ABA Banking Journal - August 2008 - (Page 40) BRANCH DESIGN bonding could occur—with the store, with a product line, and with the overall brand. This bonding process doesn’t always happen, and if design isn’t the only reason, it certainly can be a factor. One designer spoke of a financial services client which had a lovely interior rendered with good materials that suggested financial prosperity but didn’t mirror the customer base in any way. There were other problems, including a lack of clear principal of spatial navigation—a suggested flow in the floor plan that could show customers where to get questions answered, pick up information, or do anything other then basic transactions they would already expect. “The only sign that conveyed a brand message was en route to the rest room,” the designer explained. It’s this sort of error that can make the difference between a warm and pleasant looking branch that hits—or misses. Getting the elements right And there’s the not-so-small matter of color. “Color itself sets a mood and evokes feelings,” says Kathryn Bruckner, retail planner, NewGround, Chesterfield, Mo. “At the same time, it needs to be used strategically. If a client is wedded to a socalled serious color like navy or gray, the client needs to understand what a room filled with navy might feel like. Color research shows, unless used sparingly, it would tend to feel sedate,” says Bruckner. “Customers need to feel energized to life’s possibilities and focused enough to work with branch personnel to make key financial decisions,” Bruckner adds. Callison’s Chris Hamilton sees another tendency in the financial services industry and that is, in the quest to “own a color” (a strategy of the top 20 banks in particular), he’s seen branches that get, as he put it: “dipped in color.” The effect, he says, can cheapen the richness of the interior and make an exterior be “about calling attention to itself and not about the customer segments that the bank is trying to reach.” Hamilton believes that clients should link intangible financial products to tangible images of client aspiration. Many of the experts interviewed for this piece made similar statements. The space should somehow—typically through images of customers doing the things that financial soundness provides—create a link from what the brand promises to the customer. Another tendency that designers see occurs around the creation of the design metaphor itself, that is, the visuals that are there to symbolize the brand message. “Sometimes the metaphors can be too literal, too obvious, and don’t serve the brand as well as they could,” says Brian Judd, senior architectural designer with BrandPartners. Judd also sees a problem that he calls, “withholding literature.” “They don’t want to look cluttered with brochures and signs, which I understand, but then they overcorrect and don’t have enough,” says Judd. “Banks shouldn’t assume that all their customers will know what their options are when it comes to various financial products. You have to explain what you have and what it can do for you, the valued customer.” Linking to the broader community When done well, says Elisa Winter Holben, design director, BrandPartners, effective design makes a statement, inspires people, and can familiarize them with aesthetic quality. “People respond to a sophisticated, well thought out design, even if they don’t know all the theory behind it,” she says. (Cont’d.) “Make it work!” Ten tips from today’s designers ✖ When preparing for a redesign, first think hard about your business and honestly assess what you stand for, what differentiates the brand, and what key messages you’d like to convey. ✖ While in the assessment stage, contrast and compare how you look now with sketches of various options for the new look. Ask tough questions about what contributes to the brand message versus what detracts. ✖ In some of the visual elements such as signs, digital displays, or brochures, you should mirror your key customer segments. ✖ The branch should tell a logical and emotionally coherent story as customers move through it. There should be a place that brings different elements that may stand alone elsewhere into a coherent whole. ✖ Design materials have to be of a quality to match customer expectations, depending on whether the bank caters to value or high-end customers. ✖ There should be an attractive display immediately inside the entrance, called a “doorbuster.” It could be the product of the day or something else to entice impulse buyers. ✖ There should be no dark corners. The light has to be just right, not too cold, too warm, too light, or too dark. ✖ As customers move around the branch, their eyes should always fall on a focus point, whether it’s merchandise or a display. ✖ Retail concepts have an average 24-month shelf life and should be refreshed in no more than five years. In keeping with this tenet of design, a bank’s store should be designed to facilitate redesigns in the future. ✖ Once the interior looks terrific, you make sure you’ve trained your personnel to make that open floor plan pay off. Don’t let people hover in the offices just because it’s habitual. 40 AUGUST 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.newground.com http://www.ababj.com
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