Shopping centres are no longer simply a place to purchase goods. Today, shopping centres are expected to be destinations in their own right. Somewhere that everyone from avid foodies to eager bargain-lovers find satisfaction. People-watchers, those simply seeking an oasis from the daily grind, an alternative destination for a lunchtime work meeting and anyone looking for a good cup of coffee are not to be left wanting either. So how does the modern shopping centre achieve these multiple tall orders? Shopping centre design plays a pivotal role.

When it comes to stellar shopping centre design and retail mall upgrades with a proven record of success, speak with Design Clarity first. Or why not start off by considering these three ways to wow consumers with shopping centre design:

Do dining brilliantly
Remember the ‘old school’ food court? Set that notion aside. Strong shopping centre design recognises the powerful synergy between retail and dining. Now the dining offerings of a truly progressive shopping centre can often be found on the outer edges of the complex. Here, natural light can stream into dining spaces and views can be optimised. What is more, while fast food kiosks still have their place in shopping centres, authentic dining precincts deliver fully fledged restaurants, cafes and bars featuring fine fresh seasonal produce, dynamic menus and much more.

Get social

True shopping centre design places retail hand in glove with entertainment and social opportunities. Successful shopping centres deliver inviting stimulating spaces in which people want to spend time, meet with family and friends and soak up all the centre has to offer. Strategic placement of restaurants and cafes is again important in this regard as are appealing meeting spaces, vibrant school holiday programs and a well thought-out line-up of social opportunities.

Stay tech-savvy
Technology is a terrific lever that supports shopping centre design. From something as simple as offering patrons free wifi to delivering a handy smartphone app to update patrons with all the latest and greatest retail offers and events, technology talks to your consumers in a way that excites them and keeps them heading through your shopping centre doors in hoards.

Design Clarity have an impressive portfolio of local and international shopping centre design and mall upgrade projects. Speak to this specialist team today to shore up the strength of your retail development or take a look at some of their most recent work, including:

• Orion Springfield Central, Brisbane
• Alexandria Homemaker Centre, Sydney
• Toombul Shopping Centre, Brisbane
• Oxford Village, Sydney

Customer experience design is the way of the future and the power player of right now. Customer experience is the single most important factor in building a commanding foundation for your brand and securing optimum return on investment. Long gone are the days where a good sound product or service was enough to drive customers through your door. Now customers are so spoilt for choice in both product and service. As such, customers are embracing the power of making their selections based on which brands marry up with their personal values and provide experiences that are meaningful to them. Here is where customer experience design can achieve the cut-through your brand needs.

Mirvac: making customer experience design marvellous

Toombul Shopping Centre is one of the latest major Mirvac purchases in Brisbane. Smartly looking to carve out an unmistakable niche for the centre, Mirvac engaged Design Clarity in the early stages of the Toombul Shopping Centre redevelopment. Time was of the essence for Mirvac so in just three short weeks, Design Clarity delivered design magic for a Fresh Food precinct concept. Just a taste of the customer experience design recommendations Design Clarity tabled included:

– Fresh open-plan layout for the tenancies to craft an authentic market feel

– Creation of thoughtfully appointed customer pause points and furniture

– Smart divisions of shopfront and intertenancy divisions

– Integration of new ideas with existing structures for minimal disruption

– A range of quick win yet maximum effect structural and material choices

– Considering shopper desires for ease of circulation and movement flow

Thanks to the swift skilled work of Design Clarity, customer experience design allowed leasing to key tenants to progress without delay.

Choose cutting-edge customer experience design

When true customer experience design is at work, every touchpoint where consumers interact with product or service speaks resoundingly to the brand story. High impact interactions, compelling storylines and unified customer experiences enable you to thrill your target audiences at every point of their consumer journey. Design Clarity does customer experience design like no other. Speak with us today.

Restaurant transformation is trending right now but the results are here to stay. Progressive restaurant owners increasingly recognise that the way to get patrons’ bums on seats, they must first captivate patrons’ minds. Here is where restaurant transformation comes heavily into play to craft resonating patron experiences. The right restaurant transformation begins with sharp definition or redefinition of the restaurant’s brand and identity then goes all the way through to consider rituals, signature consumer touchpoints, heritage features and persona profiles. Not all restaurant transformation is created equal. For restaurant transformation that continually raises the bar, speak with Design Clarity first.

Browns Brasserie & Bar sets the bar

Design Clarity specialise in restaurant transformation across Australia and the UK. The stellar work of this leading team caught the eye of Browns Brasserie & Bar. Over the past few years, Design Clarity has been delivering benchmark-setting transformation for over 10 Browns Brasserie & Bar venues – and the results have been award-winning.

