Starbucks has developed a strategy that allows it to balance regularly changing design themes with a consistent set of brand values, and it uses design as a way of aiding the delivery of a consistent service experience to its customers.
Key elements of that strategy include:
- The development of detailed guidance for internal and external designers in the company’s brand and design principles
- The use of a five word filter against which all design concepts are judged
- A defined Processway to take designs from concept to delivery, encompassing a detailed suite of technical, legal and customer checks
- The development of an electronic workflow management tool to automate much of the design Processway and to further support designers with access to additional resources.
The Starbucks Global Creative team is responsible for the delivery of all in-store collateral and packaging, for the design of much of Starbucks’ advertising and marketing materials, and for a visual merchandising group that works on the visual presentation in the stores and of the products. The group also commissions external creative agencies that deliver worldwide advertising campaigns.
A separate store design group is responsible for the design of the furniture, fittings and layout of Starbucks’ retail outlets. The Starbucks brand itself is managed by a brand group that strategise new brand platforms, such as a new product line and new identities.
The Global Creative team is led by Hainsworth who manages just under 100 staff at Starbucks' Seattle Support Center. Around 50 of these are designers, the rest responsible for project management. All design departments within Starbucks, as well as external agencies, work from 'the same creative palette,' says Hainsworth.
Starbucks’ Global Creative team employs graphic designers together with technical and packaging specialists. Some of the team also bring fine art and illustration skills to the mix.
Designers are also encouraged to think of themselves as business owners, and an emphasis is placed on employing designers who are also thinkers and strategists.
Hainsworth believes that fostering a creative culture in Starbucks is important, and in his role as creative director, he is the face of design within the organisation, and is responsible for showing that designers aren’t just 'off the wall wacky people.'
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