Everyone the world over knows McDonald's. Its Golden Arches are as familiar as the Statue of Liberty. So when the fast-food giant set out to redesign its restaurants, the challenge was to refresh its image without diluting its brand identity.

A lot changed over the half century since McDonald's proved that Americans could eat out fast and affordably. Competitors made inroads into the dining category that it had originated. Demand for a Big Mac with fries lost ground to a chicken salad with non-fat dressing. Plastic furnishing, lauded for its child-friendly cleanliness, was scorned as synthetic and impersonal. What was innovative then had become so "last century" now.

"Customers were telling us that they wanted to see something different, more contemporary, more relevant," says Max Carmona, senior director, restaurant design, McDonald's USA. "They were tired of what we had."

McDonald's took these comments to heart in adopting a strategy it called "Forever Young." But for a company with 31,000 franchise-owned restaurants serving 50 million customers daily, it also recognized that any misstep risked alienating both operators and patrons.

Intent on preserving what people loved about the brand, McDonald's brought on brand-building expert Larry Light as global chief marketing officer and conducted numerous surveys on how to improve its demographic appeal, menu options, dining experience, and social relevance. Part of that plan included the first major architectural makeover of its restaurants since 1969. Before initiating this undertaking, management sought to learn from the experience of other companies that had completed successful brand turnarounds. As it happened, the speaker it invited from Nissan gave an inspiring account of the automaker's return to profitability, and in discussing the reimaging of Nissan dealerships, he frequently praised the work of the designers, Lippincott Mercer, who eventually won the McDonald's account. At that point, the New York-based consultancy was not even on the long list of design firms up for consideration.

In narrowing down its list of candidates, McDonald's invited two design firms, including Lippincott Mercer, to make a presentation before senior management. Such competitive "bake-offs"-for which participants are paid-give companies a chance to preview how a design firm would approach a project before awarding a mega-contract. Each firm was briefed on McDonald's research findings and new brand strategy and given six weeks to prepare its presentation. One stipulation was to think in terms of a retrofit of existing McDonald's restaurants, not a design from scratch.

The Lippincott Mercer team was led by creative director Peter Dixon. "Our presentation was not so much a specific design idea, which we hate to do on spec, but an effort to demonstrate how we think," Dixon says. "We knew we needed to do [the design] with them, we couldn't make this up on our own. We focused on what we understood ‘Forever Young' to mean."

A specific recommendation that Lippincott Mercer did make, however, was the importance of altering the double mansard roof that had been part of McDonald's image since the 1970s. "Our initial evaluation was that if we could do something to neutralize the roof, we could do a lot to change the image of the restaurant," Dixon says. "We found a way to modify the roof line without having to remove the roof or do a lot of damage to the building envelope."

The Lippincott Mercer team also presented their views on how McDonald's could increase its appeal among 18- to 34-year-olds without alienating its strongest constituency, kids and moms. "We explained how the competitive landscape for young adults offers more choices of restaurants that use design in ways that are relevant to them," Dixon says.

A key goal for McDonald's was something it refers to as "food credentialing"-i.e., conveying the freshness and authenticity of its meal ingredients. To communicate that with décor, the designers argued for the need to "deplasticize" the brand. The mere mention of "deplasticizing", however, worried some managers, Dixon recalls. "They asked, ‘Does that mean you aren't using plastic? Plastic is a great material for maintenance.' We had to reassure them that we meant perceptual deplasticization, the use of materials that projected a sense of authenticity and naturalness."

Awarded the job, Lippincott Mercer went to work translating their general impressions into specific applications. "We use a methodology that we call ‘customer experience mapping,'" Dixon explains. "It's a decomposition approach where you take the customer experience within an environment and break it into more discrete touchpoints and then figure out how to drive brand attributes through them."

In the case of McDonald's, Lippincott broke the experience down into areas such as approach, ordering, eating, etc. From there, they figured out how the attributes of "Forever Young" could be brought to life at each point.

The first touchpoint was the silhouette of the building itself. As dated as it looked, the double mansard roof was a familiar landmark to millions and dismantling it would be cost-prohibitive for many franchise operators. The designers got around this dilemma by cosmetically hiding the old roof behind a false parapet and a yellow sloping curve that echoed the Golden Arches. The addition of a more gracious yellow awning also gave the entrance greater presence.

