Sebastian Maynard

Design Considerations for Different Retail Formats

As customer needs change and emerging technology enables new possibilities, retail channels need to adapt in order to stay relevant. This pattern has been demonstrated throughout history. For example, before the 1900s, personal cars and home refrigerators were not widely used, so people would visit markets and convenience stores fairly often. After sub-urbanization began and these […]

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How to Run a Better Brainstorming Session

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

Brainstorming is a common technique used by many organizations to create new concepts and products. In a typical brainstorming session, a small group of people discuss potential ideas and solutions. The goal is to generate and record as many thoughts as possible by postponing judgement and analysis, and encouraging unusual or far-fetched contributions. In theory,

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How Financial Institutions Can Drive Innovative Culture

Financial Services / Sebastian Maynard

In today’s highly competitive and quickly-changing banking industry, the pressure is on for banks to prove their relevancy to their customers and outperform their competition. Banks today understand the critical need to connect with customers emotionally and to develop services to fulfill their unmet needs. And yet, innovation can be a difficult process to nurture

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Questions to Ask When Hiring a Package Design Firm

Packaging Design / Sebastian Maynard

In “Key Considerations When Vetting Your Strategic Partner,” we determined how you should vet your strategic design agency by exploring the three tiers of strategic requirements. Design Thinking Strategy, focused primarily on how to link the package design to underlying, unrealized opportunities in the marketplace. Brand Strategy includes a wide range of strategic tools, from positioning,

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Key Considerations When Vetting Your Strategic Partner

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

There are more than 21,000 creative professionals in the top three largest cities in North America alone. When you factor in all mid to large cities in North America, it’s daunting for any company to select a strategic design agency to tackle their packaging brand transformation. A key factor in selecting the right firm is

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How to Simplify the Banking Experience for Customers

Financial Services / Sebastian Maynard

With so much access to information these days, decisions can be hard. We are all generally more informed, but there are also more options to consider, opinions to hear, and claims to be validated. Simplification can help address this issue, and many industries have leveraged it in their branding and business strategies in order to

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What Automation Means for Staffing in Retail

Retail / Sebastian Maynard

No one doubts that artificial intelligence and automation will change the role of staff in retail environments. The question is, how? A new theory is starting to play out in some industries and may come as a surprise: the reaction to an automated experience is a yearning for more human interaction. In a way, though,

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The Influence of Digital Technology in the Shopper Journey

Digital Experiences / Sebastian Maynard

Digital technology has changed retail. You can now buy an item from your phone and have it shipped to you without ever visiting a store. If shoppers actually visit a retailer, they often encounter digital technology such as screens, mobile app integration, augmented and virtual reality, and mobile payments. These digital experiences can help attract,

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How to Foster a Strong Retail Brand Culture

Corporate Identity / Sebastian Maynard

Great retail brands such as Starbucks, Apple, Harley Davidson and Zappos have prospered by effectively aligning their internal corporate culture with the needs of their most loyal customers. A strong culture ensures that every brand representative the customer interacts with, over the phone, in person or online, is consistently delivering cultural values that are aligned

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Designing More Comfortable Retail Spaces

Retail Design / Sebastian Maynard

Comfort can have different meanings. It can mean physically comfortable, with soft seating and moderate temperature. Or, a person can be mentally comfortable, where a space is calm, safe, and welcoming. In a retail context, store design can play a large role in making customers feel more at ease. Have you ever walked into a

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Creating an Ethical Branding Strategy that Matters to Consumers

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

Is your brand ethical? Does it have a cause or purpose that its people truly believe in and are committed to? Or are its initiatives primarily marketing techniques? In recent years, many brands have had to assess their ethics and impacts on society as customers demand more transparency, and become increasingly concerned about environmental, political,

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Which Type of Design Research Should You Use?

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

So, you are ready to introduce a new design for your brand. It looks modern and appealing, and you think it will create a strong impact. But how can you be sure that your customers feel the same way and that this design resonates with them? Reflecting on how you, or your agency, developed and

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Five Important Factors in Achieving Brand Authenticity

Retail / Sebastian Maynard

The importance of brand authenticity came to the forefront more than ten years ago when demographers started to raise awareness of the buying power of Millennials. With the failure of banks in 2008, and many corporate scandals making the headlines, it’s not surprising Millennials were looking for brands that were authentic and approachable. The Mirriam-Webster

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Renovate or Relocate? Six Things to Consider

Retail Design / Sebastian Maynard

Retailers and food operators are finding it harder to find new locations with strong growth potential, as much of the population growth is happening in congested urban centers, and the majority of great locations are already occupied. This phenomenon is not limited to North America, as many countries have too many stores, and are seeing

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Why Experience Stores are on the Rise

Retail Design / Sebastian Maynard

Retail is taking a turn down a curious alley. Many brands are opening retail concept stores that defy all logic by having nothing for sale. From pop-up shops, to “guide-shops,” to showrooms where customers can play with the latest products in a branded environment, retailers are suddenly feeling oddly comfortable pushing less sales and more

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Using Retail Design to Bring Your Brand to Life

Retail Design / Sebastian Maynard

Does the design of your store or restaurant reflect your brand’s personality? Or is it out of sync with the message that you want to convey? Retail design is a physical representation of a brand that shapes customer experiences. Lighting, color, materials, fixtures, layout, commercial retail graphics, and digital signage all influence perceptions and express

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Best Practices to Attract Millennials to Your Brand

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

Ah, Millennials: the fabled generation that every company is attempting to reach. Expected to surpass baby boomers in size by 2019, Millennials (also known as Generation Y, Me and Peter Pan, to name a few) are reaching their prime spending years. The impact that they will have on the economy has marketers frothing at the

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Will Subscriptions Work for Traditional Retailers?

Retail / Sebastian Maynard

The subscription trend began online with platforms like Netflix and Spotify, companies that provided access to information over the internet. As delivery costs drop and customers become more comfortable with e-commerce, e-retailers have begun successfully using subscriptions to sell everything from shaving supplies to groceries. Clever bricks-and-mortar retailers are getting in on the action by

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How to Convert Customers into Brand Ambassadors

Brand Strategy / Sebastian Maynard

In my book, Desire by Design, I cover in great length the power of fans in driving desire for brands. What I have learned over the many years of helping brands remain relevant is the fact that for any brand, whether it’s toothpaste or a new high-end car, having brand ambassadors promoting your product is

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Learning from Trends in Disruptive Packaging Design

Packaging Design / Sebastian Maynard

Standing out on shelf is one of the key factors that will determine the success of a package design. However, with so many products competing for the consumer’s attention, it’s becoming harder to stand out. Whether designing for a well-known product that already has cachet, or introducing an entirely new offering, it’s critical that a

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Design Considerations for Different Retail Formats

How to Run a Better Brainstorming Session

How Financial Institutions Can Drive Innovative Culture

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Package Design Firm

Key Considerations When Vetting Your Strategic Partner

How to Simplify the Banking Experience for Customers

What Automation Means for Staffing in Retail

The Influence of Digital Technology in the Shopper Journey

How to Foster a Strong Retail Brand Culture

Creating an Ethical Branding Strategy that Matters to Consumers

Which Type of Design Research Should You Use?

Five Important Factors in Achieving Brand Authenticity

Renovate or Relocate? Six Things to Consider

Why Experience Stores are on the Rise

Using Retail Design to Bring Your Brand to Life

Best Practices to Attract Millennials to Your Brand

Will Subscriptions Work for Traditional Retailers?

How to Convert Customers into Brand Ambassadors

Learning from Trends in Disruptive Packaging Design

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