VMSD - April 2015 - (Page 60)

Checking Out Interview by Steve Kaufman Joan Insel Callison's director and retail design strategist might be eavesdropping on your airport conversation. Keeping it Zorchy What was the most influential advice you ever received? When I was a young graphic designer, a mentor said my work needed to be more "zorchy." In other words, edgier? Probably. But to me, it was a word without clarity - a subjective issue only he could define. Good communications need clarity more than anything else. So I started looking What information do you use? We travel a lot for business. We go to various cities and try to get out into the retail environments, the hotels, the restaurants, to see how people are interacting with spaces. We analyze available information on people's shopping patterns, buying patterns, social patterns and what's going on with the economy. How do you make that relevant to your client? We look at the client's target market - how they live, what hotels they like to stay at, what restaurants they go to, what books they're reading, what television shows, what movies, what advertising is intriguing to them. Then we compile this information into tangible insights that can inform the design. into how to design from a more subjective viewpoint, while still getting that emotion into it. Still true today? More than ever! Lives have become so blurred. People shop all the time on their smartphones. How can we get them to look up from their phones and look at the store, the merchandise? How can we reach them on a personal level? The messages have to be interesting, but they also have to be clear. 60 APRIL 2015 | vmsd.com Sounds like an exhausting process. It's exhilarating, exciting and engaging. When defining the process for a new cli- ent, I like to use the analogy of relationships - it's like going from speed-dating to getting married and going on a honeymoon to having a baby - all in just 9 months, in time for the holiday storeopenings. So you were a little girl who dreamed of becoming a brand strategist? No, I enjoyed drawing, but my parents discouraged me from studying this in college as too impractical, so I majored in architecture and graphic design at the University of Washington. I stumbled into brand strategy as a way of focusing design solutions. Your interest in branding came from where? I also took sociology classes and became intrigued by why certain people do certain things, which is at the heart of developing a successful brand strategy. It's about understanding the functional and emotional attributes of a brand, then translating this into a retail experience. You travel a lot. Does that inspire you? Sure. I get some of my greatest inspiration in watching and listening to people at restaurants, hotels, stores and even airports. I hear some of the most interesting stories from people about something that would never be on my radar.  C our te sy of C al li so n l lC , s eattle What's the biggest challenge for a design strategist? Working with a client that doesn't have a clear brand position and strong pointof-view. Many brands today are trying to appeal to a wide group of consumers; however, if they focus on a specific mindset, then their retail experiences will have a more focused, differentiated point of view. http://www.vmsd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of VMSD - April 2015

VMSD - April 2015
Contents
From the Editor
VMSD Editorial Advisory Board
The Goods
Design Detail
Talent Show
Cool Beans
Color Coded
The Silent Sellers Are Speaking Out
A Football Fantasy
Showroom
Ad Index
Checking Out

VMSD - April 2015