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Readables

Readables are our non-visual content. It is our thought leadership papers and insights. The following are a range of written-form content that include our coveted Field Guide Pamphlets, blog posts, and other non-visual content. We are continually exploring different ways and mediums to present our thinking to a broader audiences and this section is a curated selection for your viewing. As lovers of the printed form, many of these are often available in print form. When available in print form the content will be labeled and have a link to either request a free copy or for purchase.

Mobile + Store is our outlook for the future of retail environments. Common to all retail, with an special edition on retail banking (Mobile + Branch), this field guide offers strategic direction for planning your retail strategy today and for the future. 
Relevant for all retailers.

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This guide was developed in response to the growing needs, interest, and confusion around branch transformation. We embarked on this effort to consolidate the thinking of our team and experience into a primer on what transformation means for financial institutions, what to expect, and how to go about implementing change successfully.

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In this guide, we introduce our concept of First Engagement and instruct how to build a robust engagement platform and new retail experience. 

This guide provides a how-to on best practice for creating a great interactive teller setting and backdrop so your talent always looks good on-screen. 

(Guide not available for download)

A guide about how to change your experience from transaction-based to hospitality. The guide centers around one of our case studies. 

In this guide, we introduce our concept of Customer Cartography and provide insight into how to analyze and build better experiences. 

Design Made ’13 is a self-titled annual collection of select work, photography, and writings by Design Made. At the end of each year, we review our work over the past 12 months, seeking out unique explorations and common lines of thought that carry through the breadth of work. We select the work that really excited us, the images that captured the feeling of a moment, and the great places we had the pleasure to experience. Most of the work was produced within the calendar year; a few select projects or explorations completed outside that period are included because they complement the work of the year.

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Design Made ’14 is a self-titled annual collection of select work, photography, and writings by Design Made. At the end of each year, we review our work over the past 12 months, seeking out unique explorations and common lines of thought that carry through the breadth of work. We select the work that really excited us, the images that captured the feeling of a moment, and the great places we had the pleasure to experience. Most of the work was produced within the calendar year; a few select projects or explorations completed outside that period are included because they complement the work of the year. 

Design Made ’15 is a self-titled annual collection of select work, photography, and writings by Design Made.
 

Design Made ’16 is a self-titled annual collection of select work, photography, and writings by Design Made. 
Forthcoming. 

>‘17 is an end of the year, beginning of new year, initiative by Design Made. Printed in January of 2017, the paper highlights the things we were paying close attention to in the new year based upon things we were working on, movements in the marketplace, and changes in how people behave, consume, communicate, and shop. 

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>‘18 is an end of the year, beginning of new year, initiative by Design Made. Printed in January of 2018, the paper highlights the things we were paying close attention to in the new year based upon things we were working on, movements in the marketplace, and changes in how people behave, consume, communicate, and shop. 

Research Brief

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Research Brief

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Research Brief

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Research Brief

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Short One: A brief discussion of the trend in micro branch, in financial retail services, with a consideration of the value of a micro branch business model. 

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Short Two: A brief discussion of the concept the duck vs. the decorated shed originally introduced by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour in their book Learning From Las Vegas, and its applicability for branch identity today. 

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Short Three: A brief introduction to the concept First Engagement, referring to a new customer/member engagement condition in retail banking. 

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Short Four: A brief introduction to the concept decompression and recompression and discussion on how to create successful entry sequences in retail.  

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Short Five: A brief discussion of retail store building identity with a comparative assessment of two case studies: the Apple Store and Sugamo Shinkin Bank.

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Short Six: This Short is the first of series of parables on design and experience. Parable 1 talks about the difference between a transaction solution and an affective one.

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Short Seven: a brief discussion of online digital experiences including how we approached the digital experience in some recent work. 

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Short Eight: an archaeological analysis of the Aime Leon Dore brand as a case study in how to create and manage an engaging brand.

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Short Nine: a discussion about less in branding.

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Our lookbook focuses on transformation and change, presenting a selection of our work using the framework of Brand Culture, Customer Cartography, Systems & Space, and Content & Activation. Told through a selection of design stories and briefs of select projects, we talk about how we think, design, and create unique solutions for our clients. 

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