Community
Good design has the power to breathe new life into shared spaces and bring people together in different ways.
With imagination and insight into how people interact, we’ve helped create places to encourage inclusiveness, enable collaboration and cultivate community.
Our work ranges from university student spaces to museum and art galleries. Whether you’re planning a whole new area or want to make better use of a small, unloved space, we’ll always look at things from the users’ perspective to make sure that the navigation, graphics layout and materials combine to create a welcoming, inspiring space.
How we can help you:
Creating a visually exciting space, somewhere that engages people and inspires them to spend time there.
Translating your existing brand into the physical environment – use your space to tell your story and connect with your audience.
Reimagining and repurposing wasted spaces – for example, turning a work or storage area into somewhere that supports social interaction.
How graphics can shape a strong visual narrative
In community spaces, using graphics intelligently can be hugely powerful. Imagery, typography, colour, symbols and signage can all be used to capture your brand, evoke emotions and tell stories. Warwick Student’s Union asked us to transform their Atrium building (often mistaken for an office foyer) from a tired, unused space to a place that would encourage students to come together to work and relax.
Part of the design included applying vibrant large-format graphics in a style reflecting the university’s brand. This helped us to create a space with a cohesive visual narrative – one that was both engaging and easy to navigate.
Inclusivity – designing for different visitors
For us, inclusivity isn’t a fad or design buzzword. We firmly believe that successfully designing a community or hybrid space hinges on understanding the principle of inclusivity. To be truly inclusive, a space needs to encourage a diverse range of people to use it – unlike, say, a fashion store, which has a tightly defined customer profile.
Herbert Art Gallery asked us to create an inclusive welcome area and retail space that would be engaging for visitors of all ages and backgrounds. We used warm materials and tailored sensory elements (like lighting and soundproofing) to create a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. We also introduced a variety of seating options to cater to different preferences.
Why Wayfinding means more than just signage
As interior designers, we look closely at the environment and the people who will be using it to understand how they will interact with and navigate around your space. Then we apply our knowledge of wayfinding, signage, lighting, colour and texture to create distinct zones and pathways.
Improved wayfinding was central to our design for Warwick Student’s Union – helping students to easily navigate the space: to understand what the space is for, how they can use it and where they they can go. It might sound simple but if it’s not right, shared spaces can feel chaotic and disconnected.
What our customers think…
“Highly recommend Retail Experience Design to fellow professionals who are looking to transform their existing spaces into dynamic and engaging areas that students and staff can connect with and enjoy.
It has been great working with the team, and we are certainly pleased with the projects delivered to date!”
“Warwick Students’ Union worked with Retail Experience Design on refurbishing our main daytime student social space – the SU Atrium. RED provided great insight right from the start of the project, and gave us some great concepts to begin the design process. We had tight deadlines, but RED worked hard to ensure our requirements and feedback were incorporated into the scheme as we went through the development stages. We felt supported and involved throughout the process, and RED managed the delivery of an amazing new space exactly in line with the final design. Feedback from students has been incredible, and we couldn’t be happier with how the project turned out. We would wholeheartedly recommend RED, and would definitely work with them again on similar projects in the future.”
“We invited Retail Experience Design to look at our practice and provide initial space plans and a design direction for a new store concept, the initial ideas put forward blew the usual optical shop fit specialists out of the water and we therefore appointed RED to produce the concepts for our practice.
We are extremely pleased with how the designs have turned out not only does it look fantastic it improves upon so many areas and it really feels like this store has been designed to reflect what we are all about as a forward-thinking optical business. I would urge fellow opticians to give Dean a call if you are considering a refit or a new practice- they will defiantly provide you with something different.”
“The design knowledge and expertise that Retail Experience Design has was invaluable to us – it helped us to launch and push our new business venture forward.
Superbly functional, but also full of our personality, the RED team helped us create a design for our new dessert cafe that was aligned to our vision and importantly, to our budget.
Brilliant designers, highly recommended.”
“Since the practice re-design, growth has impacted all areas and surpassed our expectations. The results simply speak for themselves
135%
increase in retail sales
123%
increase in overall sales
40%
more clinical exams per week
844
new patients
Ready to start your own redesign?
Have a chat with us to get your project started. Fill in the form to get the ball rolling or give us a call.
Studio
02477 103 494
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Need some inspiration? Take a look at some of our work.
There are no boundaries to what good design can achieve for your space and your business. Take a look at some of our work.
The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
Community
Warwick Student’s Union
Community
Warwick Students Union – Atrium
Community
Other sectors
Design for every space. Our experience is as broad as it is deep.
