AN INTERVIEW WITH CREATIVE DIRECTOR ADRIAN BRIGGS. - “WHAT WE’VE LEARNED FROM 25 YEARS OF DESIGN”

Retail design is full of buzzwords: immersive, experiential, flexible, omnichannel. But what do these mean in practice – and what should senior decision-makers expect when they partner with a design studio? Adrian Briggs, Co-Founder and Creative Director of UK-based studio Briggs Hillier – creators of global retail concepts for brands such as Crocs, adidas, and JD - has spent more than two decades navigating the retail landscape and understanding how design plays a key role in the success of a store. In this conversation, he shares candid thoughts on what good design really requires, how to spot the difference between show and substance – and why getting the brief right might matter more than anything else.

 

WHAT MAKES BRIGGS HILLIER’S DESIGN APPROACH STAND OUT?

“One of the most common misunderstandings about design is where it starts”

 

Design shouldn’t begin with visuals – it should begin with investigation.

 

“Design is born out of research. If the research is wrong, the solution is going to be wrong. If the objectives are wrong, the solution is going to be wrong,” Adrian says. Too often, brands skip over this stage in a rush to see ideas. But the best results come from deeply understanding the problem that needs solving.

 

The first task for any studio worth its salt? Refining the brief. That means challenging assumptions, identifying unspoken challenges, and aligning on what success genuinely looks like – commercially, operationally and experientially.

 

“We need to understand the consumer, we need to understand the business and we need to be able to challenge it where we can. Only when we have that foundation, and only when we truly know what the objectives are, can we create a solution that works.”

 

HOW DO YOU DEFINE IMMERSIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN?

“Great design considers how a space should feel, not just what it can do.”

 

‘Immersive’ and ‘experiential’ are terms that get thrown around frequently, but they’re often misunderstood. “For many people, immersive means technology,” Adrian explains. “But true immersion is about emotional connection. And it has nothing to do with screens.”

                

He cites a project for a footwear brand where he suggested that the store should be without all digital. To create a truly immersive environment for this brand, it needs to be relaxed, tactile, and instinctively aligned with the brand’s values. Lounge-like seating. Curated vinyl. The ability for customers to control the music instore. No modern tech in sight.

 

“It’s about being consumed by the brand in whatever way is relevant,” Adrian explains. “It goes back to the answer to the first question with regards to truly understanding the customer, the brand, and the brand objectives. The answer is in that research piece.”

 

HOW DOES BRIGGS HILLIER DESIGN FOR LONGEVITY IN A TREND DRIVEN WORLD?

“Designing for evolution... ... Not just for launch”

 

Retail trends shift fast, but refits don’t. Most physical environments are expected to last five to seven years — which means designing for evolution, not just for launch.

                

“Flexibility and adaptability are critical,” Adrian says, “but they need to be realistic.” Many brands ask for modularity, only to find the resulting options are never actually used and give colleagues too much choice. Over-designing for flexibility can be as problematic as under-designing for it. The key is understanding the actual habits of the store teams and the rhythms of merchandising.            

 

Longevity isn’t about installing a toolkit. It’s about building responsiveness into timeless design.

 

“There are very few projects in the 25 years that we’ve been in business that we will have created that did not consider flexibility”, Adrian recalls. “How things change, how we pay, how we interact with spaces, how fashion changes, material trends. It all changes so quickly.” He continues, “We always will think about adaptability and flexibility in the product range, in the stock, how it comes together, and design a practical solution that is not fixed and rigid. More than this, flexibility can be helpful to creating a change of pace in store.”

 

“It’s important that we define what flexibility means for each of our clients because there’s no point in creating that flexibility if it never gets implemented or used. Understanding the brand, understanding how they work, understanding how their merchandising teams work is really important.”

 

WHAT ROLE DOES STORYTELLING PLAY IN THE DESIGN PROCESS?

“Storytelling is environmental, not didactic”

 

“Too often, brands assume their customers know what they know,” says Adrian. “They don’t. You have to spell it out for them, but in a way that’s authentic and subtle.”

                

He contrasts brands who overclaim with those who show, not tell. “Don’t just say you’re sustainable. Prove it.” Done well, storytelling is not simply a comms piece, it’s environmental – not purely didactic. Material choices, flow and feel of a space are just as important as any words or images.

 

“I think it’s really important for every brand to be able to tell their story, but I think a lot of brands fall into the trap of their internal chat. Storytelling should address barriers to purchase in an informative way that is genuinely helpful for the consumer.”

 

HOW DOES BRIGGS HILLIER DESIGN FOR THE OMNICHANNEL EXPERIENCE?