Restaurant transformation is a multi-faceted process. Design Clarity began with a simple question: who is Browns Brasserie & Bar? The team got right down to the essence of the restaurant’s brand personalities, values and hallmarks. It was important to pinpoint those irreplaceable elements of Browns’ identity that needed to be retaining throughout the transformation process.

Design Clarity looked deeply into current Browns Brasserie & Bar venues as they stood at that time. What worked well? What didn’t work? What design features were currently in play? How did the service roll out and measure up? What atmosphere was cultivated. All these factors were given close attention then analysed according to benchmarks and customer profiles.

Restaurants are brimming with patron touchpoints. Design Clarity mapped out what signature touchpoints would be leveraged as part of the restaurant transformation. Front of mind at all times was the creation of memorable customer experiences to propel Browns Brasserie & Bar forward in both brand cut-through and business performance.

Brand new Browns comes into being

Stage 2 of Design Clarity’s approach involved crafting a design concept for Browns Brasserie and Bar. Again, customer experience formed the heart of this process. Aspects of the concept created by Design Clarity included:

– Retaining superb architectural heritage features

– Crafting splendid theatre-style bar zone

– Versatile dining configurations that use a variety of space features

Ready to blow wonderful winds of change with restaurant transformation? Speak to Design Clarity today.

Shifting brand perception is a tale of taking what already exists and repackaging it for longevity, relevance and value-add. For many businesses, maintaining a strong relationship with their target consumers means rolling with changing needs and ‘hot buttons’. Consumers are loyal to brands they relate too. Design Clarity lead the field in shifting brand perception for businesses of all kinds so they stay relevant and high-performing.

Shopping for shifting brand perception: Paddington Grocers

Paddington Grocers is a small IGA supermarket located in Paddington, Sydney. The store has been a mainstay of the local retail landscape for over 20 years – and it looks it. This local market store had not been renovated for more than 20 years. So it was beginning to fall decidedly behind the times given the dynamic evolution of the traditional grocery store to vibrant market-style customer experience. Recognising this, Paddington Grocers put Design Clarity to the task of shifting brand perception.

Today, the term ‘grocery store’ hardly does justice to what actually awaits consumers when they embark on their grocery shopping. Modern grocery stores are brimming with freshly brewed coffee, freshly harvested seasonal and organic produce, foodie delights with diverse delis and so much more. Shifting brand perception for Paddington Grocers means elevating the traditional store to a new exciting offer of boutique grocer. Under Design Clarity’s expert skill, Paddington Grocers is about to launch with:

– Street-front juice bar to create immediate activity at the shopfront and entice consumers inside

– Colourful reasons to stay and shop with a rich array of fresh fruits and vegetables on offer

– Vast range of organic produce to excite and satisfy event the most discerningly heath-conscious consumer

– Crisp clean new store environment featuring raw natural materials, meaningful signage to guide the customer journey and enhanced wayfinding

– Totally transformed visual identity to speak to the local customer

Say yes to shifting brand perception

Staying relevant is mission-critical to staying afloat. No matter what your business, if it is time to speak with Design Clarity about shifting brand perception.

Pop up stores may not last forever but the impression they leave on consumers certainly can. The right pop up store design allows you to turn your temporary retail event into a permanent legacy of brand cut-through and market learnings.

A closer look at pop up store design

A pop up store is exactly as its name describes: a temporary retail space that just ‘pops up’ to sell its merchandise for a short period of time. Pop up stores offer retailers a host of benefits including: 

Deeper customer knowledge and connection: pop up stores are small spaces often located in the heart of retail centres. A vast contrast to large sweeping retail stores where customers often have to search for and track down staff, pop up stores bring retailer and consumer instantly and closely together. So the pop up format facilitates the forming of deeper more personal connections with consumers. Not only does this increase brand cut-through but it also enables retailers to get to know their consumers much more in-depth. What a great way to test or launch new products

Leverage excitement: pop up stores are often seen as the bright new shiny presence in any given retail space. Here is a perfect opportunity for retailers to leverage the excitement generated by their pop up store to build awareness, personal customer interface and brand recognition. Don’t forget, the more polished and vibrant your pop up store design, the more buzz your pop up store will create

Save working capital: This is not always true as some pop-up stores are very expensive, to create a maximum impact in a minimum time. That is a lot of working capital to keep in your back pocket. For retailers who transact largely online, a pop up store is a highly cost effective way to forge personal relationships with clients that can then be translated into an online retail model

Importance of pop up store design

Not all pop up stores are created equal. These short sharp sweet retail spaces may be temporary but to kick their intended goals, pop up stores need insightful high impact layout and aesthetics. Here is where pop up store design pays dividends in brand activation. Pop up store design ensures that your brand is clearly articulated while your space is agile enough to facilitate swift personalised service and engaging merchandise display.

