Bar designers are besotted with one question: how do you design a better bar? Well the good news is that field-leading professionals like Design Clarity have some pretty compelling answers to this musing. Crafting durable bar spaces that are pleasing to both staff and patrons is a speciality of Design Clarity. This experienced team has achieved lofty bar design outcomes across Australia and the UK. A full circle approach with a focus on collaboration enables Design Clarity bar designers to deliver results that few others can.

As seasoned bar designers, Design Clarity has an impressive breadth of knowledge and vision in this regard. Yet the team never allows themselves to think they are the fount of all wisdom. That is why they work in close consultation with those who are actually going to work the space they’re creating. Design Clarity bar designers work hand in hand with bartenders and workers to truly understand the necessary logistics that underpin aesthetics. Ergonomic efficiency plays a primary role in the overall excellence of a bar. Only those who work behind the bar in question really know what is required. A better bar is achieved through better operation. Design Clarity bar designers plan everything from:

• Bar station placement and height
• Handy proximity of ice bins, hot and cold water taps, glasses plus other heavily used apparatus
• Choice of bar manufacturing materials to ensure aesthetics and fit-for-purpose robustness are perfectly poised

Leveraging such nitty gritty detail, expert bar designers can:

• Significantly increase drinks output to make the bar more productive and lucrative
• Notably improve bar staff wellbeing by eliminating or minimising stooping, bending and straining

Bars have long been a mainstay of modern society. Over time, these have evolved to accommodate new trends like drink-mixing showmanship, central bar placement and more. Now bars are evolving once again to incorporate better ergonomics, performance and staff wellbeing. Bar designers are the experts tasked with helping establishments keep pace with such changes. Design Clarity leads the field in transformative bar design. Just check out what these talented bar designers have achieved for:

• Ruby Niks Kids
• T4
• Café Ritrovo

Coffee shop design is a masterful brew. Café culture is a true force of nature in our modern world. Not simply because hard-working time-poor people need to stay caffeinated but because coffee has become so much more than just a drink. Today, grabbing a coffee has become a whole indulgent experience in its own right.

Great coffee shop design does not happen by accident. Nor is this down solely to getting the right logo or look. Great coffee shop design is not even just about the coffee you serve. It goes beyond all of these factors to create a singular memorable experience that customers yearn to have over and over again. You know supercharged coffee shop design is at play when you see:

Immersive customer journey

What sends coffee lovers walking past some café doors and through others? The answer lies in the customer journey. Such journey begins well before the customer even enters your doors. First consider your streetscape. What points of appeal lie in this business asset? Convenient free parking, attractive shop front, visual brand story – all count for plenty when it comes to drawing people in. Once customers cross the threshold of your coffee shop, what next? Every nook and cranny of your premise must be insightfully thought out. Service flow must be smooth and seamless. Interior colours and décor should always match your target patron segment. Adding genuine homegrown local flavor to your coffee shop pays dividends, even if your shop is a chain store. When these factors are in play, great coffee shop design is right on track.

Visual brand story

Eyes have a direct link to the stomach. This is well established through a focus on aesthetically pleasing food. Just tune into MasterChef or My Kitchen Rules from time to time to see this principle in action. Now the stomach is in turn a primary decision-maker when it comes to choosing where to eat and drink. Moral of the story? Make your graphic communication a hard-hitter. Your entire coffee shop is a tangible 3D story book for your brand.  Express your service values and promise through everything from:

• Simple yet stunning and informative merchandising displays
• Compellingly appealing point of sale
• Barista zone taking centre stage
• Logo placement and color rollout
• Sensory imagery to tantalise taste and smell

Flexible experiences

Great coffee shop design draws many different people through the doors. Not all will share the same experiential proclivities. Some will come in search of a quiet coffee nook tucked away from the rest of the world for a piece of caffeinated escapism. Others will come in droves eager for some merry socialising or productive business negotiations over coffee. A coffee shop that caters to all needs through adaptable seating arrangements exemplifies great coffee shop design.

Want to see leading coffee shop design in action? Take a look at some of the recent work of Design Clarity including:

• Laurent Boulangerie & Patisserie
• Wild Food Natural Health Market
• Heineken Fox Hotel

Shops are like people. They come in all different shapes, sizes and types. As such, skilled shop designers know that one approach simply cannot fit all retailers. Indeed, every retail niche has design requirements each its own. Within specific sectors too, every individual retailer has at least one unique aspect that sets it apart from others. It is the role of shop designers to tailor retail design solutions that pluck out points of difference and fit the specific retailer like a glove. Design Clarity excels at this art.

