Brand creation: this is your business’ back story that transcends price point or special offers to forge powerful emotional consumer connections. Branding comprises your:

• Proposition: what you offer
• Personality: who you are and what you stand for. Here is where you define how your business behaves and thinks.

Brand creation is the process of connecting your brand to your target consumers. To do this, three chief touch points must be hit: brand identity, unique experience/offer; and staff culture. If this sounds like a tall order or even downright double dutch, rest assured that proven expert help is at hand in Design Clarity. Our brand creation expertise breaks new ground and supports your business to do the same.

Best brand creation outcomes

Powerful brand definition is the foundation for design that really hits home. Design Clarity delivers a unique brand creation process purpose-designed to deliver optimum design process outcomes. We bring together all key stakeholders in a collaborative brand workshop to ensure our brand creation resonates powerfully with your target market and builds close emotional connections. Through our brand creation workshop we will:

• Understand your brand environment: the plan is to take your brand out into the big wide world and have it kick huge goals. To ensure this happens, the first step of Design Clarity brand creation is to understand that world in which your brand will operate. We get ourselves thoroughly across your competitive environment plus your current and desired brand positioning
• Define, define, define: as our name tells you, clarity is key. We will workshop your brand proposition. Our brand creation experts will traverse what components will come together to provide your signature consumer experiences. Naturally we will define your target customers down to a tee. We will also thoroughly express your brand vision and mission – those ingredients that make you who you are.
• Tell your brand story: every brand tells a story. Yet when this happens haphazardly you have no control over the messages and experiences that your consumers are having with your brand. That is why our brand creation workshop will master your brand story. To ensure your audience buys into your brand hook, line and sinker, we will define:
  • your brand story foundations
  • what your brand will be known for
  • how your brand will connect with your target audiences’ deepest motivators, emotional drivers and purpose

Individualised brand creation (can we please use another example

Every brand creation process is unique. It has to be. No two brand stories are ever identical or even alike. Take Jamie Oliver as an example. Jamie himself is the brand and he connects with his audience in a variety of ways that go well beyond great recipes and food. As the brand figurehead, Jamie frequently allows his consumers to look behind the scenes into his own family and family life.  Contrast the Jamie Oliver brand with the likes of Marley Spoon. This brand offers consumers the opportunity to create gourmet meals at home with utmost ease. Marley Spoon promises to ‘send tasty recipes and fresh ingredients directly to your door, making it easy to cook a delicious meal at home’.

Whatever your brand will be known for, Design Clarity’s brand creation process will give it powerful sensory and emotional expression to connect convincingly with your target consumers.

Fashion store retail design is driven by so much more than colour schemes, ambiance and floor plans. At its heart, fashion store retail design is driven by emotion. Few forces stir and engage emotion like compelling storytelling. Retailers who achieve high emotional consumer engagement through captivating storytelling have all the vital ingredients for loyal long-term customer relationships.

Fashion retail store design: a real page-turner

Storytelling is a force to be reckoned with. Few of us can resist a great story and we certainly remember it. More than likely, we pass it on too. It is for this reason that forward-thinking retailers increasingly recognise the power of storytelling in fashion retail store design. A carefully woven branding and service story can:

• Trigger desired emotions and motivators in target consumers
• Convey important information that retailers want their consumers to know
• Craft scintillating retail experiences that consumers want more of
• Help consumers retain key branding and retail information 

In short, storytelling can forge powerful connections between consumers and a retail brand. This can level the playing field for new challenger brands and smaller retailers who cannot afford to compete on price point with more major players. Yet smart retailers of all sizes and scales are realising the value of storytelling in building brand loyalty.

Storytelling for all fashion retail store design contexts

One of the greatest things about storytelling is that online and offline retailers alike can leverage its influence. Online retailers can draw consumers into captivating tales through channels such as social media and websites. Here consumers can actively connect with your brand 24/7 from anywhere in the world. 

