DDi - September 2012 - (Page 38)

38 AWARDS 2012 Design Firms of the Year 1 st Place FITCH Headquarters: Columbus, Ohio Key Projects: CityTarget, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago; Asian Paints Colour Store, New Delhi; Fixtures Living, Costa Mesa, Calif.; McLaren, London; Morrisons’ M local, London; Ann Summers, London (shown); Vodafone, various locations worldwide; Dell, various locations worldwide K Photo: Jon Meade nown for its knack for thinking beyond the physical space, it’s no wonder Columbus, Ohio-based FITCH tops our list of design ﬁrms this year. In an industry that increasingly demands more dynamic brand presentation, the ﬁrm embraces every aspect of both the tangible and virtual retail world in its designs, translating brands into consumer experiences. Chief Creative Ofﬁcer Tim Greenhalgh and his staff see it as their responsibility to use design as a vehicle for creating “hope” for clients and consumers, and he believes they see success “by being bold, not arrogant.” In the past year, the ﬁrm continued to push the experiential envelope, delivering a slew of multisensory retail spaces around the world. The ﬁrm’s sustainably designed showroom for Fixtures Living won awards across the industry’s most prestigious competitions, and its newest Asian Paints Colour Store in New Delhi and Morrisons’ M local in Ilkley, Yorkshire, U.K., received accolades as well. The ﬁrm also partnered with Target this year to strategize and design the much-anticipated CityTarget launch. But, even with a portfolio full of highproﬁle ﬂagships and rollouts, Greenhalgh emphasizes that the ﬁrm’s source of enthusiasm lies in the process—and the process alone. “Design is exciting, full stop,” Greenhalgh says. “This has been proven time and time again in our studios when a strong creative director began working on what may have been viewed as a ‘less glossy’ project, and turned it into the project everyone wanted to work on. We take our global retail experience and use that talent and insight to create ideas that challenge conventions for our clients.” —LAUREN MITCHELL, ASSOCIATE EDITOR “We look for people who are bold, curious, compelling and unpretentious—bold thinking drives everything we do.” | September 2012 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - September 2012

DDi - September 2012
Table of Contents
From the Editor
From the Show Director
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Portfolio Awards 2012
Retail Design Luminaries
Retail Design Influencers
Design Firms of the Year
Best Visual Merchandising Programs
Retailer of the Year
Best-Designed Stores of the Year
Retail Standouts
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDi - September 2012