It is quite simple really. Fashion retailers clearly have different design needs and aims to banking retailers. Their brand and offer must each speak to entirely distinct audiences. Same goes for technology retailers in comparison to lifestyle stores and so on. Design Clarity shop designers insightfully deliver unique expression of your retail brand and environment customised to fit your target market. Across Australia, UK and beyond, this specialist team has amassed an impressive project portfolio that extends beyond simply brand and interior design to encompass:

• Point of Sale strategy and solutions
• High impact visual merchandising
• Eye-catching shop-in-shops
• Engaging pop-ups and kiosks
• Master-planned and delivered shop-fits plus design and build

Design Clarity shop designers are well-versed in diverse sectors. A quick dip into their client list is testament to this.

Take Westpac’s flagship head office retail branch in Melbourne for a start. Here, shop designers borrowed vibrant aspects of Melbourne’s lifestyle, architecture, culture and attitude to inspire a distinct identity for Westpac. Individuality is celebrated, interaction is invoked and exploration is encouraged in Westpac’s new space. Design factors like a 24/7 interactive lobby space, discovery zone with free tablets, wifi and coffee plus a breathtaking retail merchandising platform known as the ‘future wall’, all demonstrate Westpac’s commitment to taking attentive servicing of diverse clients to new heights.

Lexmark is another major brand that bears the hallmark of Design Clarity shop designers. Smack in the heart of Birmingham, UK, Design Clarity rolled out a bold futuristic expression of Lexmark’s offerings. Ascending top illuminated plinths were employed as innovative retail merchandising displays to showcase Lexmark printer ranges. Warm timber panels are inscribed technology inspired graphics, each aligned to a different range within the Lexmark line-up. In essence, our shop designers crafted a striking visual language with which to communicate the pioneering customer experience that Lexmark extends.

So there you have it. Shop designers who treat every retail client as an exciting blank canvas. Design Clarity is the name you can trust for revolutionary retail design. Many others have done so before you, including clients such as:

• Glue Store – Miranda, Sydney
• Running Bare
• Ella Bache
• Braun

Bar design to global standards: when this is what you seek, look no further than Design Clarity. Truly high performance bar design does much more than merely look good. There is a science to getting myriad factors like operational ease, points of service, brand story, ambiance and locational factors working in unison to create an unforgettable patron experience. Design Clarity specialise in delivering bar design that does all this and more.

Modern bar design takes place in a vibrant fast-paced and highly competitive environment. Every bar, pub and eatery is trying to steal a march on competitors and carve out a point of difference. Excellence in design execution is a must and for that you need experienced professionals. Design Clarity has a shining portfolio encompassing successful bar design projects across London, Sydney, Melbourne and beyond. Working with this specialist team taps you into expertise and knowledge of new and emerging high impact bar design disciplines.

T4 Taiwanese tea boutique in the UK provides a clear example of Design Clarity bar design in action. Here Design Clarity takes fine Taiwanese tea beyond the tea cups to become a wholly immersive experience. Consider a boutique tea bar brimming with unique flavours and fine blends. Now imagine sipping these in a setting of great beauty and homely comfort. Relaxed lighting invites tea lovers to take a restful seat and savour sipping fresh flavoured tea. T4’s brand story is thoughtfully infused throughout the space as eye-catching tealeaf imagery is meticulously interspersed throughout sleek white contemporary interiors. Soft wooden floors add to the tranquil retreat patrons are invited to enjoy. Behind the scenes in the kitchen though, bright lights and high energy ambience keep staff passionately engaged in tea mixology.

Here at home, Design Clarity also imbued Heineken Fox Hotel with bar design brilliance. Here the long-established and recognised Heineken brand was given contemporary sci-fi translation through an artistic pop-up space. Basic pvc plumber piping sports a brand new glossy green paint ‘jacket’ to shout the trademark green Heineken brand literally from the rooftops. Green pipes ferrying Heineken bottles meanders out of a theatrical level 3 window and tapers down the walls to create a dramatic shield for the cleverly appointed DK booth on a dramatic Juliet balcony. Everywhere one looks, green is a colour palette mainstay, from over-bar terrariums to large indoor trees and other greenery that kisses the hotel’s high walls.

Innovative transitioning from day to night is achieved through LED illumination of random backlit Heineken bottle displays through cutouts in the landmark green pipes.

