail store design. These are challenges that tomorrow’s interior designers will be facing in their professional careers. To address this evolving nature of retail store design, this studio focused on design of variety of retail formats through the lens of brand building. The students selected their own design problems / brand for this studio. They selected a brand that is either expanding its product/service portfolio; is a new and growing brand; is a brand that needs a flagship store or an experience center to deal with its omni-channel presence; or is an old brand that requires revamping of its image. The students’ projects commenced with an interpretation of brand’s overall strategy, selection of the site and development of the program for an appropriate retail format. They then produced spatial design solutions and present the design with a complete set of schematic drawings, models and views and graphics to communicate strategies.