Online retailers who started opening brick-and-mortar stores can use storytelling to build rewarding sensory consumer experiences. Face-to-face in-person interactions with consumers enables a retail brand to trigger all five senses to create real resonance with its audience. From here, a retailer can build a community of consumers who actively advocate their brand by on-telling stories and personal experiences. 

If you are keen to create brand story gold to weave through your fashion retail store design, speak to the experts. Design Clarity specialise in translating influential brand stories to high impact fashion retail store design. Open the page onto some of their recent work by browsing their retail portfolio.

Retail design is the force that moulds retail and hospitality venues into experiential spaces. When it comes to crafting visually engaging retail and hospitality venues, art becomes pivotal. Retail design experts like Design Clarity know that art attracts attention and achieves a thematic consumer experience that persuades them to enter, purchase, linger and return.

Retail design can be the closest ally of hospitality or retail operators by increasing patron dwell time and pleasurable socialising within the space. That is why powerful design is imbued with strategically curated art elements.

Design Clarity’s insightful design hand can be experienced in the Nando’s restaurant chain, whereby a thematic art journey is incorporated throughout its many outlets globally. Nando’s artworks are statement pieces that strengthen brand story, captivate consumers and cultivate a unique enticing gathering space.

Full-flavoured design is what makes Design Clarity tick. So when putting retail design flair to work for contemporary sushi joint, Sushi Hon in Barangaroo, this talented retail design team again tapped into artistic forces. Here, Design Clarity collaborated with internationally recognised Sydney artist, Shannon Crees. Ms Crees has given vibrant interpretation to Design Clarity’s Japanese laneway-style bar and eatery concept.

Customised wallpaper depicting international cityscapes was used in Sydney’s shopping mall Central Park. The level 2 food precinct was enlivened with the wallpaper art elements created in collaboration with Eboy. The loud graphics enhance the vibrant colours, the provenance of the ingredients and the theatrics of cooking.

Another eatery that also benefited from a commissioned unique wallpaper designed exclusively for them by Design Clarity in collaboration with Timorous Beasties was Browns Brasserie & Bar. The wallpaper design played a part in an overall thoroughly modern ‘grounded grandeur’ concept, true to the brief, for a client craving a cocktail of ideas; a design refresh that is considered, elegant and quintessentially British.

Would your retail or hospitality establishment relish the potential of ravishing retail design? Or perhaps you would simply like to see more of this force in action. Either way, a great next step is to browse Design Clarity’s recent portfolio of retail design work including projects like the Glue Store in Miranda, Sydney.

Retail brands that last: what do they have that others don’t? This is a question that many retailer and researcher alike have pondered and traversed. After all, the retail market is fiercely competitive and highly saturated. Many brands that got off to a strong start end up fading into the background or disappearing completely. So examining retail brands that last and discovering what makes these brands tick and flourish is an extremely worthy exercise for any retailer.

One key ingredient common to almost all retail brands that last is powerful emotional relationships with their consumers – and their staff. The way in which a brand connects with its key stakeholders plays a pivotal role in its longevity. Brands that last garner loyalty and enthusiasm from the team members that represent it. Engaged, passionate staff live the brand and this shines through to consumers.

Likewise, creating emotional connections with consumers is a common trait of retail brands that last. Successful brands make a difference in consumers’ lives by satisfying a resounding need or want, ensuring consumers too live the brand.

Australia is home to many retail brands that last like Sheridan and Bonds. While the Australian retail sector is ever-changing just like the global retail sector, these brands have remained constant and strong.

Sheridan has been providing luxe-chic home linen and towel designs to Australian homes since 1967. Retaining the iconic hallmarks of its successful brand, Sheridan has nonetheless evolved alongside the changing retail market, expanding its range to include broader lifestyle products that further enhance consumers’ homes. In a nutshell, Sheridan has stayed true to its roots while remaining sharply relevant to today’s market. So Australian consumers trust Sheridan has a heritage brand but also enjoy a superior purchasing experience through a modern, inviting retail store with modern refined colours, inspiring product displays and natural materials.