Bar design can take so many exciting forms and breathtaking translations. Design Clarity is the specialist of choice in giving your establishment the most powerful expression through design. Still feel as though you need to see more? Take a look at some other recent bar design projects including:

• Buttercup Cake Shop
• Café Ritrovo
• Moo Moo Bar & Grill
• La Bodeguita del Medio

Hit shows like Master Chef and My Kitchen Rules have shone the spotlight on the meticulous attention to detail restaurant standard food prep demands. Yet beyond the kitchen, restaurant interiors are a key determinant of how successfully a hospitality brand cuts through their target patrons.

Modern diners seek to put themselves on the spot of engaging hospitality action. Dining out these days is all about savouring a multi-sensory experience. Here is where restaurant interiors can be worth their weight in gold. Insightful restaurateurs are elevating their restaurant spaces to supercharge brand stories, woo new patrons, diversify into fresh markets and set themselves apart from the ample competition. Design Clarity is the name behind many restaurant interiors success stories.

Profound results are achieved by Design Clarity due to a meticulous attention to detail and vast experience across all manner of hospitality hubs. Under Design Clarity’s expert care, your restaurant thrives with reinvigorated:

• Immersion: why not make a display of all that absorbing kitchen activity? Today’s patrons cannot get enough of seeing how their food is crafted from scratch. Even if you do not put your full food preparation zone on display, Design Clarity can help you tap into this trend. We orchestrate restaurant interiors to ensure your patrons are ideally positioned to see key food and beverage-making activities. Take a look at Din Tai Fung’s dim sim show kitchen as an example
• Space: always have one eye to the future of your restaurant. Sustained growth and diversification are always watchwords of long-term planning. Design Clarity primes your restaurant interiors with the agility to grow alongside market demand for your hospitality.
• Functionality: restaurant interiors must do much more than look and feel great. The very essence of your restaurant performance lies within its premises walls. Design Clarity primes your service flow by eliminating wasted space and streamlining operations from front to back of house. Every inch of restaurant interiors should work its hardest for you and Design Clarity ensures this is the case
• Distinction: having just one element that is unlike anything your competitors can offer can be enough to set your restaurant interiors apart. Design Clarity supports you in carving out niche attractions for your restaurant. Just like the first Corian magnetic train of its kind in Australia that can be found at Gari sushi in Sydney

Design Clarity restaurant interiors are inspired, inventive and ingenious. Just take a look at these recent examples:

• Din Tai Fung – Emporium Melbourne
• Moo Moo Bar & Grill
• Pasta Remoli
• Gari

Fashion is a multi-sensory experience. So there can be nothing random about your fashion retail displays. When you want to lure shoppers out of online and competitor stores and into your own, you need thoroughly optimised retail displays. Depend on Design Clarity for precisely this.

Fashion retail stores are precious. Thanks to online shopping, many retailers fail to recognise the true worth of their physical premises. Yet your store is a physical tangible expression of your fashion brand. Here is your platform to create a brand experience that shoppers simply cannot get anywhere else. Design Clarity specialises in mapping out every aspect of your consumer experience. It doesn’t matter whether your wares are jewellery, kids wear, designer garments or relaxed leisure apparel. This stellar team has a groundbreaking track record in crafting scintillating retail displays meticulously tailored to your target audience.

Naturally different fashion consumers embark on different shopping journeys with different end goals in mind. That is why retail displays must be highly individualised according to your target client. After all, retail is detail so they say and in this case, the crucial detail is an engaging sensory shopping experience.

Take the Vodafone pop-up space that Design Clarity put together for travel and shopping hubs. This portable creation had to stay resoundingly true to the established Vodafone brand yet morph successfully into a quick-service kiosk for time-poor travellers and ‘power shoppers’.  Strong, sturdy open-plan construction brought customers and Vodafone staff intimately face-to-face while allowing the pop-up to be shifted to different locations with ease. iPads were on-hand for customer use in case they needed a quick online fix. Meanwhile the pop up was perfect for grabbing vital conveniences like a charger or headphones. As far as retail displays go, Vodafone pop-ups allowed the company to capture a once-untapped section of the express consumer market while maintaining a vibrant cohesive brand story.

Compare Vodafone pop-ups with Design Clarity’s work on Sheridan’s boutique concept store at Melbourne’s premium shopping precinct, Chadstone. Design Clarity leveraged insightful retail displays to bolster Sheridan’s diversification into broader lifestyle products. Factors like tailored signage space, large exchangeable lifestyle graphics, distinguished colour scheme and illuminated wall bays all contributed to expanding Sheridan’s brand to showcase their new market offerings.

