The Colour of Confidence

Change is in the air. The Institute of Store Planners (ISP) is now the Retail Design Institute (RDI). The Store of the Year award in RDI’s 38th annual store design competition went to a project in India, not traditionally known as a fountain of retail inventiveness. And the winning project – the Asian Paints Colour Store – isn’t even a store! (For more on that space and other winners in the competition, click here.)

It doesn’t sell any merchandise, not even the paint that’s part of the name over the door. Rather, the key word on the nameplate is “Colour.” It’s selling the possibilities of color (we’re hereafter reverting to the U.S. spelling), how color on shoppers’ walls can changes their moods, lift their spirits, brighten their lives. Only after the shopper has immersed herself in this world of color is she put in touch with the dealers and decorators who will obtain the paint for her job.

Retail design has always been focused on driving shoppers’ attention directly to that sweater on the table or the box of cereal on the shelf. But we’ve gone beyond purely visual merchandising; today, this profession is as much about creating lifestyle environments that touch consumers’ emotions. And by that definition, the Asian Paints Colour Store – designed by Fitch’s office in Singapore – is a perfect winner for today’s times.

“More and more,” says Brian Shafley, president of Chute Gerdeman Retail (Columbus, Ohio) and also president of RDI’s Ohio chapter, which conducted this year’s judging, “we’re selling inspiration, education, motivation with our designs.”

India’s is a culture rich with color. But to budding Mumbai do-it-yourselfers, choosing the right colors for their homes can be daunting. It’s not unlike a young fashionista wanting to make the right choice in Saks. A mannequin shows her not merely some merchandise but the possibilities of an outfit or ensemble matched and accessorized.

There’s not much romance, after all, to a paint can. The allure of the product is in its possibilities – to change your home environment, which changes your life. Your mood. Your productivity. But that requires choosing the right color, which is typically represented by the label on the can, a swatch on some wheel or a brush smear on a blank piece of paper. And too often, those swatches and smears don’t accurately capture the color you’re after, anyhow. It’s the wrong choices that produce the fears about the next choices.

With all the flashing LED colors and videos of how color can affect an environment, this store merchandises color as a lifestyle element. It envelopes the shopper in the idea that color can be fun, and choosing the right one can be easy. Don’t be afraid.