When it comes to marketing your dessert shop, products and brand, the Instagram-enthusiastic crowd is a force you should never underestimate. In fact, turning your commercial space into a photographer magnet and unleashing the power of social media is one of the best ways to spread the word about your business and bring more customers to your door.
Of course, a well-curated interior with gorgeous furnishings and textbook decor can go a long way in making your business the darling of Instagram buffs. However, there are a few specific design tricks that amplify your chances of becoming a media sensation and reaping all the benefits of a time when popularity is only a click away. Here are ten such tips to keep in mind when building or updating your dessert shop.
Blondie’s Doughnuts, Edgewater, Maryland. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Emphasize Your Brand
Before delving into the nitty-gritty of making your dessert shop an appealing photography subject for social media aficionados, it’s crucial to remember that every design choice you make should emphasize the character and goals of your brand, your unique image and how you want to be perceived. In the oversaturated world of dessert shops, offering a distinctive image, even when your products are not necessarily unique, may be the most important factor for your success.
An instantly recognizable space, logo, slogan or product can propel your name across social media, while your one-of-a-kind approach can create an opportunity for you to become a media sensation. However, consistency is key. A space with an ambiguous theme, diluted message, and undefined color scheme is not going to register with an audience that is inundated with more convincing options. By contrast, a strong, consistent brand identity eliminates confusion and makes your space and products memorable.
Sprinkles on Top frozen yogurt shop, Elk Grove, California. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Embrace Bold Colors
While a minimalist monochromatic look has been trending in many dessert shops, give a second thought to using more color to send a message, make your brand easily recognizable, and satisfy the natural hunger of the human eye for chromatic abundance and variation.
The psychology of color is a topic dear to interior designers, who use it in clever ways to influence customer behavior and offer them an unforgettable experience. When choosing the appropriate colors for the ambiance you want to create, consider bold tones to set yourself apart from the competition, provide your customers with a visual feast, or even suggest the flavors of your desserts.
If you prefer a more muted color scheme with whimsical pastel tones, be consistent in maintaining a cohesive chromatic scheme. Remember that “bold” does not necessarily mean ostentatious, but rather strong, convincing and unapologetic.
My Yogurt dessert store, San Diego, California. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Create a Selfie Wall
When trying to attract social media enthusiasts, few things are more powerful than creating a selfie wall designed specifically for serving as an unforgettable background for their most shareable pictures. Selfie walls don’t need to be complicated, nor expensive to create. In fact, in this case, creativity and uniqueness weigh more than a large budget. Additionally, selfie walls can also serve as the focal point of your interior design, playing double duty and solving multiple design problems in one move.
Selfie walls can be one or three-dimensional and consist of as little as a smart photo prop or as much as a gorgeous vertical garden or a stunning wall tile structure. Often, a mural is your simplest and most straightforward bet, given the abundance of choices available. An oversized logo or brand-related graphic, a written message that begs to be shared, a humorous image that becomes complete when a person stands in front of it, or a cityscape that transports your customers to a faraway place are just a few examples of how you can entice visitors to immortalize your space in sharable pictures.
Can’t Top This boba tea and frozen yogurt store. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Use Bold Wallpaper
From a photography perspective, the background is a major element that contributes to the success of your visuals. In fact, most pictures exist because of the background that inspired the creative act of taking a picture.
Use this reality to your advantage by utilizing the largest and most visually accessible space at your disposal – your walls. Using just paint may be a cheap option, but one that may cost you down the road in missed opportunities. By contrast, bold wallpaper is irresistible to a creative mind on the hunt for picture opportunities.
Collages, graffiti, inspirational quotes, scripts or your own logo are all fair game for designing your own customized wallpaper. Others that depict a forest opening or a charming corner of nature can instantly win over the hearts of your customers. Oversized images of your products, or dramatic backgrounds that create intriguing 3D illusions can turn your visitors into excited children ready to play your game and take pictures.
Leafly Boba Bar, Huntsville, Alabama. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Send a Message with Neon Signs
Flashy backgrounds are well loved by social media enthusiasts, which makes neon signs their perfect match. While a staple in the commercial designs of the ‘70s, neon signs remain an attractive option for statement accent pieces. They are cool, hard-to-miss, affordable and energy-efficient. Easy to install, they provide one of the simplest ways to capture the attention of your Instagram-loving customers.
Your neon signs can capture your business name or logo, or convey a charming, inspiring or humorous message that your visitors feel enticed to share. They can simply create a warm ambiance, illuminate a romantic corner, or invite your customers to step into the picture and complete the scene.
