Retale Design Solutions brings out ‘amazing look’ smartly at Total Mall

Since its inception in 2003, Bangalore-based Retale Design Solutions has established several milestones, offering wide range of solutions in the areas of: original retail concept design, retail graphics and visual merchandising, store rollouts, office interiors, and residential interiors. Juhi Santani of the company, who has led various projects for several renowned clients such as Adidas, Puma, Vinegar, Bossini, Kappa, Titan Raga, shared her views about the recently completed project for new Total Mall that replaced Big Kids Kemp at the Old Airport Road, Bangalore, in conversation with PG Santhosh, Pixhelp.net

Retail Design Team 
Would you like to tell us about your association with Total Mall and your company’s scope of work in their projects?

We’ve worked with Total Mall since the inception of the retail hypermarket brand which was called ‘jumbo hyper’ then. Initially, in 2005, Retale was hired to do internal signages and visual merchandising elements for their first store. Over the next few years, the scope extended to the complete look and concept of their retail presence: from building facade, shopping mall interiors to the signage and interiors of their hypermarket. So far, we have completed all category graphics except the way-finding for them.

Total was replacing an old Bangalore landmark, Big Kids Kemp. Was this in your mind during the project, and did it affect the sign design or placement?

No, the brief was to get away from the existing for a fresh, more retail-savvy way.

What were the primary materials used for the visual identity and way-finding elements?

I shall focus on the visual identity, since we didn’t design way-finding signs. We used a whole gamut of materials: from MDF jaalis to customised wallpapers (printed on vinyl), 3D interior graphics on polycarb and sunboard, of course, backlit signs too.

What challenges did you face during the execution of signage and graphics schemes?

The scale of the project was rather vast: from cash counter backdrops to penants, column graphics and category/product graphics. So managing that kind of scale became the most challenging task.

Is there anything specific where you would you like to see improvement from the sign and graphic manufacturers in a project of this scale?

Yes, in being flexible about the materials that come into play! Mostly manufacturers don’t seem to be able to think beyond flex and vinyl. For the smallest departure required in standard materials, we end up sourcing a carpenter/metal fabricator to help the signage manufacturer out. The ‘one-stop-shop’ approach seems to be missing, there’s too much of ‘my scope ends at printing’ attitude rather than a holistic approach to signs as a whole.

Would you like to share the credit for a successful implementation with your clients, graphics manufacturers and your team?

Yes, of course! Client: Total Mall & Hyper for Food Express Stores Pvt Ltd. Graphics manufacturers: Glowell Inc for exterior signs, Rio Design & Display for interior signs. Retale Design team: Seema Sharma, Anoop Krishna, Khaiser Jabeen and Juhi Santani