When it comes to fashion forward retail, Design Clarity is the ultimate choice for inspired retail displays. Yet these specialists also bring so much more to the table including point of sale, visual merchandising, shop-fits, design and build. Just take a look at some of their recent work for major retailers like:

• Florrie
• Eye Clarity
• Bonds

Meet your progressive store development specialists: Design Clarity. This stellar team knowledgeably harnesses one of the most influential forces in retail interior design – technology. Charting new frontiers is what our retail interior designers live and breathe for and we do it well.

You can see the hand of our retail interior designers in:

• Flagship store development for Bonds: enter the Bonds & Me loyalty program that is so much more than simply rewards for buying Bonds. Our restaurant interior designers fused online and offline services to supercharge customer service. Yet the value-add went well beyond mere service combination to include improved cost efficiency, more streamlined operations and a consumer journey built on a much stronger emotional level
• New generation Tradelink store: under the skilled proficiencies of our retail interior designers, Tradelink welcomed a best-of-breed ommi-channel experience. Customers were treated to a medley of immersive options cutting across every in-store category. Bigger basket size meant more room for shopping. Impulse bins encouraged unplanned purchases and convenience was laid on in spades through a fresh click and collect service
• Westpac’s flagship Melbourne retail store: free browsing, freshly brewed coffee, interactive discovery zone, Heart customer lounge – what a conglomeration of brilliance by insightful restaurant interior designers. Westpac certainly smashes the traditional institutionalised bank experience into smithereens

Technology is no stranger to landmark store development. Just look at Apple Pay that has taken UK store development by storm. Now Apple customers have a handy mobile payment service for optimum speed and convenience. Most importantly, stores have been taking Apple Pay up in droves. Over 250,000 stores across the UK are inviting their consumers to use Apple Pay. That is a major success story, not just on the technology front but also in the branding arena where Apple is making yet another major mark.

Now you do not need to be a giant like Apple to benefit from creating an unforgettable brand experience. All you need are the right retail interior designers on your side. Look no further than Design Clarity on this score. When progressive store development is what you have cooking bring Design Clarity into your kitchen.

The sky really is the limit when it comes to commercial interior design. Arguably the definitive force in premises success, commercial interior design translates resoundingly to any concept, location and market. With such adaptability, interior design can deliver unprecedented new horizons across the whole creative commercial concept envelope.

Within the restaurant space, commercial interior design is especially on showcase. Because restaurant interior design is so versatile, London is brimming with new pioneering dining concepts. Din Tai Fung, Miranda and Wild Food are just two distinctive restaurant interior design examples that demonstrate the boundless yet powerful possibilities of this discipline.

Live dumpling chef demonstrations, striking immersion of Chinese fishing village and south coast Sydney themes plus a full glass dim sim show kitchen. These are mere samplings of what Din Tai Fung, Miranda has in store. Here you will find restaurant interior design drawing together diverse creative strands to create a complete cohesive concept that is entirely unforgettable. It is easy to lose yourself in pondering large koi fish artwork or relaxing amidst bright character-filled surrounds that emit a sense of elsewhere.

Step into Wild Food where natural health food reigns supreme. Here restaurant interior design transports you back to rural surrounds and rustic nature. Burnt stencil designs, traditional crates used as wall decorations and an overall country feel lend character and flavor to the scrumptious wild food dished up, from which the establishment takes its name.

Alongside Wild Food and Din Tai Fung, exciting fledgling and made-over dining experiences are flooding into London on the wings of restaurant interior design. Whatever your pleasure, even if this is just unchartered dining territory, commercial interior design ensures you find this. You need not look to far to find:

• Rooftop restaurants
• British game menus
• Nordic smokehouses
• Much much more

Design Clarity uses commercial interior design to make the restaurant space an enthralling place to be. As restaurant interior design specialists, this team has brought many whizz bang establishments into being including:

• Luxury Wine Boutique
• La Bodeguita del Medio
• Coco Roco

Want to see more of what Design Clarity can do? Just take a peek at the latest rundown of major new UK bar and restaurant openings.

Think what’s on the menu is the be all and end all of your food premise success? Think again. Food retail design is where it is at. Breakthrough branding can only be achieved with insightful food retail design as the foundation.

Just what is food retail design? In essence it is the strategic tailoring of your entire premise and dining experience to fit your specific target market. Yes, this means you will need to know your desired patron profile inside out.

Considering food retail design in action can be one of the clearest ways to understand the power of this discipline. Case in point, Morrisons store chain in the UK.

