Case Study:Incorporating Psychology Design Factors Into a Mixed Business Office and Retail Space

We have been clients of Martin Patrick 3 since the time we walked into their first retail space and fell in love with their design and creativity. Since then we are proud to have had them as clients of ours as well. Here,Dana Swindler, CFO, tells a little of their recent redesign bringing together their retail space, design studio and offices.

>History

In 2010 we made a decision to combine three disparate businesses into one location, Walsh Design Group, ID Inside Design and Martin Patrick 3. The goal was to have customers and clients seamlessly move from one to another without really knowing they were transitioning from one store to the other.

>Issue

In late 2011 we noticed that customers and clients were physically stopping at the ID Inside Design side and looking in, but not often going into the space. We also felt that the lines between Walsh Design Group and ID Inside Design were too stark as well and needed attention. For some reason, an “invisible wall” separated these entities, and prevented interaction.

>Solution

We added approximately 2,400 square feet and redesigned the customer flow as well as the work spaces to encourage more exploration and cross-over between Martin Patrick 3 and ID Inside Design, specifically. The new space was designed to blur the lines between each of the three entities; we wanted people to move through without realizing it and to interact with everyone.

Walsh Design Group was opened up in several directions to be part of the ID Inside Design space, as well as allow private work spaces to be seen from both selling floors.The objective was to pique customers’ curiosity about what they see, to pull them into areas where they would normally not go, and cause them to ask more questions. For example, we now have more customers asking if we do interior design work, customer furniture, etc., which has led to additional work. In addition, customers feel more compelled to shop at ID Inside Design from Martin Patrick 3 and vice versa.

The floor and base color pallet continued into the new space. Several walls were removed or reinstalled at angles to encourage looking from one space into the other. A decision was made to keep the music the same in all three areas, to maintain the connection between them.

These photos show you how the client created interest and harmony within their space.