Designing a QSR: Form vs Function
When designing a quick service restaurant (QSR), which is prioritised -- form or function? We asked three leading industry experts to shed light on this common QSR predicament.
Melissa Webber, Owner and Creative Director, Holy Cow! Design & Advertising:
When working on a QSR, our role is to design branding, signage and environmental graphics and to collaborate with the interior designer to deliver an outstanding retail space that works well on all levels. Together, we ensure that all the practical and functional objectives are met.
In many QSR projects, this will include important information graphics such as menu boards and way finding signage. If these all-important graphics are not designed to deliver information clearly and intuitively, customer confusion will ensue which will in turn cause operational difficulties.
The challenge for us is to deliver engaging graphics and signage that are on-brand, impart information quickly and easily and enhance the ambience of the space.
Mark McConnell, Director, Mima Design:
Both are essential to success. When you talk about form of a QSR environment, you are probably referring to the customers visual experience of the business. Function is relating to the operational design which is focusing on how the operator needs the space developed. If you do not find a balance in both, the business is flawed. Good restaurant designers and operators are able to find the sweet spot that makes the difference.
Ed Kenny, Director, Giant Design Consultants:
You can't have one without the other.They both have to work. A beautiful space that is dis-functional is doomed to fail if it can't operate. Same said for an environment that is led by functionality and looks like crap. It won't cut the mustard with attracting customers. We start with the functional requirements for any specific job and create the concept once the planning is resolved.
