STORY TELLING AND EDUCATION ARE
KEY.
ARCHITECTS SHOULD FOCUS ON THE
WELL-DESIGNED DISPENSARY.
Educating inexperienced consumers may constitute the
biggest and most delicate hurdle for the new industry. “The
marijuana marketplace is extremely confusing territory in
regards to the benefits, serving size, and intended use of a
product,” Kennedy says.
Consumers might not understand dosage measurements, for
example, or the differences between various cannibinoids such
as THC and CBD. In short, THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, is
the chemical component of weed that gets you high. CBD,
or Cannabidiol, another chemical found in marijuana, has
no psychoactive effect, but research has shown that it has
powerful medicinal benefits, from inhibiting cancer cell
growth to treating anxiety and epilepsy. (Read more about
cannibinoids here.)
Based in Denver, Kennedy’s company Apothecanna sells
topical pain creams and sprays containing CBD, with simple,
brightly-colored and informative labels. When he first started
his company, Kennedy found that most bud growers selling
his products had never heard of pain-relieving topical CBD
products.
WHEN IT BECOMES
A FULLY ACCEPTED
LEGAL PRODUCT, LIKE
BEER, YOU’RE GOING
TO SEE ALL KINDS OF
BRANDING.
“The solution was maintaining
a minimal, clinical appearance
for the product packaging,”
Kennedy says. Apothecanna’s
designers focused on clearly
conveying the functions of
their products’ ingredients.
“We tried to keep it as simple as possible so a customer
could solve the equation on their own without relying on an
expert explanation from someone working at the shop.” His
advice is to understand the purpose of the product and to
communicate its benefit through an engaging story.
DON’T TREAT IT AS A VICE.
Highlighting marijuana’s extensively researched medicinal
effects--which enabled its legalization--will boost any
branding campaign. “What we’re building is a Whole Foods
type of branding,” Shuman says. “It’s not about getting
high or stoned or intoxicated--it’s about an overall sense
of wellness, healing, and proper nutrition. If we discovered
cannabis or hemp in the Amazon jungle today, it would be
heralded as the new superfood.”
The medical side of the
industry is, after all,
where many of the most
game-changing and
promising innovations
are cropping up. In
August 2013, Mary’s
Medicinals
released
the first transdermal
THC
patch.
The
same year, Dr. Bruce
Bedrick introduced the
MedBox, the world’s
first marijuana vending
machine. (It doesn’t just pop out joints like bags of chips--it
sits behind the counter at dispensaries, accessible only by
clerks using fingerprint identification technology, to ensure
that the process of filling prescriptions is safe and efficient.
Gone are the days of discrete stores with blacked-out
windows. SPARC, a San Francisco dispensary known as the
“Apple store of pot” won an American Institute of Architects
Award in 2011. Designed by high-end architecture firm Sand
Studios, SPARC’s clean, modernist façade and open-shelved
interior looks every bit the upscale retail outlet.
Ryan Mungia, author of Pot Shots, took a look at the evolving
aesthetic of marijuana stores in his book. “As pot continues its
shift into the mainstream, I would imagine more dispensaries
will utilize architects and designers as a way to offer their
customers a sense of legitimacy and cache to what many still
consider to be a questionable industry,” he tells Co.Design.
The Farmacy in Los Angeles is
another example of the direction
dispensaries might head. Each
of its outposts in the city have
a customized logo, and sell a
range of products from cold
remedies to beauty creams to
vegan edibles and acupuncture
services. While some outlets will continue to rely on stoner
iconography and head shop mentality, others will commission
architects and interior designers to create a dispensary
aesthetic.
DISPENSARIES WILL
UTILIZE ARCHITECTS
AND DESIGNERS AS A
WAY TO OFFER THEIR
CUSTOMERS A SENSE
OF LEGITIMACY.
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.
Imagine whiskey-infused shampoo, or a line of gourmet
tobacco cookies, or spritzing your dog’s kibble with tequila.
You quickly start to realize how much of an edge cannabis has
over the legal vices it’s often compared to. (Yes, companies
such as Canna-Cat sell medical cannabis specifically for
neurotic pets.)
Unlike alcohol and tobacco, the versatile plant can be
used medicinally as well as recreationally. It can be woven
into clothing or added to skin creams. It can be smoked,
ingested, or vaporized, through devices diamond-encrusted
or 3-D printed.
So, will you take it to the next level and be the first to 3-D
print marijuana accessories? It’s a new frontier, and basically
anything goes. That said, watch your step as you reach out.
Carey Dunne is a Brooklyn-based writer covering art and design.