Design Partnership in RatRoom, Hungry Lion

The creative incubator, or RatRoom, was formed to deal with the important and often difficult question - why design something in the first place? How does it add value? Is it worthwhile, or what would make it so?

The realisation that design can be a powerful and meaningful tool, however, is only the first tentative step. In trying to make bigger leaps in this area, the company assembled a multi-disciplinary team of Neydine Bak, Leigh Harrington, Robin Rossi and Monette Du Plooy, headed by partner Yatish Narsi.

"There is this myth that design comes from really creative people. They sit at their desks and just leak creativity. Nothing can be further from the truth! Creativity demands focus, exposure, logic and rigour. It is about failing; failing often and succeeding sooner. To do this you need the right processes, tools and most importantly, the right people. I hate this idea of applying strategy to design, it is built in surely? How can you design without it?" says Narsi.

Going undercover to experience design

For the RatRoom, those processes involve going 'undercover' to get to the real heart of the brand challenge.

"We have a whole series of tools that we use, from a fantastic array of powerful software and hidden cameras right through to a 3D printer. However, over and above these tools, we spend as much time as possible engaging with the space to determine the true extent of the challenge. We often find that the real issues - the actual objectives of the design exercise - can be found in the very environment under scrutiny.

"When we go on site and view the actual store function and operations, we find challenges and opportunities seldom highlighted in the brief. Therefore, we make a point of spending time working, shopping and experiencing the environments we are designing for. This has involved us working as undercover receptionists, salespeople, bank tellers and hopefully, in more roles to come. Observation will forever remain one of the designer's most powerful, albeit under-utilised, tools."

Design thinking

Another key tool for the RatRoom, and integral to its company vision to create leading user centric retail design, has been the strong underpinning of design thinking. Popularised by firms like IDEO, Smart Design, Frog and Apple, design thinking at its core is a holistic design process that forces empathy, creates perspective and allows for a collaborative, iterative solution.

"Design thinking is a great way to unpack a problem. It is very important to us to not just answer and accept a brief, but to try interrogate it, understand it and honestly answer it. Think of it like a doctor's visit; it would be irresponsible for your doctor to treat the symptoms you describe alone and on face value. A brief is exactly the same. Often it requires some investigation to find the root cause. Simply following it is not enough."

Core characteristics

• Diagnosing the right problems: Traditionally, designers are brought in to follow a brief; the RatRoom approach involves analysing the wider implications of the design problem.
• Designing to the power of partnership: All affected parties and disciplines, including the client or client's agents, working together for best results.
• Encouraging participatory design processes and techniques: Involving users and front-line workers in the design process, thus making the design process more accessible to 'non-designers'.
• Building capacity not dependency: Design that seeks to leave behind not only solutions, but the tools, skills and organisational capacity to respond to change and effect positive long-term growth.
• Designing beyond traditional solutions: Applying design skills in non-traditional territories, and creating non-traditional design outputs. Systems thinking is the ability to consider an issue holistically rather than reductively.

The RatRoom has successfully deployed this approach on a number of recent projects, including those for Coricraft, Standard Bank and Incredible Connection. The latter two projects will be launching to market later in the year.

Hungry appeal

Brave, bold branding that would deliver stand-out pavement appeal, lure customers in and successfully differentiate it from its competitors were just some of the creative objectives behind Design Partnership's recent Hungry Lion rebrand.

Although it has maintained something of a low profile since its establishment in 1997, Hungry Lion has a network of more than 150 stores in eight Southern African countries. During this time, the emerging QSR brand has quietly focused on getting the basics right, bedding down operations and refining its core offering as a fried chicken fast food outlet.

However, with these elements and its positioning in the market now cemented, Hungry Lion franchisor, Adrian Basson, thought it was time for the brand to find its voice and shout about its 100% homegrown South African offerings.

Pavement appeal

This is exactly what Design Partnership hoped to achieve with its bright red and yellow colouring that brings to life the eye-catching new Hungry Lion logo, created by M&C Saatchi.

"Basson's first priority was to arrest passers-by, so pavement appeal featured right at the top of the creative brief's 'shopping list', followed by aligned communication and a comfortable and inviting interior. To this end, all exterior detail was stripped to a very monochromatic and brightly lit red and yellow to attract attention, increase footfall and nurture strong brand awareness from the get-go. This was then blended with softer and warmer interior lighting and timber finishes, balancing the strong yellow and red colours and creating a harmonious scheme," says Callie van der Merwe, CEO of Design Partnership.

This palette was combined with soft bench seating, ottomans and dining chairs to create versatile and comfortable seating options. Warm white interior lighting and quirky pendant light fittings highlight the interior and give good colour rendering to the product offering.

Van der Merwe says in this way, the design achieves high pavement appeal, realised through the strong monochromatic colours and brand identity and high product appeal. "It also allows the communication strategy and product to come to life and be the real heroes of the show while the envelope - although appearing as a very strong differential, especially when compared to the other competitors in this category - remains a neutral holding device," he explains.

Aggressive rollout strategy

Design Partnership created the new design identity for strict lead times, durable fixtures and finishes (most sites are located in high footfall catchment areas, predominantly in urban centres) and being able to package stores in kits to be transported to sometimes difficult to reach locations (a large percentage of the stores are in remote locations in Southern Africa).

In addition, the new stores still had to be as cost effective as possible, had to use locally available materials and had to be assembled within the lowest possible lead-times. To date, 10 new Hungry Lion stores have been built, six are about to go on site and an additional 30 are planned for this financial year.

For more information, go to www.designpartnership.co.za.