“Omnichannel isn’t a feature, it’s a commitment”

 

Store design plays an enabling role in bridging the gap between digital and physical, but it can’t carry the entire strategy.

 

“You can create the space for omnichannel, but the systems have to back it up”, Adrian says. “Whether it’s live stock checks, store-to-door fulfilment, or seamless returns, these aren’t features that can be faked in design. They require backend readiness.”

 

“What’s important with omnichannel is consistency of messaging, experience and connectivity. Am I being told the same information, am I getting the same story instore as I am online, as I am in all of the brand’s touchpoints?”

 

“We can encourage it, but we can’t necessarily create it. The comms that we deliver and the space that we create for it can facilitate it, but the brand has to have the infrastructure to be able to make those kinds of things happen.”

 

“It all comes down to the different customer journeys. All these different mindsets, different frustrations, different levels of engagement. What we do is we really nail the different customer journeys. We understand all those customer missions and customer demographics. Any demographic can be on any mission at any time. There’s a lot of crossovers. Understanding these missions - what all these missions are, and based on this, how people navigate the space. This is really, really important.”

 

HOW DOES THE STUDIO STAY INSPIRED AND INNOVATIVE IN ITS DESIGN PROJECTS?

“We don’t just watch how customers move; we watch how they hesitate”

 

Where does innovation really come from? Lived experience. Briggs Hillier’s team spend time in-store, observing staff, talking to customers, and even taking on shifts!

 

“You can’t design out friction unless you’ve felt it,” Adrian says. That might mean spending hours at a travel agent, a pet store, or a gym – watching how people move, how people hesitate, and how they make decisions.

 

This isn’t just research – it’s empathy. And it ensures that design answers real problems, not imagined ones based on assumptions. “Whenever we’ve got a new client, we go out there and we truly analyse their spaces. We visit their environments, and we watch people. We observe the staff, we observe the

customers, we listen to what people are saying,” Adrian explains.

 

“It’s about remaining connected to consumers because it’s consumers that we’re ultimately designing for. You know, if you’re going to design a bowling alley, you go to all the competitors’ bowling alleys and you bowl in them, so you understand how it feels. Put yourself into the mindset of that customer.”

 

“Whenever we’re anywhere, our eyes are open”

 

HOW DOES BRIGGS HILLIER DESIGNS TRANSLATE INTO MEASURABLE SUCCESS FOR CLIENTS?

“Ultimately, design must deliver measurable results.”

 

The first question that Briggs Hillier asks any client is ‘What does success look like to you?’. This is defined at the beginning of the design journey so that everyone is on the same page. “Define what success is at the beginning of the journey and then we’ll make sure it happens.”, Adrian says. “Sometimes a brand’s senior team will have different ideas about what success looks like so it’s really important to define the purpose so we can design for it and check back in at each stage so that we’re always working towards it.”

 

“Sometimes the client will drift from it, usually due to pressure from other departments. We try to accommodate everybody’s requests but sometimes we have to be the bad guy. We were brought onboard to solve a problem.”

 

Being results-focussed has led to countless success stories for brands that have partnered with Briggs Hillier. Adrian talks about some of the success stories over the years that stick out. “A very successful partnership was with Henderson. From the beginning, we understood everything they were trying to achieve. It’s such a cherished relationship that we have with them.” Adrian continues, “Our store concept was ridiculously successful. They continue to roll it out and to this day they follow our guidelines to a tee. We gave them the adaptability they needed. Their stores are now even bigger. Twice the size of the concept designed, but they still look exactly the same! So that had huge commercial success for them.”

 

Another success that Adrian cites is for one of the studio’s long-term clients. Whenever one of the stores receives the new concept as part of its refit programme, the retailer can expect a significant sales uplift at that store. “They’ve got so used to that formula working,” Adrian explains. “It’s because we understand them and we understand their customers”.

 

Adrian also recalls the success of the Pets at Home concept. “If we go back to the question about creativity, for Pets at Home we delivered unbelievable creativity within the parameters of a pet store.” He continues, “For a commodity retailer, we delivered something so different. We put pets at the centre; we created a better flow and created event spaces. We built all these different layers into a space that was traditionally supermarket aisles. We broke out and delivered a fully immersive experience store.” Briggs Hillier’s reinvention of the traditional pet store for the UK’s leading pet care retailer received

industry recognition, receiving a Retail Week award for Store of the Year – Large Format.

 

 

This article was created from an interview conducted between Briggs Hillier Creative Director and Co-Founder, Adrian Briggs, and Marketing Manager, Lucy Mister.

 

Design@briggshillier.com

www.briggshillier.com

Exhibitor Data Sheet