Cover Feature www.thedesignermagazine.com 21
the store design, developed by retail specialists dalziel & pow.sales,
was trialled at one store, sales jumped by 25 per cent.
any company can take the decision to use design to rethink and
regenerate its products, operations and image – whatever its size.
as these examples show, an investment in design can be
instrumental in turning the corner to renewed growth. design can
elevate a business or its products from the ordinary, the tired or the
predictable – demonstrating that the business is alive, dynamic and
responsive. and in a declining market, that just might make the
difference between growth and collapse. designer
The Design Council has developed an online resource to help
businesses understand how design can help them out in a
number of ways during recession. It can be found at:
www.designcouncil.org.uk/designinadownturn
THISTLE HOTELS GOES FOR IMPACT
“There is a strong sense that overpriced investment of £138 million across the
mid-range properties are on borrowed portfolio has provided a new corporate
time and that location-focused budget identity and will see [a refurbishment of]
and top end luxury or themed hotels at Thistle’s 33 hotels across the UK,” says
either end of the spectrum represent the Figge.
future,” warned market research company
Mintel in its 2006 UK Hotels report.
To signal the changes, the company’s
Additional Mintel research into the budget
main corporate identity – the traditional
hotel sector, published in 2007, found
thistle emblem – has been replaced
that value chains are outperforming the
by a contemporary logotype – a logo
UK hotel market four times over, with
constructed simply from a typeface.
particularly strong growth coming from
Supporting this is a strapline ‘The way
Premier Inn and Travelodge.
it should be’ – a confident statement of
service quality, claims Jenks. The word
“It was never
Thistle Hotels, meanwhile, was suffering
‘Hotels’ has also been dropped from the
from a deteriorating reputation and
name – an assured move based on the
meant to be a
losing out to other major mid-tier hotel
assumption that people already know the
operators. Priced in the same bracket
company and what it does.
Complex brand
as the likes of the Hilton, Marriott or
Radisson hotels, but with a brand more
Navyblue’s design work also extends
solutIon; It’s
closely associated with the budget chains,
well beyond the main marque, to include
Thistle was poorly positioned to respond
business-to-business and business-to-
about sImplICIty
to these changes in the marketplace.
consumer literature, as well as internal
To compete more effectively in these
and external signage and in-room printed
and detaIl”
conditions the company decided it needed
materials. The brand is deliberately
a new brand, a refreshed visual identity,
‘uncomplicated, informal and streamlined’,
updated interiors and improved service.
with a muted colour palette. “It was never
meant to be a complex brand solution;
“Thistle’s strength is that it has more high-
it’s about simplicity and detail – the
profile city centre locations than anyone
communications have to work across
else, but otherwise they were in a bit of a
a whole range of different buildings,
mess, just one up from the bottom tier of
architecture and environments,” explains
budget operators in terms of perception,
Jenks.
but not in terms of price. If people are
going to spend the same amount of
As well as the visual changes, the branding
money as they would going to the Hilton,
process takes in the company’s values,
they would go to the Hilton,” says Marc
processes and operations too, with
Jenks, Design Director of Navyblue, the
Navyblue consulting on an appropriate
consultancy behind Thistle’s new brand
‘tone of voice’ for communicating with
image.
customers, for example.
Thistle’s chief operating officer Heiko Although the project is a long-term one,
Figge is now overseeing a major both in terms of roll-out and the expected
refurbishment of the company’s return on investment, Figge believes that
hotel estate, backed up and informed the initiative has already been “extremely
by Navyblue’s reworked corporate effective, with a growing sector of new
identity. “Our new vision for Thistle is to customers and a positive media response
dominate the four star deluxe market. An to the new look”.
design in a downturn.indd 21 2/3/09 11:54:08
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52