The Blue Hour - Retail Design Project
September 2022
Being one of the owners of The Blue Hour, I had the flexibility to experiment with the design and processes. This became a perfect first project for me to work on. My process was very intuitive as I had not learnt Interior Design at this time.
The journey of designing our store taught me a lot, while I became certain about choosing this path of design as my future plan. I would also like to thank my friend Vinay, whose experience in the construction industry provided me with the on-ground technical support and a great team to execute my ideas with.
Part 01 - Logo Design
An initial visualisation
The idea behind designing the logo was:
- It should be 'hand-made'
- It should reflect the Indian style
- It must be decorative
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I started with drawing the initials 't b h' on Procreate app on iPad ( 01 ) and creating its variations on Illustrator ( 02 ). I chose Pantone Classic Blue as the true representation of the particular hue of the blue hour in nature ( 03 ).
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Final design
I finalised a refined version of the initial play of typography in a simple shape.
Part 02 - Retail Store Interior Design
Concept & Inspiration
Drawing inspiration from the graceful arches of Rajasthan, many of the reclaimed pieces at The Blue Hour originate from Rajasthan and Gujarat.
I visited Rajasthan again to gather inspiration and capture everything that became a part of my mood-board. The washed-off textures, intricately carved arches, doors, and vibrant hues, set a distinctive and inviting tone for the store's interiors.
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The second source of inspiration was the blue hour itself—a magical time that occurs in nature every day twice.
The Process...
The very first vision I had for the storefront. I used this vision as a starting point to learn SketchUp.
01 - SketchUp
02 - Adobe Photoshop
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A simple and attractive manner of incorporating arches in the interiors. This was a unit made out of gypsum plaster and MDF.
It truly did not work out the way I expected it to mainly because it could not hold enough weight and the color blue did not highlight all artefacts to the best of their ability.
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I had to change its colour thrice: Blue to a cream wallpaper, and then finally to rust. Rust color with texture, along with LED downlights made even the simplest of artefacts stand out.
Some sketches I created towards
space-planning to understand the placement of decor items and furniture, and traffic flow.
As an experiment I hand-painted a few of the artefacts. The painting on old wood and iron brought a new life to these pieces — falling in right alignment with The Blue Hour store's philosophy.
The final outcome resulted into a vibrant and warm boutique store. The space had the right recipe to look like a treasure-trove, that our customers enjoy. As a final touch I added indoor plants, a soft oud fragrance and indian classical ambient music.
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All product and store images have been photographed by me.
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