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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

: We developed 2 main principles, to design a store atmosphere based on a sunrise color and warmth, and to emulate the street market usability in small ecosystems within the store atmosphere.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

: We were asked to design the best store in the city, and to design the first high end store of the brand Merco, but we still had to express the values of the brand, which always had been focused on lower-class users.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

: This concept has been implemented in 3 stores so far, and it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate that lower-class markets deserve good quality spaces and this kind of design dignifies and let the users know they are worthy of better environment in their lives

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

: We had 3 months to develop the whole concept, and 3 more months to build the store

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

: The plan is to keep implementing this store concept in the next few stores and maybe some of the old ones.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

: Of course, this was a team effort, Leyda Luz, Angel Garza, Tadeo Presa, Ernesto Garrido, Ernesto Ballesteros, Jair Vega and me.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

: For the first store with this concept the target customer is middle and higher class mainly, but for the others 2 stores the target is lower and middle class, with the same concept only making a few changes to adapt to the budget of every store.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

: The fact that it is being used by the whole spectrum of target customers, being friendly for every customer, and that more than 2500 persons daily get in touch and get influenced by this design.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

: We got the name sunrise from the inspiration that this natural event gave for the project

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

: Yes we were a very interesting team, graphic designer Leyda Luz, architect Angel Garza, Industrial and interior design Tadeo Presa, Project management Ernesto Garrido, lighting design Ernesto Ballesteros, technical drawings Jair Vega and creative director me (Jorge Saucedo).

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

: We did research in 2 main aspects, users surveys and observations, and benchmark, visiting stores in 2 major cities of Mexico, as well as in the city of Monclova where the store was build.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

: As I mentioned before the biggest one was to create a concept that is friendly for the whole market spectrum, and then deliver on time.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

: We had a lot of really good comments for the project, and I thought that it would be a good idea if we can set an example of a well designed lower-class store, that great design does not only belong with the high end market, and that it can make a difference in the users positive perception.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

: I learned that well-placed trust can have a really positive impact in the result of the project, the client´s trust to us, and my trust to my team was fundamental to the success we had with this project.