Bonds is another iconic Australian retail brand that has adapted to stay relevant over time. Bonds garments have been synonymous with fresh comfortable hard-wearing attire for over 100 years. With fresh funky fabrics, bright patterns and a fun spirit interwoven throughout the brand, Bonds retails consumer trust that their apparel is both hip and dependable.

Both Sheridan and Bonds craft a consumer experience that is friendly, easy, modern and pleasurable.

Retail brands that last share many common characteristics. Design Clarity specialises in crafting and growing retail brands that last like Bonds and Sheridan. To prime your retail brand to stand the test of time, speak with Design Clarity first.

Bespoke designs hold a special kind of beauty. As such spaces are quite unique, visitors leave the everyday behind once they step through the doors and embark on a one-of-a-kind experiential journey. Design Clarity specialise in crafting remarkable bespoke designs for a vast array of clients. One shining example of inspired bespoke designs is provided by an immersive Melbourne homeware and gift emporium.

Homeware and gift stores are usually pleasurable places to browse but this Melbourne space takes visitor experience to bold new heights. Designed on the premise of ‘escape the everyday, discover a new world’, this store space channels a host of vibrant world travel encounters under one captivating roof. Four chief experiential touch points comprise the store being:

Curated case precinct: infused with absorbing storytelling, open cases of apparel and wares are carefully lit to make browsing simple and sumptuous.

Hidden sanctuary precinct: step into the deliciously inviting in-store café. Here you will find bespoke designs at their best. Soothing neutral tones, natural materials and plush cushioned benches provide an irresistible place to contemplate life and possible purchases. Images celebrating wanderlust inspire contemplation. Once replete with scrumptious coffee and cuisine, helpful way-finding signage sends customers on their purposeful way with a clear route in mind.

Market trade precinct: vibrant feature tables with bright yellow canopies and colourful retail displays channel bustling overseas markets where scintillating wares are pedaled.

Unpacked worlds precinct: step into thoughtfully zoned crate displays where exciting local and international wares are displayed in open boxes

Shopping should be an adventure and in this niche Melbourne homeware and gift shop, it most certainly is. Bespoke designs ensure an immersive shopping expedition where you step off a metropolitan Melbourne street and into the vivacious hub-bub of street markets around the world.

Bespoke designs can be whatever your business wants and needs them to be. Speak to the experts in bespoke design – Design Clarity.

Our award-winning team brings praise on a plate. Brown’s Bar & Brasserie in Bristol is basking in the sunshine of honour after being shortlisted for recognition in the prestigious Restaurant and Bar Design Awards in the “Best Restaurant or Bar in a heritage building” category. Design Clarity had the huge privilege and creative task of transforming the splendid listed building that once jointly served the Bristol Library and Philosophical Institution. Playing closely on the spectacular architecture and heritage character of the space, Design Clarity reimagined the building into the premium Brown’s Bar & Brasserie. According to the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards, this award winning design team did the space proud.

The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards is an international competition dedicated to the design of food and beverage spaces. So just what earned Brown’s Bar & Brasserie consideration for one of these sought-after awards?

Design Clarity’s award winning design talent ensured that a magnificent bar right in the centre of the space serves as a great focal point. Not only do the deep timber tones of the curved bar architecture set off the smart gleaming bar offering a host of aperitif, refreshment and creative beverage choices. The bar also beckons the eager students of nearby Bristol University. Award winning design recognises the bottom line business benefits of drawing this younger patron group to socialise and soak up all the pleasures offered by this glorious heritage building in its new bar and brasserie guise.

Thanks to the clever use of dining precincts, the Bristol University student crowd can kick up their heels in style while other patrons can relish a completely separate pace – all under the same roof. Putting award winning design to great use, Design Clarity created a range of dining configurations using zones, levels and architectural features to achieve unique social precincts.

Want to see award winning design in action? Take a look through Design Clarity’s portfolio of recent design projects. Or why not get in touch with this award winning design team directly?

