November 21, 2016 by CallisonRTKL

Shout it from the Rooftop: A One-of-a-Kind Retail Strategy

Associate Jayme Schutt discusses her creative process, the message behind brands and how retailers can capitalize on customization.

Retailers have always seen the importance of creating a brand—something that shouts from the rooftop, “This is who we are!” And, in a world where the consumer is personalizing almost everything, it only makes sense that retail stores feature custom designs as well. You wouldn’t want to design your “one-of-a-kind” sneakers in a store that looks exactly like the one next door.

While you do expect to know what you’re getting when you go into your favorite store—say Bloomingdale’s, for example—how does such a brand constantly re-invent itself while staying true to who they are?

This is where customization comes in.

Customizing anything can be a bit of a challenge, but starting with just an idea, the design can really go anywhere. In the case of Bloomingdale’s Ala Moana, CallisonRTKL was challenged with integrating tropical flair into what is the quintessential black and white of Bloomie’s. And while now it seems that palm fronds and pineapples are all the rage, when we started this store design, these motifs were not so on-trend – one of the challenges of being ahead of the curve!

One would think that with the thousands of wallcoverings available, creating one from scratch would almost never be necessary, but never say never—especially when it comes to design! One brand’s paint deck has more than 1200 paints colors, yet we still often look through two or three decks to find that just-right shade of gray.

We started with probably 20 or more ideas: parrots, cockatoos, birds of paradise, orchids, pineapples, coconuts, fish, sea horses—the list goes on and on. And from there, it was paint to paper. I painted two or three variations of each idea—nothing overly detailed as the idea was for them to have a very painterly, loose quality. From here I scanned each in, did minor touchups and color corrections in Photoshop and worked on a digital pattern layout for each design. We then presented each to Bloomingdale’s for feedback and worked together on modifications until the design was right. In the end we came up with six hand painted designs that were used throughout the store.

They’re bold, exciting and unexpected—all characteristics that a Bloomingdale’s shopper would expect—but they’re also the magic word: CUSTOM. They’re hand-painted, giving these spaces a sense of honesty and an artisan touch, which is also very on-trend at the moment. They leave the customer thinking, “How did they do that?”

This was far from the first custom work that CallisonRTKL has done, but it was the first time we have painted designs from scratch. The process was fun and exciting, and it allowed me to stretch my creative legs a bit and work in a medium that isn’t an everyday design tool. It’s exciting to be able to show this type of work to clients and say, “Look what we were able to achieve, and think what we could do for you!”

Was it a challenge? Yes, but as always, challenge accepted!

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CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.