Shikatani Lacroix Inc.

Shikatani Lacroix Design, known as SLD, is a strategy-led design agency with in-house studios in Toronto, Canada and Shanghai, China. According to its website it has more than 35 years of experience. Its work covers brand design, packaging, retail environments and digital experiences for retail, consumer goods and financial brands.

The agency's tagline is Strategic design. Instant impact. Lasting growth. It works from the belief that purchase decisions are emotional and uses a proprietary process called Think Blink to identify the emotional triggers that lead customers to choose one brand over another. Those insights feed the Blink Factor framework, which turns research into design intended to have both immediate and lasting effect. The firm lists its values as Creative, Confident, Driven and Inclusive.

• Strategic brand design: brand identity and design grounded in consumer insight
• Packaging design: packaging for consumer goods and food brands
• Retail design: store and retail environment design
• Digital experience design: digital design connected to the brand
• Strategy consulting: strategy work that precedes design

Markets served are financial services, foodservice, consumer packaged goods, health and wellness, corporate, retail and telecommunications. The website names PepsiCo, US Bank, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, KraftHeinz, Intel, Walmart, WSS, Industrial Bank in China, Progresif in Brunei and Flow in the Caribbean among its clients. Testimonials come from Cloverleaf Seafoods, Tata Consumer Products and WSS/Foot Locker, the last praising the performance of a new store.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix is named as president and Feifei Li as managing director of SLD China. The agency describes itself as award-winning and maintains an awards page. It also publishes thought leadership, including white papers, webinars, a newsletter and a podcast called Think Retail, alongside a Chinese-language version of its site.