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A Question of Identity
Must corporate branding
reign supreme, or should branch facilities make
room for self-expression?
A corporation relies on imaginative “branding”
elements to stand out from the crowd, appeal to
its customers, and foster loyalty and enthusiasm
among its employees.
However, if the corporation
exerts too much design control, inhabitants may
feel stifled. Especially in the modern drive to
create a “feel-good, work-hard” environment,
companies must distinguish brand assertively without
making employees and customers feel like just
another number.
In working with its hospitality
clients, the Engstrom Design Group (EDG) of San
Rafael, Calif., takes a two-pronged approach.
“For mid-range dining, it’s not financially
feasible to go off brand very much unless an entire
new identity is being crafted,” says President
Eric Engstrom, IIDA.
But finances aren’t
always the overriding factor. Vacationers travel
to break out of routines and experience new things.
So when attracting diners to the same restaurant
in different cities, establishments have to remain
grounded and “familiar” while offering
a little something different.
EDG has created restaurants
for Nordstrom and Wolfgang Puck Express around
the country that feature virtually the same graphics,
signage and color scheme. However, the higher-end
restaurants for Wolfgang Puck vary quite a bit
from city to city. “I think it’s important
in high-end dining to have the restaurant reflect
its location,” Engstrom says. “We hear
this from the customers. If they’re on vacation
in Hawaii, they don’t want it to look just
like New York.”
While the San Francisco
version of Postrio features a ribbon motif and
modern art by the likes of Rauschenberg and Rosenquist,
the new Las Vegas incarnation differs substantially.
Located in the Venetian Hotel, it combines influences
from Venice and San Francisco. “There are
architectural elements reminiscent of the post-Gold
Rush era in the wood trim, heavy draperies, decorative
glass and light fixtures,” Engstrom says.
“The menu also emphasizes creative seafood
dishes.”
Spago in Beverly Hills,
Calif., Puck’s flagship restaurant designed
by Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Partner Barbara Lazaroff,
features Italian marble, vivid art glass and an
olive garden. But for Spago Maui, located at the
Four Seasons Resort, EDG dove deeply into a Pacific
island theme, adorning the walls with pictures
of sea anemone and fish. “It uses the same
logo as in L.A., but the restaurant in Maui has
a trans-Pacific, Asian feeling,” Engstrom
says.
Subtle Adaptations
Companies outside the hospitality arena also need
to juggle familiarity with flexibility out in
the field, according to Eileen Jones, Principal,
Perkins & Will at the Chicago-based Eva Maddox
Branded Environments, which has designed branch
facilities for major health institutes and corporate
showrooms in 60 locations.
“You need some consistency
so people will recognize you — in the logo,
colors, patterns and overall design associated
with the company,” Jones says. “Also,
your customers should have a similar experience
in terms of the environment and the people they
encounter.”
Beyond that, Jones says,
a branch or showroom can adapt to its surroundings.
“For instance, the branch may need to coordinate
with another group, a co-brand situation, as often
happens in healthcare. Sometimes the workplace
may require another kind of teaming arrangement,
a work style a little different from headquarters.”
More important than colors
and designs, Jones says, is how outsiders experience
the company when they first pass through its doors.
“How are you greeted — by a person behind
a desk or someone coming out to shake your hand?
As a special guest, or someone just passing through?”
Any printed information on display also should
convey the corporation’s values. “Is
there a story being told that makes you feel part
of the company, or makes you want to do business
with them? Is there consistency from built environment
to print material to Web site to advertising?”
she says. “How are the employees engaged
every day, and how do they display the attributes
of the work they do?”
 Kinetic
Sensibility
Andy Glidden, Creative Director of Glidden Design
Ltd. in Edinburgh, U.K., agrees that branding
goes beyond static choices toward active designs
that color consumers’ experiences and reflect
how occupants will live within the space. “Brand
identity is expressed in many ways. In the location
and appearance of buildings, the external signage
and wayfinding, the landscaping and art forms
of the exterior environment — even the tone
of voice and language used by the receptionist.
These all create impressions in the mind of the
consumer, clients and staff.”
Glidden recently created
the corporate identity, graphics and interiors
for Omega Bank in Greece, a new retail, corporate
and private-bank network. “We devised the
theme of ‘celebration,’ inspired by
a lower-case omega symbol that looked like a figure
with its hands raised in jubilation,” Glidden
says. “This theme was applied to the corporate
signature and extended via a series of photographs
showing people with their hands raised, including
sports people, business people and babies,”
Glidden says. “The photos were used in branches
on large, graphic panels and window displays,
on product literature and annual report and also
in live-action form on TV commercials.
“The general idea was,
‘Join Omega Bank and you’ll want to
jump with joy!’ We made it clear the bank
had to deliver against this promise across all
of its operations, since customers would have
their expectations raised.” He says that
if branch individuality is expected to be an important
factor, he plans for it early in the design process.
“Areas within the branch that are interchangeable
would be the printed graphics, a color change
or the addition of certain physical elements.
