The partners at Halifax design studio Breakhouse know that branding is more than making things look good. The right blend of story, substance, and style can transform your business.

You meet Breakhouse in unexpected spaces: the mall, a pub, a hair salon and eatery. My favourite is a popular Halifax restaurant called Jane’s on the Common. You can’t miss it, walking or driving, because Jane’s doesn’t hide inside. Its interior beckons through many windows, a deep-red wall slanted toward the street and, on it, the dramatic image of a woman’s face.

When Jane Wright started her restaurant in 2003 she asked Breakhouse to help with its design, a decision she calls the smartest she has ever made. “Their design continues to be a key factor in our success,” she says, “and one of the reasons our customers return.” Wright is just one in a growing list of clients grateful to Breakhouse for helping them achieve not only their vision but also their business goals. Launched in 1999 by friends Glen McMinn and Peter Wuensch, the Halifax–based design studio now features eight members schooled in architecture, fine arts, graphic arts, and interior and industrial design. “We’re problem-solvers, critical thinkers,” says McMinn. “That’s what a good design firm is.”

Breakhouse is increasingly in demand; it recently won an international competition to create the next generation of Bell Canada stores. And what drives McMinn and Wuensch is a passionate belief in the importance and power of good design. “We say that a coffee is only a coffee,” says McMinn. “What makes it taste different is the architecture that surrounds it, the packaging, the service.” If you take the time to create a space that makes sense—one that is conscious of how that space can best affect people’s outlook, Wuensch and McMinn argue—your business will improve. You will attract and keep better employees and bring in the kind of clients you want.

Call centres are not renowned for beautiful design; too often they are a warren of grey dividers and artificial light. Yet when Blue Ocean Contact Centre decided to expand its space, it was determined that its location in the former Bayers Road Shopping Centre would be “wonderful, creative, and funky—with style that demonstrates to our employees that we value them and want to create an environment that’s good for them,” says Patty Isnor, the company’s senior vice-president. “The environment is an attraction mechanism, both to new and existing employees and clients. We wanted the space to be classy, streamlined, and clean. We wanted it to reflect high standards, because we have high standards and we try to attract people and clients with high standards.”

Breakhouse designed the Blue Ocean space; the first phase opened in the fall. Isnor was enthusiastic about the collaboration, having tracked the firm’s progress for several years. Still, she reserved judgment until employees spent time in the location. “We wanted to wait to see how it held up,” she says. “They could have said, ‘This looks nice, but it doesn’t really work.’ And it’s definitely an attractor. It’s fantastic.”

On the Breakhouse Design website, www.breakhouse.ca, among photographs of work for more than 45 clients are a surprising number of close-ups of fasteners, bolts, and clips. It’s that loving attention to detail—and just enough detail—that is a hallmark of McMinn and Wuensch’s work, and speaks to the duo’s background in the film industry. In film, says Wuensch, you design everything, “right down to the weather outside. Anything that is in the frame has to be considered. If it’s something chaotic, it has to be considered chaos. Anything that you look at is informing the scene. We approach clients in that way.”

The Breakhouse process is story-driven. “It’s not about us, it’s about the story. We have to follow the emotion of the script,” says McMinn. “We have to support the story and design everything—all the details—to the emotion of the story.” The team at Breakhouse works to understand what businesses are trying to say about themselves, then to express that narrative in all points of design, from physical space to website. “We spend a lot of time getting to know them and finding out how their business processes work,” says McMinn. “Designing for the sake of designing and designing based on everything you know about someone are two different things. We really pay attention. It’s not questions like, ‘What do you think of this plate?’ It’s really about, ‘What did you have for dinner?’ ”

When Extreme Group, a marketing firm, moved to the Halifax Brewery Market, it hired Breakhouse to design its space. “Our belief as a company is that brands are built from the inside out,” says Andrew Doyle, Extreme Group’s president and partner. “If we’re out there saying we’re a progressive, collaborative agency that thinks like the consumer and believes in doing great work, we have to have a space that fosters that. If a client or employee walks into a space and it doesn’t fit their perception of the organization, something in the back of their mind makes them wonder if what they’re seeing or being told is true.”

Extreme’s office space includes walls made entirely of whiteboard, on which employees can scribble ideas for campaigns or doodle. “The space is a reflection of how the staff works, and it has helped us work better as a team,” says Doyle. “It helps you live the brand without having to try. And it helps potential clients understand who we are.”