Inside, Lippincott Mercer tried to soften the stark "fast-food" look by creating distinct dining zones, delineated by different types of furniture and seating arrangements to offer customers a choice of experiences. A "linger" zone with armchairs, sofas and wi-fi connections was created to appeal to young adults who want to hang out with friends. A "grab-and-go" zone with tall counters, bar stools and a plasma TV turned to the news and weather was designed to cater to customers who eat alone. A "flexible" zone with booths appointed with fabric-cushioned seats as well as table seating invited family dining.

The designers also changed the topography of the seating to take away from the cafeteria look. "We created low seating and high seating," Dixon says. "The different types of seating communicate choice. Customers can choose the way they use the restaurant."

To depart further from the no-frills fast-food look, the designers jettisoned the harsh 2x4-foot fluorescent light panels set in the acoustical tile ceiling. "We tried to improve the quality of lighting with recessed lights and selective use of pendant fixtures that created a sense of intimacy and added some color around the environment."

Changing color balances also helped to mitigate the feel of plastic without eliminating plastic completely. "In our analysis, we found the proportional use of the yellow and red combination created a plastic effect," Dixon says. "We decoupled the colors and concentrated more on yellow, which is the core brand color of the Golden Arches and manifests the ‘Forever Young' idea. Coupling yellow with materials and colors from nature like ochre, terra cotta, sage and sienna enhanced food credentialing, suggesting the authenticity of the ingredients. We used McDonald's familiar red as an accent and identifier of certain important elements-the red fry box, the pickup and pay windows at the drive-thru." The designers also screened off "manufactured" kitchen processes while keeping an open view of personalized steps like sandwiches being assembled individually with fresh ingredients.

Drive-thru represents about 60% of McDonald's business in the U.S., so it was important to turn this customer contact point into more of a destination. Dixon explains, "We created an entry pylon to announce the arrival of the drive-thru and used the travel path to merchandise other products or partners, then continued that ‘story-telling' after the ordering with lenticular graphics that moved as your point of view changed. The order station reprised the curved roof element."

Whenever possible, the designers tried to contain costs for franchisees and respond to environmental concern. "We understand that it isn't about doing things that operators cannot afford," says Dixon. "By avoiding unnecessary changes and choosing materials that last, we try not to send too much to landfill." This goal has also led the designers on a search for 100% post-consumer recycled cladding material, so far to no avail. "We were able to prototype some materials that were cheap, could take paint and could be machined, but the problem was that they lacked the thermal properties to withstand 40-50 degree temperature swings during the day. We are still looking," Dixon says, inviting any company that has such a product to step forward.

While being named a designated supplier for McDonald's building materials conceivably can provide access to upwards of 31,000 restaurants, each franchise operator is still allowed considerable decorating autonomy. That came as a "big surprise" to the Lippincott Mercer team who initially thought that all McDonald's restaurants were alike. Actually, McDonald's offers franchisees a lot of latitude in decorating as long as they stay within a flexible framework. Hence, any design has to allow for details ranging from floral wallpaper to brass lamps and old ship wheels. "The operators drive this, so the hard assets-wall finish, colors, flooring-had to be kept neutral and simple," says Dixon. "The future of multiunit branding is not to be cookie-cutter, but to create identities that are recognizable, yet can be customized to fit into the local context, whether that is by regulations, local codes for looks, finishes or colors, or just to be a good neighbor that fits into the community."

McDonald's internal architecture and design team were instrumental in helping Lippincott Mercer understand regional needs. Carmona says, "We worked back and forth with Lippincott Mercer because we had the experience of building McDonald's restaurants in all parts of the U.S., and know the issues that develop regarding permitting and municipalities." Carmona's team also worked closely with the Owner Operator Leadership Group, particularly the "Place" subgroup, keeping them apprised all along.

This ongoing collaboration resulted in a design that offers both flexibility and uniformity and anticipates concerns down the line. The result was widespread "buy-in" by management and operators even before construction on the first prototype began. "I haven't heard any operators say they didn't like it," Carmona says.

The same goes for McDonald's customers who are finding the contemporary look as refreshing as the new menu offerings. The broad acceptance of McDonald's revitalized brand has helped to accelerate the pace of the makeover. Thousands of "reimaged" restaurant interiors have already been completed in the U.S., with more new buildings and retrofits underway so that McDonald's can live up to its goal of staying forever young.