Our story begins with Morrisons having plenty to celebrate. The chain was highly recognised and respected as a leading presence in the out-of-town food chain market. Inspired food retail design was pivotal in achieving such breakthrough branding alongside a clear proven business model.

Having conquered that mountain, Morrisons looked to expand. The next summit in its sights yielded a very different landscape. Morrisons diversified into the high street with several centrally appointed convenience stores.

Success in this endeavor was not to be, though because Morrisons neglected its food retail design. In doing so, Morrisons high street convenience stores fell short in terms of:

• Exclusivity
• Intimacy
• Quality

All of these ingredients are close to high street consumers’ hearts. Had Morrisons conducted its consumer due diligence and customised a new food retail design strategy to match the unique proclivities of high street consumers, their venture may have floated rather than failed.

Unfortunately, Morrisons did not do this and consumer uptake has been immensely sluggish. Now all Morrisons high street convenience stores are shutting up shop and the chain is pulling out of the high street market somewhat shamefaced.

What are the food retail design lessons we can learn from the Morrisons case study? Essentially customisation is key. Every target consumer group has its own specific lifestyle, requirements, preferences and interests. If your food premises is not wholly attuned to these, your patrons will look for greener pastures.

Morrisons simply could not take its mass market out-of-town food store concept and roll out a smaller version of this to discerning high street consumers. The two distinct consumer groups could not be more different if they tried. Failure to recognise such differences and create a new brand story for its high street venture cost Morrisons its diversification success.

What a clash of heavyweights this showdown is: shopping centre design versus department store design. Every shopper not only has ring-side seats but also a crucial part to play in determining the victor. After all, it is the multi-faceted demands of the modern consumer that has morphed the traditional basic clustering of stores in one facility into the vibrant interactive hubs of activity that is the contemporary shopping centre. Department stores are hot on shopping centres’ heels though and who emerges victorious is really down to individual quality of design.

Department stores and retail centres vie for the same consumers. That is a given. The interesting part lies in how each attempt to woo consumers through their doors. To understand this better, let’s take a moment to look at what modern shoppers want. Purchasing is just a part of the overall experience desired, albeit the ultimate goal of centres.

Today, consumers go shopping to savour a full memorable and exciting experience. Think family outings, school holiday entertainment, dining, retail therapy, movies, exercise, unique attractions, visual stimulation, social gatherings – this list goes on. These are big challenges for shopping centres and department stores alike to rise to. Indeed, the only way consumer satisfaction can be achieved is through shopping centre design.

Shopping centre design is the reason that you now find so much more than merely products at department stores and retail centres alike. Instead you are greeted with a 360∞ immersive experience including:

• Stylish café culture
• Restaurants
• Al fresco dining
• Boutique cake and pastry stores
• Movie theatres from family viewing to premium Gold Class
• Beauty and spa therapies
• Fully equipped gyms and health clubs
• Psychics, herbalists, aromatherapy specialists and therapeutic massage
• So much more besides

Just look at Selfridges as a shopping centre design success story. Unwilling to be left in the dust of savvily designed shopping centres, Selfridges played the retail giants at their own game. They engaged design specialists to ensure layout, ambiance and offers were every bit as engaging as you would find in a major shopping centre.

These days a visit to Selfridges can include everything from catching a movie at their partner Everyman cinemas, fetching up at a trendy wine bar to indulging in some fabulous personal grooming. Extending Selfridges’ offer even further are latest breakthrough technology to capture, compel and captivate consumers. Meanwhile loyalty programs are in play to deliver truly personalised customer experience and communication.

Mobile strategy, including apps and mobile sites: does today’s consumer want to buy what you sell in a physical world? How about in a digital space? How well shopping centres and department stores have researched their customers and created matching solutions to make such customers’ buying decisions easier will be key for surviving the next two years of retail. Westfield have started selling products both in their shopping centres and on their website. As such, Westfield is competing head on with department stores. For consumers, this signals an exciting time as we watch to see how competitors will fight back.

Shopping centre design is the driving force behind modern consumer behaviour and decision-making. Few agencies understand and execute shopping centre design more profoundly than Design Clarity. Drawing on top level international and local experience plus a renown talent for individual details-focussed shopping centre design, Design Clarity are specialists in making your store or centre a major draw-card.

We don’t profess to know it all, though and would love to hear your insights into shopping centre design. What is lacking? What is working well? What would woo you from your favourite shopping destinations. Please, get in contact for a discussion.