Page 52 - February 2021

SPECIAL FEATURE | GLOBAL SHOPFITTING & DESIGN

JURLIQUE

Reinventing Normal

In the final part of our shopfitting feature, Mark Landini,

Creative Director of Landini Associates questions whether
it’s time to reinvent physical shopping? In this article he

argues that retailers have to want to do this and recognise
the commitment required to do this.

he first step is the brief, the second a benign Four years ago we were asked to help reinvent a mass-
dictatorship to manage this change, the third market fashion retailer in the face of global invaders like H&M,
experimentation, then finally resources to Uniqlo and Zara. We ignored their brief that asked for mid-
T execute, unhindered by the “day to day”. floor flexibility, and built walls with fixed lighting, articulating
The best design briefs are less than one page long, the collections, and VM’d centrally. No flexibility required, more
exceptional ones one or two sentences. This brevity is good stock on the floor, and resulting sales that continue to beat
because it clearly states an outcome (often financial) for our work. their nearest rivals by 400 per cent per square metre. The
It’s rare for great briefs to annunciate visual outcomes, client needed to be brave to adopt our proposals but all
but sometimes they do, assuming design is limited to style. we really did was rationally answer the brief by “Reinventing
Retailers are honest folk, but often so busy that they don’t Normal”; applying common sense.
have time to reflect and reinvent. But that’s where design So what’s “Reinventing Normal”? Well, it’s a rational
can help, by challenging the fundamentals and asking all the process that starts by articulating a desired outcome, then
dumb questions. challenges whether history is the best way to achieve it.
Perhaps this is why so many stores look (and operate) the When supermarkets were first introduced after the Great
same and why fashion stores differentiate with chandeliers and Depression no one minded queuing at checkouts, because
wallpaper, and supermarkets untiringly mimic Whole Foods. things were so much cheaper when bought in bulk. But three

52 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2021