Excience creates Comet signage

Brand consultancy Exience has completed a nationwide signage overhaul for electrical retailer Comet, which will instruct store layouts.

Appointed to the project in June following the completion of a departmental signage section for the chain known as The Living Room in December 2007, Exience was briefed to address departmental zoning, perimeter signage and staff-consultation units.

Mark Saunders, managing director of Exience, says, ‘Rather than it being the aircraft hangar it is now, they wanted to make a stronger connection with customers’ homes.’

Like The Living Room, two other areas, The Kitchen and The Study, will now be marked by illuminated ceiling hoop signage, ranging from 2.5m to 4m in diameter.

The scope of the project was widened from June onwards to include perimeter signage. Saunders says that here the consultancy was briefed to ‘draw attention’ to products on upper floors.

Exience interpreted this by creating a subset of the departmental signage. Saunders says, ‘They’re connected by colour and each one is convex so that it can be seen from any angle.’ He adds, ‘Each product or product theme is displayed on individual convex panels that stand proud from the wall.’

As with perimeter signage, signage for staff consultation units is co-ordinated with each departmental zone. Saunders says, ‘They are colour-coded and each has a firework graphic.’ The firework motif is a ‘divisive guide’, says Saunders.

Comet’s Wigan store will be the first to receive the new signage next week, prior to a national roll-out.