These things are not design-led. They are strategic
business and organizational decisions, which are
then expressed through design.”
Will It Travel?
Regional branch requirements can be influenced
by the role of a branch facility — which,
although smaller than the home office, may serve
as a headquarters for an entire country —
as well as by the type of people it employs and
the type of customers it serves.
Gensler’s design for
the headquarters of Allsteel, a contract office
furniture manufacturer in Muscatine, Iowa, combines
the sleek lines of the company’s furniture
with a friendly, Midwestern atmosphere. “We
looked at their values and culture and aimed for
a sense of warmth and informality,” says
Dian Duvall, Principal for Brand Strategy and
Design with Gensler, San Francisco.
A visitor entering the 70,000-square-foot
Allsteel headquarters passes first through a “community
room,” a big, glass box with a working fireplace.
This experience is replicated in smaller Allsteel
facilities in Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago and
Washington with some adaptations. The interior
of the Los Angeles facility follows a cool, blue-toned,
modern scheme, while the Washington site features
leather, damask, mahogany and marble, designed
with government clients in mind. The Dallas office
and showroom respond to their site with elongated
“Texas dog-run” architecture and rustic
materials such as recycled barn wood used in sophisticated
ways.
Each locale displays the
Allsteel logo out front in freestanding letters,
but the materials change according to the site.
The L.A. sign is Lucite, the D.C. version has
a copper-penny finish, and the Dallas logo is
cut from raw steel.
Duvall pointed out that
Gensler’s own branch offices have great autonomy.
The San Francisco headquarters occupy a historic
building looking out on the Bay Bridge. Inside,
the cement columns and original brick have been
exposed to emphasize their urban grit. It’s
not just a question of adapting elements of culture,
but more a drive to capture a citizen’s way
of thinking. With branches across Europe and Asia,
Gensler knows that what plays in California may
not work in Japan or Europe.
“In the global marketplace,
companies are learning to tailor their local offices
to various regions,” Duvall says. “For
example, you have to acknowledge the formality
of certain cities, such as London or Tokyo.
“In northern Europe
— countries such as Belgium and Germany —
design is driven by environmental control and
comfort. Companies are legally required to provide
all staff access to natural light and ventilation.
‘Dilbert’-type cubicles are an alien
concept in the United Kingdom, and greater emphasis
is placed on staff amenities and balancing work
and life.” Duvall says that British companies
also promote more face-to-face contact with clients
than U.S. firms.
“Once you’ve established
a corporate standard, it becomes expensive to
go outside the box,” Engstrom says. “But
if someone working in the San Francisco office
is transferred to Chicago, he doesn’t want
the workplace to look exactly the same. Different
regions have different climates and histories,
and you have to adapt.”
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New technology can reinforce brand
identity and excite the imagination,
but designer beware: Overly trendy
gadgets may alienate customers.
 Television
is a familiar technology that has
insinuated its way seamlessly into
hospitality environs. Designers are
using the medium as new, interesting
conversation starters. Eric Engstrom
hopes to incorporate digital artworks,
such as those in the Redwood Room
of San Francisco’s Clift Hotel,
into future designs. “There’s
a series of Art Nouveau posters that
slowly transition to more contemporary
art,” he says. “You don’t
really notice they’re changing
unless you take your eye off one for
a few minutes.”
Dian Duvall has admired similar light
boxes that adapt over time, changing
the color and mood of a space. “We
have to move from static to dynamic
materials in corporate environments,”
she says. “That way, the communications
stay fresh. They don’t become
tired and tedious to either your employees
or your clients.”
She also likes technology that provides
real-time information as a visitor
enters a reception area: “It
sends the message that your company
is willing to experiment, using new
ideas and materials.”
Eva Maddox Associates plans to use
HoloPro, a new, lightweight, transparent
projection surface embedded with a
holographic film, at a university
with an active sports program. “The
screen will be used in the university’s
new athletic/academic facility, to
connect the university and sports
brand with real-time athletic activities,”
Jones says.
Palm technology that allows a visitor
to download information on a specific
service or project also has captured
Jones’ imagination. “It’s
better than just taking home a brochure,
and it impacts the customer’s
experience of your company,”
she says.
But too much hi-tech can be off-putting.
Engstrom noticed that when restaurant
waiters experimented with punching
in orders on hand-held keyboards,
customers reacted negatively. “They
wanted to see the waiter write it
by hand,” he says, adding that
the higher the restaurant’s prices,
the more this was the case.
“Just because some technology
exists doesn’t mean it should
be used,” says Andy Glidden,
Creative Director of Glidden Design
Ltd. in Edinburgh, U.K. “It is
a serious mistake to allow fashion
to lead certain projects and for the
current trendy look to be applied
blindly. Too many environments are
created to satisfy a consultant rather
than the client and invariably are
ripped out at great expense when they
do not perform as required. Good design
is taking a problem, understanding
the key issues, and making it better
for the client, the business or the
public.”
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