Translating Brand Identity Into Retail Interior Design: A Kapferer’s Prism-Based Design Process Framework

Abstract

As retail design evolves from functional planning to experiential storytelling, interior environments have become key mediators of brand identity and emotional engagement. This study examines how brand identity can be systematically translated into interior architecture processes to create meaningful consumer experiences. By operationalizing Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (KBIP) as a design framework, the research links branding theory to spatial design practice through a process-based methodology. A qualitative case study of the Prada New York Epicenter, designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, underpins the investigation. Architectural content analysis and diagrammatic coding were employed to map KBIP’s six identity facets Physique, Personality, Culture, Relationship, Reflection, and Self-image onto spatial design strategies. Findings show how structural form, material contrasts, circulation choreography, and sensory atmospheres articulate brand meaning through spatial expression and experiential immersion. The resulting framework provides a structured method for embedding brand identity across conceptual, schematic, and developmental stages of interior design. It offers a transferable model for designers and architects to integrate cultural, sensory, and narrative dimensions of identity within retail environments. By bridging branding theory with interior architectural design, the study positions the retail interior as an experiential and communicative medium through which brands construct affect, meaning, and identity.