Effective retail signs
Walmart went through a complete renovation some years ago. Several improvements were made, including the design of interior sales signs and website formatting, which ensured these elements worked in conjunction to create an immersive shopping experience.
For many years, signage was considered to be the most disposable component of retail stores, making use of inexpensive materials that could be changed frequently with minimal thought on scale, clutter, or impact beyond the immediate need to increase sales around items by identifying specific areas of the store. With recent efforts to improve the customer experience, many retailers now see signs as an important investment, worthy of the same care as other in-store fixtures. This has led to improvements in many areas:
Legibility
Retail outlets have a better understanding of legible signs and are making use of modelling software to analyze customers’ ‘viewing corridors’ when planning a store design. Today, signmakers are focusing heavily on legible typeface, scale, and contrast to enhance the customer experience.
Modularity and material quality
Modular sign systems have always been integral to stores, but some are becoming closely linked to store merchandise fixtures themselves, often becoming part of the same system. This approach is especially successful in enhancing the quality of store signs by matching them to the same material standards as fixtures.
Dimensionality
Retailers are beginning to see the many benefits of using channel letters, projecting signs, awnings, and other traditional outdoor signs in-store. These ‘store-in-a-store’ strategies often replace ‘flat’ indoor signs, making the interiors appear like urban streets or street fairs.
Illumination
Similarly, light-emitting diode (LED) technologies used for external illumination are now making their way inside stores. One leading trend has been the use of cove and soffit lighting to illuminate indoor signs, particularly those identifying the departments within a store.
In 2008, TD Canada Trust went through a long process to convert the acquired Commerce Bank branches to the TD Canada Trust brand, while maintaining and improving many of its approaches to enhance the retail wayfinding experience. The bank commissioned Toronto-based EGD firm Shikatani Lacroix to build on its existing transparent building design and develop a brand merchandising approach using print and digital signs. The project focused on developing specific ‘touchpoints’ that would have the biggest impact on the customer experience. Some of the key strategies included:
Retail outlets are making use of modelling software to analyze customers’ ‘viewing corridors’ when planning a store design and are focusing heavily on legible typeface, scale, and contrast to enhance the customer experience.
Planning: The brand’s design can be likened to many fast-food restaurants, with a transparent front leading to the main teller counter with few visual or physical obstructions and a dominant drive-thru. Additional banking services are adjacent and also open to the outside.
Signs: Financial marketing products were placed in modular systems that closely aligned with the building’s window frames. Illuminated signs at key customer touchpoints such as the service desk, automated teller machines (ATMs), and lobby were carefully managed to minimize clutter.
Integrated displays: A tight graphic palette was maintained both for print and digital product marketing that were carefully integrated into fixtures, which supported the larger architectural palette. Newer locations also feature greater integration of digital signage into the architecture.
Window displays
Successful store navigation does not rely on signs alone, but requires a combination of architecture and displays to create a complete environment that directs and informs customers. In recent years, the removal of enclosed boxed windows has resulted in increased transparency of store architecture. As a result, displays have become a significant part of the overall store design and a primary supporter of wayfinding.
Designers use themed window displays to entice customers into stores, serve as landmarks, and promote specific sales. Large-format printing combined with modular panels and systems closely align displays with the overall wayfinding and communication demands of the store.
Another trend has been to make illuminated signs a key component of displays using retro methods like neon and light bulbs combined with dimensional and projected digital displays. Dynamic elements can transform displays into lively areas for public engagement.
