Maytag Appliance Store

Although it may seem unlikely to form an intimate connection between a shopper and a dishwasher, that1s exactly what designers aimed to do when redesigning Maytag Appliance stores. Designers wanted to bring in a lifestyle component, and take branding to an emotional level, through a colorful, evocative graphics system.

Categories are color-coded: orange for cooking, light aquamarine for dishwashing and cobalt blue for laundry. Using a hierarchical graphic system, customers receive the right message at the right time. For example, larger, simpler lifestyle images – a baby1s feet swaddled in a towel, friends cooking together – hook customers in, appealing to them on an emotional level. Then, verbal cues (“clean,” “fresh,” “aah!”) appear throughout the space, drawing visitors in with more reasons to regard buying Maytag appliances as a good thing. And at the end, smaller informational graphics detail features and benefits.

Client: Maytag Appliance, Newton, Iowa — Rian Cain, director of special retail

Design: Fitch Inc., Worthington, Ohio — Fred Goode, program manager; Clint Bova, Pam Dull and Kathleen Goode, designers; Joe Klamert, implementation

Architect: Gastinger Walker Harden, Kansas City, Mo.

Suppliers: AEI Music Network Inc., Seattle (audio/video); Armstrong World Industries Inc., Lancaster, Pa., and Interfinish, Chicago (ceiling); S&G Mfg. Group, Hilliard, Ohio (fixturing); Monterey Carpet, Santa Ana, Calif., Mannington, Salem, N.J., Seneca Tiles, Attica, Ohio, and Johnsonite, Chagrin Falls, Ohio (flooring); ISA International, Toronto (furniture); Eagle Exhibit Services Inc., Columbus, Ohio (graphics); Lighting Management, New City, N.Y. (lighting); Signs of Distinction Inc., Des Moines, Iowa (signage); ICI Dulux, Columbus, Ohio, Sherwin Williams, Cleveland, Benjamin Moore Paint Co., Montvale, N.J., and Arborite, LaSalle, Que. (wallcoverings)

Photography: Mark Steele Photography, Columbus, Ohio