design:retail - January 2014 - (Page 8)

editor's note 008 Tailored to Fit ALISON EMBREY MEDINA EXECUTIVE EDITOR alison.medina@emeraldexpo.com @dretaileditor I N DECEMBER 1988, a startup trade magazine named Display & Design Ideas made its debut to the retail industry at the National Association of Display Industries' winter market. In its launch issue, then editor Karen Benning wrote: "DDI was created to deliver innovative design ideas in a fresh, new format. It is designed to help visual merchandisers, store planners and designers at all types of retail chains develop novel ways to attract busy consumers to their stores and get them to buy." The 60-page prototype issue was chock-full of ads and blackand-white pages-and had product reviews on the cover. We've come a long way, baby. While we have loved owning the DDI moniker for the last 26 years, with this January 2014 issue we are ushering in a new era for our brand and a new name-design:retail. So, why change the name? For one, "DDI" has never translated well outside of North America. "What's a DDI?" is a question I have been asked more times than I can count. For two, "DDI" as an acronym is lost in a sea of sameness in the game of alphabet soup that currently exists online. In one Google search for "DDI," you may come up with any of the following: Delivery Drivers Inc., Development Dimensions International, Dungeons & Dragons Insiders and-my personal favorite-Dominatrix Directory Index (I would not recommend visiting that site on your company laptop). We are immensely excited about the name JANUARY 2014 DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM design:retail, because it instantly and unequivocally announces exactly who we are and what we do. It's a name tailor-made to ﬁt us and the industry we serve. When we started working on this redesign in January 2013, this is the edict we set forth to conquer with our design agency: The magazine should balance both design and business. Facilitate pride of the audience seeing their work within its pages. The design should feel relatable. Be ﬂexible. Sustainable. Most of all, it should feel current. As the saying goes, you should never judge a book by its cover. I strongly disagree. The cover of design:retail was altered to custom fit exactly what we want to be: design oriented, retail focused and business savvy. Our take on the story that happens between the blueprint and the bottom line. Inside, you will find a transformed front of book, delivering more of the trend watching, product and project highlights, and expert insights you have asked us for over the years. Visuals have been added to every column layout to draw you in to the story and attract that design eye. Our feature well has been completely re-thought, from typography and headlines, to allowing the photography to play a larger role in each story. That's not to say that our content will suffer-in fact, this new template allows us to get the same amount of words we have traditionally run in a typical feature, only now it looks cleaner and less daunting to read. And let's not forget "backstory" on the last page of the issue. Here, we leave you with one ﬁnal period (or exclamation point, depending on your take!) to close out the issue. For me and my staff, this debut issue of design:retail feels like the exhale on a breath we have been holding in for 26 years. We think our future is limitless, and we want to take you on that journey with us, starting now. Whether you have been reading us for the past three decades, or this is the ﬁrst issue you've ever seen-welcome. We are design:retail. Hope you enjoy. Illustration by JESSE LEFKOWITZ http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - January 2014

design:retail - January 2014
Contents
Editor’s Note
Show Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Innovation
Postcard
Before & After
How’d They Do That?
Mingle
Have You Heard?
The Visual Eye
Searching for Steve Jobs
Inside Bergdorf Goodman
Winning Windows
RadioShack
Amouage
rue21
Products
Backstory

design:retail - January 2014