YOBA dessert shop, Ontario, California. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Design Floors that Are Unique
One often underestimated piece of the puzzle in making your dessert shop Insta-worthy is the visual appeal of your floors. By covering a large surface area, floors can change or define the overall look of your space, making it more inspiring to prospective picture takers. Moreover, they offer you an additional, much overlooked opportunity to become memorable and picture-worthy.
Snapshots of feet standing against colorful floors are popular enough to be considered a trend in their own right. Take advantage of this by providing your customers with unique or instantly recognizable patterns, messages inscribed or built into the floor design, hand-painted tile with charming ethnic inspiration that double down on your cuisine, or any other quirks that allow your customers to proudly proclaim “I’ve been here, too!” when featured in an Instagram picture.
Blondie’s Doughnuts, Edgewater, Maryland. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Be Quirky
The best thing about designing an Instagram-worthy dessert shop is that it can be fun. While professionalism is essential, this is the perfect time to have some innocent fun and play out your childhood fantasies. For instance, do you have a favorite children’s book? Create a whimsical and intriguing space that takes your costumers back to the world of Alice in Wonderland. Have you ever dreamed of a Candyland with rivers of chocolate and mountains of ice cream? Find ways to recreate that landscape, even if just through a large, dramatic mural.
However, not all design choices need to be so dramatic – a few well-chosen furniture or accent pieces are sufficient. Cupcake-shaped stools or a few tables shaped as ice-cream cones are enough to bring a smile to your customers’ faces. If you have a penchant for nature, create a green oasis with a living wall or an indoor tree landscape. For those nostalgic for the past, recreate the charm of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and bring those charming times back into your customers’ lives.
Besties Cool Treats, Liberty Station, San Diego, California. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Use Photo-Friendly Lighting
A dark, gloomy space with undefined shapes and questionable colors is not the ideal backdrop for your social media-worthy pictures. To create the best background for your visitors’ photos, make sure your space is well-illuminated with a layered approach that includes ambient, accent and task lighting. This creates a rich and pleasant atmosphere that translates well into pictures.
Make the most of natural light, by allowing it to enter your space through large windows or skylights, unobstructed by unnecessary structures, furniture or accessories. If natural light is limited, however, artificial lighting can effectively emphasize your key features, your tables or display cases.
Avoid harsh fluorescent fixtures, choosing instead warm, soft lighting, such as LED lights with a color temperature of around 2700K-3000 K. Use lampshades or diffusers to reduce glares, and test your photography at different times of the day to identify and eliminate unwanted reflections. Make sure your desserts photograph well on your tables and in your display areas by using lighting with a high Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 90 or above for true-to-life colors.
The design of your lighting fixtures can also entice your customers to reach for their phones. Consider using unique pieces made of atypical materials or creating large light configurations for stunning ceiling landscapes. House-shaped fixtures forming a floating city, cloud-shaped chandeliers with dreamy looks or butterfly-shaped pendants that emphasize the whimsical character of your space are just a few ideas. Statement pieces attract the eye, whet the photographer’s appetite and invite sharing on social media.
Apricato frozen yogurt shop. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
- Create Attractive Dessert Displays and Packaging
While not a new concept, sensory design is experiencing a resurgence in the world of dessert shops as a new trend. While textures, aromas and sounds are more difficult to translate into pictures, it is not impossible. Arranging your treats to emphasize their textures and colors, placing your appetizing display case against an old vintage jukebox, or serving your coffee in steaming mugs that evoke the heat of a comforting beverage are some ideas that suggest an overarching sensorial experience.
Don’t forget about the packaging that accompanies your to-go desserts. Align it with your brand colors, use tissue paper, ribbon or stickers to add a personal touch, or choose eco-friendly packaging to attract the environmentally conscious crowd.
Packaging for Kung Fu Tea bubble tea shop, National City, California. Mindful Design Consulting.
- Incorporate Interactive Elements
Instagram devotees love capturing themselves in pictures, so offer them the chance to do it. Create a self-serve area where they can immortalize themselves in action, set up a photo booth with props and backdrops where they can unleash their imagination, designate a wall where they can scribble messages or their names, and provide branded hashtags to encourage user-generated content. These are just a few methods to engage your customers and enhance their experience at your dessert shop.
Mango Bliss Dessert Bar in Prescott, Arizona. Design by Mindful Design Consulting.
