Heather Reisman had a dream: to reinvent the traditional bookstore as a marketplace
for culture.

To realize this vision we developed a holistic brand – Indigo – whose cultural impact would determine its commercial success. In four short months – from scratch – we built a start-up into a cultural icon. For an initial 120,000 square foot retail environment BMD performed a “total delivery of place,” designing everything from the signs outside to the sugar packets in the café. Today Indigo is Canada’s leading bookseller, with a billion dollars in sales and 60% of the market.

We started by designing a voice for Indigo: a character that would align all creative elements into one coherent environment. We realized that every person who walked in the door was not just shopping for books, but trying to figure out their future. They were asking themselves: what kind of imaginary world do I want to enter? How is my business changing? How do I make good decisions in a world that is constantly changing? If we oriented Indigo toward providing a welcome environment and flexible decision support, we could provide an adaptive framework for an ongoing relationship between Indigo and its customers. We designed Indigo so that the more the world changes, the more relevant Indigo becomes.

Since its inception in 1996, Indigo has continued to seek us out for Next Gen thinking, adding Bruce Mau to the company’s board and continuing a process of development and reinvention.