design

Marimekko is an unusual retail concept. It's not built around a product-type such as apparel or housewares, but a common material -- colorfully printed fabric -- for which it and its customers dream up a range of uses. Jackie Kennedy loved Marimekko; can it make a U.S. comeback in our time?

Struggling department store operator JCPenney, which last month said it would shutter five department stores, 19 outlet stores and two call centers, unveiled the most substantial change to its logo in four decades as it tries to boost sales by pitching itself as a more modern retailer.

Despite tepid industry sales last year, South Korean carmaker Hyundai set a sales record, thanks to savvy designs and sophisticated engineering. It's come a long way from an early econo-box image. Now, if it could just do as well at home.

Whether you're living in a small space because of financial limitations, family size or are at a transitional period in your life, Andy Suvalsky knows how to turn a small area into a dream home for little money. Suvalsky, an interior designer who's been featured on HGTV, in the New York Times and...

The Gap earned nearly universal scorn this week when it unveiled its new logo. But the clothing retailer's response -- a crowd-sourcing request aimed at getting the public to design a better logo for free -- is only fueling the backlash against it.

For 42 years, Chicago's Merchandise Mart has hosted NeoCon World's trade fair. Over the course of three days, the show hosts 700 exhibitors making it North America's largest design conference for commercial interiors and contract furnishing. This year, a group of students and recent grads had the...

Look out Judy Jetson, Electrolux plans to make pots and pans seem so last century. Henrik Otto, world renowned director of Global Design for Electrolux in Sweden envisions smart kitchens of 2050 as a cross between the Sci-Fi channel and the Food Network. Designed to address a population the UN...

Following in the footsteps of its innovative Whopper Bar, Burger King (BKC) has announced it's launching an extensive interior renovation of its 12,000 restaurant locations. The new design, codenamed "20/20," draws design cues from both traditional diners and the Korova Milk Bar in Stanley...

On the eve of Barbie's 50th birthday, famed decorator Jonathan Adler has redesigned a 3,500-square-foot home Malibu home to look just like Barbie's home."Barbie was a dream client because she doesn't exist as a person," Adler told The Associated Press. "She exists as fantasy and is the perfect...

Fast food restaurants and grocery stores test-market products all the time by slipping them onto the shelves. So often, in fact, that average consumers may not even notice when they've tried something impermanent. But hotel rooms are a different beast. Renovations are expensive, so they can't just...