Let’s dwell for a minute on the concept of branding.
A powerful brand is so much more than a logo, a strapline or a palette of colours. It’s the unique face and voice that your business offers to the world; a reflection of your beliefs, aims and personality.
No matter your sector - from corporate to leisure; sports to retail - it’s what sets you apart from your competition.
And it shapes the experience people have of your company, whether that’s the experience of your customers or clients, or of your employees.
“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.”
Paul Rand
Now let’s consider the fact that every time a person walks into a physical location that you inhabit, it has an emotional impact on them.
When it comes to designing the interior of your company’s offices, premises or venues, these two factors combine to make it absolutely crucial that your branding is immersed in every inch.
Your space should be aesthetically pleasing and instantly recognisable as yours at the same time.
DesignTonic’s “Leisure Principle” in action #1
Retail & Leisure Brand Game = Strong
Obviously, how an interior designer approaches that depends on your brand’s purpose and personality.
Retail and leisure spaces, for example, are where consumer experience is the most strongly rooted.
When it comes to any leisure space, from a distillery HQ to a boutique hotel to a contemporary cinema, there’s a subtle balance to be found - a fine line to tread between on-trend experience and functional design so we can shape that experience in the most positive way.
It’s a process that takes particular skills and experience to pull off well, and is all too easy to get wrong. Here at DesignTonic HQ, we call it the Leisure Principle.
The Leisure Principle in action #2
Applied by our skilled team to the Heineken Bar at Leeds United FC
A successful retail space, meanwhile, calls for a careful blend of commercial potential and stunning aesthetics.
The aim is for every inch of your space to work equally hard to generate sales and to strengthen customer loyalty and retention at the same time.
Retail done right
DesignTonic X North Brewing Co at Springwell Leeds
Culture Shift - Branding and Business
In the corporate world, your interior branding is key to how you craft the culture of your business for those that experience it - whether that’s your internal staff or visiting clients, customers or suppliers.
As with all interior design, it’s crucial that your branding is a true reflection of your company’s personality - working alongside the functional elements of your space to boost positivity and motivation.
Shared workspace goals
DesignTonic X Inc Spaces
Co-working spaces are one space where you really see the benefit of beautifully applied branding combined with artful interior design.
The latter is of course absolutely essential to ensuring comfort, multifunction and ease, which in turn brings people back time and time again.
But smart, immersive branding works on both conscious and subconscious levels to reinforce those positive feelings, permanently aligning them with your brand and raising you above your competitors to help you win the retention, recall and referral battle.
Collaborative co-working at its best
DesignTonic X Opus North
3 underlying considerations for the perfect branded space
As we said at the beginning, successful branding goes far beyond just building in your logo and company colours.
Here are 3 factors you might not have thought of, but which are crucial to designing a truly inspirational interior for your business.
Incorporate your core values
Think of your brand’s intangibles - the core values you support.
Are you committed to sustainability?
Or to innovation, or staff wellbeing? Or collaboration?
These can - and should - be integrated into your interior scheme.
Club heritage meets Beer icon
DesignTonic X Heineken at Leeds United FC
Where’s the heritage?
For added emotional impact, seek out and celebrate the heritage of your brand, your building and/or your locality.
Established companies may have a visual treasure trove that could be plundered to enhance the interior branding - from iconic product lines or advertising to items that represent the brand’s origins.
Newer companies could look to incorporate elements that reflect their origin story, or to the heritage of their local area or the building they’re based in to create a modern heritage feel that mixes with the freshness of their start-up vibrancy.
Engage the senses
Think about making the sensory experience as comfortable and inviting as possible.
As well as the obvious visual factors of branding and colour, consider how you’ll layer lighting to suit the purpose of your space, how you can make your space smell good - often a forgotten factor! - and how you can ensure acoustic comfort, now shown to be more important in office environments than ever post-pandemic.
Discover more on tapping the senses for bar and restaurant design in our recent blog
