RETAIL DISPLAYS
CLIENT/ HURRICANES EXPRESS BONDI BEACH
work/ retail display desigN, LIGHTBOX display, wall art, PROJECT LEADER.

Brief/ WE HAVE TWO WALLS FOR A MENU DISPLAY. ANY IDEAS?

STORY/ Retail displays of any sort, have one focus only - to sell something. And as a Retail Display Designer, it’s my job to assist in making that financial transaction as clear, aesthetically pleasing, easy, and as fast as possible. For Hurricanes Express, they were ending their high-street leased site and were renovating their street facing “back” garage into their new, super-slick, minimalistic designer styled takeaway. The dominant colour was black.

So, as the decor was a matt black with hints of a gloss splash, I suggested we stay within the palette, design the menu in a simple but contemporary black & white style (slimline), with a strong font (Futura Bold), LED light backlit display.

Starting with the back wall, I measured up and split the design into 3 x lightbox menu boards, one for the burgers, one for ribs steaks, chicken, and the third for salads, sweets, drinks etc. That way if say burger menu prices changed, we could update one menu board only, negating the need to remove the entire backlit printed menu and the costs associated with reprinting an entire wall of backlit film.

For the large side wall, I wanted to try and brighten the interior up as it was basically dark but didn’t want to add loud brash colour, so thought about something cool, understated but with a local Bondi connection. I was thinking a lifestyle shoot on Bondi Beach, bikini babe, surfboard, beach, water something fresh, fun and sexy to bring that beach vibe into the Express, then give the image a timeless black and white look and we’d be good to go. It almost happened.

Then we got lucky...

Billy, Hurricane’s VERY FIRST customer to ever walk in the doors and actually buy something - 90yrs plus and counting - was walking by, and happens to mention that he had an old 1901 photo of Bondi Beach and that where we were standing, was actually a series of sand dunes. WTF?! He asked if I wanted to see it. Let’s go Billy. And off we went.

To cut a long story short, Billy showed me dozens of cool memorabilia from the good old days and some amazing b/w photos. He kindly allowed me to photograph his photograph and I turned this into the wall art you see today. The real kicker is the engagement, comments, selfies and positive feedback we receive from customers, whilst waiting or picking up their orders - they’re mesmerised by the old photo. I located roughly where Hurricane’s Express and added a “marker” on the photo to give people a sense of scale - to show them they were standing on top of sand dunes if it was 1901.

For the back wall display, it was trial and error until I found the right size font for headings etc. I would cut up the menu headings and ingredients, print it out 100% and stick it to the wall. Then I’d walk outside the front and viewed the menu. What I was looking for was an easy to read the menu for people to view on the sidewalk (about 6mtrs) as they walked on by.

I invited 3 suppliers to meet me on site, measure up, advise on any ideas, and provide a quote. The client picked a contractor and it was off to the races.

Client/  HURRICANES EXPRESS BONDI BEACH

Joe/ Retail Display Designer.
Service/ Project Advisor. Interior Decorator. Designer. Quotes & Contractors. Designer.

Brief/ Create an easy to view menu display and wall art. Provide a solution for cost-effective savings when menus need to be updated particularly with price changes. Make the wall art memorable with a local Bondi vibe.  
Target Market/ Express takeaway customers. Home delivery customers. Tourists. Walk-by customers. Families. Kids. Teens. Bondi Hipsters. Locals. Carnivores. Normal people.
Purpose/ New Express needing a new menu to sell to new and old customers.
Result/ After a period of “settling in” customers gradually got used to the new location and as word-of-mouth spread, the business steadily reached their “high-street” sales targets. The 3 x menu lightbox designs provided costs savings for price/food updates. Social media sharing (Bondi 1901 photo). All good.

Photography © Joe Florian

Joe Florian Design/ RETIAL DISPLAYS
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