Pop up stores can be powerful business builders so ensure your pop up packs a punch. Put progressive pop up store design to work. Speak with Design Clarity about your pop up store design requirements. You and your business have everything to gain.

New generation store design is a delicious intermingling of in-store experience with immersive digital technologies. No longer does either of these fierce retail forces have to stand alone. Together they are stronger and consumers are reaping the benefits – as are the forward-thinking retailers who strategically deploy them. Health and beauty retail is an industry that illuminates the exciting effectiveness of new generation store design.

Getting into the nitty gritty of new generation store design  

Health and beauty retail has many players. Supermarkets, pharmacies, department stores – all are strong contenders and fierce competitors. To stay relevant and ahead of the game, health and beauty retailers are increasingly required to have a pioneering mindset. That is why retail health and beauty plus digital technology is a match made in heaven. Adopting an omnichannel approach enables health and beauty retailers to:

• – Tap into new consumers markets to generate new revenue streams
• – Refine and revolutionise the customer experience
• – Build multi-channel sales
• – Craft authentic in-store destinations for health and beauty needs
• – Remove barriers to purchase with features like sample boxes

Sephora: a new generation store design sensation

Leading international health and beauty presence, Sephora shines an illuminating spotlight on new generation store design. A highly personalised union of in-store and online services is the order of the day at Sephora.

Digitally, Sephora now offers customers the opportunity to try out beauty looks, discover best colour matches, connect with other beauty community members and keep up to date with the latest up-to-the-minute beauty trends – all from the comfort and convenience of their iPads.

Inside the physical Sephora shop, new generation store design converts consumers like crazy. Smart innovations like mini skin-care kits allow consumers to try new product ranges with little commitment or financial outlay. Meanwhile the scintillating mask bar offers consumers express mask treatments right there in-store. Plus the inspired touch of offering engraving to personalise beauty products means Sephora is the obvious choice for gift-buying or simply true health and beauty aficionados.

Sephora is doing it. Your health and beauty retail establishment can do it too. To embark on a truly high-impact successful new generation store design project, you need the right expertise in your corner. You need Design Clarity. Speak to this specialist team today.

Grocery store design takes grocery shopping excitingly beyond stocked shelves. New generation grocery stores are foodie paradises, farmers markets and coffee lovers delights all rolled into one. Buying groceries is so much more than simply a household necessity. Rather, the humble ‘grocery shop’ is now an exciting market-style experience enriched with aesthetic and sensory wonders at every turn. All thanks to grocery store design.

The brave new world of grocery store design

New generation grocery store design has to be experienced to be truly appreciated. Yet a shining example can provide a tantalising taste of what this modern force has to offer. Harris Farm Markets took the inspired step of engaging Design Clarity to assist with the rationalisation of their retail design approach, starting with the development of a comprehensive Style Guide. Already one of Australia’s largest independent grocers, Harris Farm Markets is now a beacon for the multi-dimensional experiences grocery shopping can deliver. This progressive grocer beckons patrons with foodie staples including:

• – Butchery
• – Café
• – Seafood bar
• – Cheese rooms
• – Cellar door
• – Pizzeria
• – Bakery
• – Fresh produce market
• – Imperfect picks
• – Free fruit for kids
• – Click & collect service
• – Much more

Resurrection of the marvellous market style

Modern grocers recognise that patrons head out to do their grocery shopping with expectations that far exceed simply filling their trolley. Different proclivities aside, patrons unite in the hope of a tasty sensory experience. That is why grocery store design achieves an immersive food retail concept by interweaving elements like:

• – Fresh produce and gourmet delicacies in traditional market-style displays
• – Creative fixtures like fresh juice bars and artisan bread-making demonstrations
• – Entertaining and dining spaces that bring food court and café-style seating into the heart of the grocery store itself

What is more, consumers today are increasingly interested in where their food comes from and how sustainably it is grown. Farmers market-style displays for fresh fruit and veg cleverly evoke the sense of buying goods that are plucked straight from farm to table.

Grocery store design can achieve greatness in your food retail concept. You have already had a sampling of what Design Clarity can bring to the table thanks to their Harris Farm Markets case study. To learn more about what Design Clarity can do for your grocery store, speak to the team themselves. They will be only too glad to get leading grocery store design on the job for your establishment.

Look out for our latest concept to launch soon at Paddington Grocers!

Pubs occupy a special place in the community. Here locals and visitors alike gather to relish relaxed socialising and a casual space available morning through to evening for a full hospitality experience. Modern pub design recognises the vibrant role that pubs play in the community. As such, modern pub design has the community at its heart and a richer, warmer more personalised consumer experience is the result.

