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By Monique Bos When Publix recently opened the first store in their new supermarket chain, Publix Sabor, Savannah College of Art and Design alumnus Randy Rodriguez was there to celebrate. The store, located in Kissimmee, Fla., opened April 21 and targets a Hispanic audience, with bilingual employees and signage, bright in-store designs and products geared to Hispanic consumers. A 61,000-square-foot Publix Sabor — “sabor” means “flavor” in Spanish — store also is slated to open in Miami May 19. Publix chose this market because of the “growth of the Hispanic community” in the United States, especially in Florida, Rodriguez said. “It’s a booming market right now. It’s the trend.” Many elements in the look and feel of the stores are credited to Rodriguez, who has worked as a contract designer for Publix for three years. As the only Hispanic member of the in-house design team, he developed logos, environmental design, ads and uniforms that would appeal to a Hispanic market. “It’s kind of funny, actually,” said Rodriguez, who graduated from SCAD with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2002. “I’m the only Hispanic there, as a contractor or an employee. They thought I could bring Hispanic ideas, and it all developed from there.” Rodriguez spent about nine months developing an identity for the Publix Sabor chain. He designed the store logo, as well as logos for the pharmacy, deli and bakery. He also created print advertising, direct-mail pieces and flyers; designed uniforms; and art-directed murals for inside the store. “The ways that I informed the project and environment were colors and materials,” he said. “This project was color-based. We brought some bright colors and a loose kind of feel — loose typography for the inside and outside logos. We really wanted to emphasize color, not just target one community or country.” Rodriguez, who was raised in Puerto Rico by Cuban parents, explained that one consideration in marketing to the Hispanic community is that it includes “many people from so many different countries.” He said the appeal had to be broad in order to include people of various nationalities. “Being Hispanic, it was fairly easy,” he said. Prior to the Sabor project, Rodriguez, who started out as an intern at Publix after graduating from SCAD, said he did “a little of about everything,” including flyers, posters, ads and mailers. He also developed a point-of-purchase campaign targeting Hispanic shoppers. Rodriguez attended SCAD on a scholarship and said his education prepared him well for the working world. In addition, he has benefited from being part of an in-house design team, he said. “It’s not easy, but it’s fun,” he said. “My experience working in-house has been really cool because you get to touch on a lot of different things,” including environmental design, package design and more. In addition, the Publix design group — which includes two contractors and about 20 full-time designers — was selected by HOW magazine as the best in-house design group of 2005 and will be honored in the October issue, he said. When the Kissimmee store opened, Rodriguez unveiled the logo he designed. “It was definitely really cool,” he said. “It was exciting to see the reaction of people there. There were people dancing down the aisles to the music.” For more information about Publix Sabor, visit www.publix.com/sabor. |
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