Best restaurant designers achieve the best results. There are just no two ways about it. Design Clarity is renowned across Australia and the UK as leaders in the field of revolutionary restaurant design. One of the shining jewels in their impressive portfolio crown is certainly Fujisaki. Refined dining modern Japanese style is taking Barangaroo on a transportive dining experience, infused with both calm and luxury. All thanks to best restaurant designers – Design Clarity.

Glorious harbour views help achieve the luxurious tranquility Fujisaki aims to treat its 146 patron capacity. Three private dining spaces allow guests to fully savour the delectable fare created and plated by two formerly hatted Good Food Guide chefs. Think elegant nigiri sushi and sashimi selections with individual pieces intricately crafted into chequerboards, roses and other decorative delights. Other options include fine chicken liver parfait, Octopus, guanciale and amp with red chilli, even whole marinated flounder. Best restaurant designers like Design Clarity know that while the sensory experience is king, the quality and character of cuisine matters enormously.

Best restaurant designers do not make a move without a vision and strategy. Design Clarity worked with hospitality group Lotus Dining to give Fujisaki clear expression before the premises was even touched. Four creative principles were defined and form the basis for Fujisaki being:

Authenticity: smoked mirrors, luxurious velvet seats, three private tatami rooms and glorious natural materials evoke Japanese culture

Quality: Japanese cuisine is as much about the experience, ritual and spectacle as it is about the exotic flavours. Fujisaki delivers a transportative experience for patrons through both their surrounds and cuisine.

Innovation: best restaurant designers like Design Clarity understand that thinking outside the square is what makes unique visions work. That is why the Fujisaki kitchen is performance itself. First there is the central theatrical robata grill cooking area. Then there is the slate raw bar where patrons can revel in the spectacle of accomplished chefs plying their craft with meticulous shaping and dramatic blow torching.

Respect: ultimately the best restaurant designers know that a transportative eatery like Fujisaki must fuse effortlessly with a premium metropolitan Sydney waterfront location. Interior artwork is a blend of Japanese and Australian influences while ceramic sculptures are the work of a Japanese Australian artist

Fujisaki plates up a unique brand identity and interior. Rich in colour and texture with intricate artistic detailing, only the best restaurant designers could craft a transportative experience of this kind. Speak to Design Clarity about what they can help you achieve for your restaurant.

Bar transformation is a real tide-turner. One premises, endless potential. All you need is creative vision, smart strategy and inspired execution. Depend on Design Clarity for all this and more. La Bodeguita del Medio, now rebranded The Cuban Place, did and the results are astounding.

Take a 650 sqm heritage listed bar and restaurant space on York Street, Sydney. What a perfect canvas for breathtaking bar transformation. One that brings the splendor, liveliness and culture of Cuban street bars right to the heart of metropolitan Sydney.  

This inspired bar transformation by Design Clarity has channeled 1950s heyday Cuba into every nook and cranny of the stunning Sydney premises. Bright turquoise timber paneled ceilings look down colourfully on La Bodeguita del Medio patrons. Antique ceiling fans and intimate pendant light fittings complement rustic exposed brickwork, Cuban wood paneled window shutters and eye-catching rum barrel displays.

Bar transformation leaves no detail to chance. La Bodeguita del Medio offers a host of choices from high-backed studded brown leather booths, square wooden tables with matching carved-backed chairs and al fresco options featuring deep wicker tub chairs.

What bar design worth its salt would neglect the iconic Cuban cigar from La Bodeguita del Medio? Certainly not a bar transformation being carried out by Design Clarity. That is why La Bodeguita del Medio features its own external luxury cigar lounge where low-lying cigar smoke hangs in the air taking a sensory trip down memory lane 1950s Cuban style to new heights. Couple that with personalised rum lockers and the Cuban spirit has never seemed more alive.

Downstairs, old-world Cuba wraps its warm splendid arms around patrons in an even closer embrace. Live music sets the scene while patrons themselves are asked to leave their handwritten thoughts alongside striking hand painted murals.

