An occasional series that looks at how design impacts our everyday life.

Mikki K. Harris/Staff (ENLARGE)
The Dunwoody McDonald's has tables shaded by umbrellas where the Playground stands at many of the older restaurants.
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The soft glow of pendant lamps. The single daffodil in a vase on the table. The stylish silver chairs. The manager in coat and tie. The familiar "Do you want fries with that?"

Yes, believe it or not, this is McDonald's. The fast-food giant has undertaken a soup-to-nuts makeover that has nothing to do with food.

A few years ago, the 53-year-old hamburger chain decided that its stores looked outdated — and that is a message no business wants to send. It engaged Lippincott, a New York-based brand management firm, to revamp its store design — and its image.

"One of the most powerful ways to define a brand is architecture," says architect Peter Dixon, Lippincott's creative director. "You can manipulate space, light, materials and color to create a whole environment."

The goal, says Max Carmona, McDonald's senior director for restaurant design, was to create "a younger, more relevant look."

Young, as in the coveted youth demographic, ages 18-34, though wholesome enough to appeal to moms and families.

Relevant, as in catching up with franchises such as Panera Bread and Atlanta Bread Company, which have store designs that simulate a restaurant experience. "They have raised the bar in fast-food design," says Dixon. "They have changed expectations."

Credit, too, Starbucks' "third-place" concept — making the store a customer's preferred place to be after home and work, which it effected through comfy furniture, wi-fi and other domesticizing elements.

The new McDonald's design exemplifies this trend. Call it a fast food slowdown:

• Screens and other architectural elements separate seating from the food counter, visually and psychologically. In other words, you can almost forget you just went through the line.

• The recessed lights that replace fluorescent tubing are among the new elements that people associate with restaurants.

• Softer seating and pendant lamps create "linger zones." You can eat and run if you want, but you don't have to. Bring your laptop, too: Many of the new McDonald's stores offer wi-fi. (And the coffee's cheaper than at Starbucks.)

The most dramatic change, however, is the disappearance of the double-mansard red roof, McDonald's signature since 1969. Perhaps founder Ray Croc introduced his bastardized version of the 19th-century French style to give his stores a little class. Ironically, it became synonymous with highway architecture of the drabbest sort — gas stations, strip malls — and with bad taste.

That doesn't mean that everybody is happy with its demise. Some critics have questioned the wisdom of killing the iconic silhouette, suggesting the stores will lose their distinctiveness and look too much like other eateries.

This was not an issue for Tucker resident Shirley Talley, who was enjoying lunch with her daughter Gina at the Perimeter Mall McDonald's on a recent sunny day. In fact, quite the opposite: It was the new design that caught her eye.

"We had an appointment near here, and I said, 'Let's go to that nice new McDonald's.'"

Gina, who remarked approvingly on the decor, agreed. "I call it the adult McDonald's. It's upscale."

Now that is brand bingo.