Modern pub design made to last

“Going to the pub” is a phrase that can be used any time throughout the day or evening. Modern pub design welcomes patrons to:

• – Partake in a delicious laid-back breakfast or brunch
• – Drop in for coffee, a sweet treat or casual morning tea
• – Gather some friends, work colleagues or clients together for a pub lunch
• – Visit for an afternoon drink and chips
• – Enjoy a full pub dinner and kick on for drinks
• – Enjoy social facilities such as sports viewing and gaming

Offering an all-day/all-evening service experience demands exceptional design flexibility. Pub spaces must be highly adaptable to roll with the changing service needs and atmosphere of the morning crowds all the way through to the evening night-lifers. That is why modern design is spearheading a return from more industrialised design to a more enriched evocative styling. Modern pub design celebrates the heritage of premises, restoring former grandeur and preserving architectural beauty while ensuring exquisite patron comfort and cosy surrounds. Alongside celebrating the history of a pub premises, modern design also achieves a fresh face to stand out in the crowd.

Browns Bar & Brasserie: modern pub design in action

Design Clarity is a team of pub design specialists. A resounding example of their work is presented by Browns Bar & Brasserie. Design Clarity has redesigned 10 venues for Browns Bar & Brasserie across the UK since 2015. The redesigned Browns Bar & Brasserie venues epitomise modern pub design. Magnificent existing architecture is beautifully and thoughtfully preserved, often forming statement features within the establishment itself. Versatile dining configurations enable the space to cater to any crowd at any time. Meanwhile strategic zoning of the pub space means diverse patron groups ranging from university students to professionals can enjoy socialising in the space simultaneously.

Are you considering bringing the magic of modern pub design to your establishment? Be sure to speak with Design Clarity first.

Brands are built on emotion. As such, brand strategy is multi-faceted and demands intensive information gathering. When it comes to bringing brand strategy to life, depend on Design Clarity. Our proven approach encompasses thorough research, collaborative stakeholder workshops and in-depth working knowledge of all essential strategy elements being:

• Emotion
• Mission and purpose
• Competitive awareness
• Trust
• Loyalty

Emotionally driven brand strategy

Smart brand strategy covers all bases. That is why Design Clarity knows that you have to activate consumers emotions then solidify those drivers with good old fashioned reliable facts. Our strategy will always focus on forging strong emotional connections with your target audience. Then we will make it easy for your consumers to justify their purchase or service decision-making by presenting them with factual information about the return on their investment.

Today’s consumers are savvy enough to push back if they feel shoved into purchase or service selection. That is why we hand your consumers the right information to reassure them and demonstrate the rewards that are within their reach.

The story of brand strategy

Storytelling underpins all sound brand strategy. A powerful brand story that hits its mark with your target consumers is the currency of branding success. That is why Design Clarity interweaves both creativity and technology into the strategy mix. Through these channels we craft stories that build lasting loyal customer relationships. To ensure your brand storytelling speaks to your desired target audience, we study markets, trends and customer behaviour relevant to your brand.

If you want best-in-class strategy, you want to speak with Design Clarity. Give our specialist team a call today.

There is design and then there is award winning design. When you are looking to create a space that creating compelling social experiences, enthralling architectural features and versatile patron appeal, speak to Design Clarity first.

Bringing in gold for Brown’s

Brown’s Bar & Brasserie has got some brand new bragging rights fuelled strongly by Design Clarity’s award winning design. This brilliant Bristol establishment has been shortlisted for the prestigious international Restaurant and Bar Design Awards. The awards focus exclusively on the design of food and beverage spaces. Brown’s Bar & Brasserie has shone out brightly among the awards contenders with award winning design features like:

• Retaining the superb architecture and heritage of the listed building
• Resplendent bar that occupies centre stage
• Smart zones that enable the bar to entice and service both the Bristol University student throngs as well as other patrons
• Versatile dining configurations that use a variety of space features

Award winning design roll call

Delivering award winning design is not new to us. We have done this before. As a pre-runner to bringing awards to Browns Bar & Brasserie, we’ve achieved the same recognition for a host of other clients like:

• The Cupcake Bakery: shortlisted for the Interior Design Awards (AUS) 2011
• People’s Choice Credit Union: shortlisted for the Dulux Colour Awards (AUS) 2012
• Dunedin Mews: winner of the New Homes Award by Evening Standard 2012
• Buttercup Cake Shop: shortlisted for the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2012
• Central Kitchen: shortlisted for the IDEA Awards (AUS) 2014
• Heineken – The Fox: commended for AIDA Installation 2015
• Eye Clarity: winner of the Australian Retailers Association 2015

Award winning design brings great recognition not just to Design Clarity but importantly, to our clients. That is why we never rest on our laurels. If you would like us to bring award winning design to your business, speak with our specialist team today.