The Sydney premise is essentially a commercial space. So effecting a bar transformation of this scale took a great investment of time, skill and inspiration. Design Clarity worked closely with the site owners and managers, ensuring a seamless authentic fusion of traditional old-world Cuba with relaxed modern Sydney nightlife.

The Cuban Place bar transformation is an experiential treat that brings patrons back time and again. If you are considering bar transformation for your own premises, speak to the proven experts. Speak to Design Clarity.

Banking design and technology are making certain that banking does not look the same anymore. And the way banking works has changed forever. Think People’s Choice Credit Union (PCCU) as an example. PCCU is infused with cutting edge banking design and technology to deliver enhanced customer experience and interactions that are hard to beat. Other banks and lenders are swiftly following suit, opening up a brave new world for the banking sector in Australia and around the world.

Fear and loathing in the banking trip is no longer. Now customers are enjoying a transformative fusion of banking design and technology that flips the traditional banking experience on its head. The design concept delivered by Design Clarity for PCCU was: “Mine. Yours. Ours.”

Staid unwelcoming institutionalised surrounds have given way to relaxing ‘mood music’, personal greeting by concierge, smart ATMs and dedicated feedback pods. Coffee flows freely, literally, as customers can caffeinate without paying a cent. Then there are the free newspapers to read, iPads to keep the kids entertained and coin-counters so customers can complete their transactions quickly and efficiently.

One banking design and technology measure that PCCU has implemented is a precinct approach. Walk into a PCCU branch and you can head to a clearly defined personal, communal or social precinct. Semi-private meetings take place in comfortable booths akin to those everyone vies for in upmarket cafes.

Upping the ante on customer service facilitated through smart banking design and technology. All PCCU staff are armed with tablets to help customers get onto internet banking and make digital payments on the spot. These tablets are also terrific at showcasing products and services to customers live and in real time.

One of the key strategies of banking design and technology is to shift priority from profit to customer experience. Leveraging technologies like tablets, on-the-spot internet banking and smart ATMs, banks like PCCU are able to increase member interactions.

Shifting brand perception is a multifaceted process. Storytelling, textiles, branding, interiors and much more come into play. When it comes to shifting brand perception, Nando’s is tangible proof of how influential this process is.

Nando’s began life as a fast-food chain hailing all the way from South Africa. Specialising in Portuguese chicken zizzed up with various Peri-Peri marinades, Nando’s originally drew customers on the offer of tasty food served fast. In other words, fast food. Old-school Nando’s restaurants were rather ‘plain Jane’ with basic wooden tables and chairs, over-the-counter kiosk ordering and basic layout. But like every eatery, Nando’s had to respond to complex conflicting consumer demands that call for healthy food, great dining experience, convenience, swift service and much more. In a nutshell, Nando’s turned attention to shifting brand perception, and what a journey it has been with the move to ‘fast casual dining’.

Modern-day Nando’s is a completely different story. Shifting brand perception began with compelling storytelling. Nando’s has a colourful Southern African history that lends itself to vibrant design expression. Rich animated colours, natural materials, striking patterns and intricate textiles like micro-mosaic table-tops and geometric tiling form the basis of shifting brand perception through unique character dining.

Nandos Afro-Portuguese brand heritage are reiterated through artist collaboration showcasing art pieces crafted by African artists. Thoughtful touches like mural expression of Nando’s cockerel branding add to the enticing consumer journey.

Nando’s restaurant spaces are a far cry from fast-food kiosk days. A contemporary blend of burnt orange leather booth seating, sleek light timber chairs, designer wooden stools and bar seating set off beautifully by mosaic tiles presents a sharp appealing heightened diner adventure.

Nando’s has done an outstanding job of shifting brand perception and driving greater foot traffic. If you are interested in shifting brand perception for your own restaurant, speak with the experts like Nando’s did. Speak with Design Clarity.