by 4 people |
Need inspiration?
The goal is three-fold:
.
1) Give these amazing windows a bigger audience.
2) Help you find the inspiration to make even more amazing windows.
3) Offer an in depth look at how to create killer window displays.
Enjoy
Live on alert
What you need for an idea to come alive in your imagination is a suggestion.
Small suggestions are everywhere but in order to see them you have to live on alert.
When you're seeing a taxi drive by or when you're looking at your competitors store windows, or when you're having breakfast and using a toaster to make your sliced bread crunchy, you always have to be on alert because a little spark is all it takes for your next window to come alive.
Here's a slideshow for you to enjoy.
(Slideshows will be updated on a regular basis. When the Flickr slideshows get the hicups, consider refreshing the page or come back within a few minutes)
The Basic Rules Of Design
Once you live on alert and your idea comes alive, how do you proceed?
Our mind consciously and unconsciously looks for it.
So, here are the two things you need to keep in mind when designing a new display:
1) Keep it simple.
A busy window display doesn't say a lot. Less busy displays say more.
2) Use gracefull lines, pleasing colors, contrast, interesting patterns and appealing
arranged merchandise. Together with contrast this will help create rythm.
Design: Reduce confusion
Unless there's a clear theme or topic, organize the objects by:- color
- texture
- use
- (life)style
- or any other common feature.
Design: Beauty in composition
Sometimes the idea you want to showcase involves a theme or topic.When that's the case, you should keep in mind that you shouldn't try to replicate a real situation.
When creating store windows you should strive to create impressions.
You can't replicate something like a swimming pool or the beach. That would be overkill.
You need to extract the beautiful lines, colors and forms and perhaps some appropriate display symbols.
When you use an object again and again and it establishes a pattern, you get harmony and focus.
Generally, the large items are the focal points and are the featured merchandise.
The smaller surrounding items should support the large items. These items may be products like accessories or props.
Design: Color themes
Color is the first thing a customer notices.The most exciting displays are dominated by one color.
The next obvious question is how do you decide what color to use?
The dominant color in your merchandise usually determines the color in the display.
For example, in the display on the right the most dominant color in the merchandise (Rosé Champagne) is pink.
Color also establishes a mood like happiness.
In addition, the customer identifies color with price, quality and style.
In this case, the color pink is associated with love.
It's important to know that too many colors in equal amounts confuse the customer and weaken the presentation. It's ok to showcase lots of products of all shapes and sizes in a store window, but you don't won't it to look like a big mess.
The way to deal with a big mess is to strip your idea of too much color.
That's when the beauty of minimalism comes alive.
Remember: More often than not, less really is more!
Tip : If red earrings are hot, dress as many of the mannequins as possible with red earrings.
Enhance the earrings with red belts or shoes and this will strengthen the color theme.
Don't worry about using too much of the same color.
Design: Lines
You can use lines to connect shapes or objects so the eye follows one object to another.Or you can use imaginary lines to accomplish this.
For example, in the photo on the right, you can see how products are used to create an imaginary line.
Obviously, there're all kinds of lines: straight, crooked and curved.
Vertical lines create impressions of strength, permanence and stability.
Horizontal lines create feelings of dignity, calm and order. Diagonal lines create attention.
Curved lines are ideal to confine the contours of objects or to create an endless motion like a wave.
Crooked lines are everchanging.
Design: Books
How to create engaging & edgy windows?
Focus on usage / function
Create a scene showing how the products can be used.
Mannequins are perfect for this.
For example, you can show them while they are at the beach, or while they are playing in the snow, or having fun in the kitchen.
Visualize what it would be like for your customer to buy your product.
Focus on lifestyle
Your products enhance someone's lifestyle.
If that lifestyle matches your store's brand then try to find objects that go hand in hand with that lifestyle.
And use them in your window display.
This will turn your window into a magnet for anyone who associates him or herself with that lifestyle.
Nature
Tap into nature's genius.
You can find everything in nature: love, grand openings, drama, elegance, ...
Use the beauty of flowers, the darkness of forests, the rich color of butterfly wings, ...
Fairytales, fiction & dreams
Position your products in a fairytale window and tell a story.Think of Snow White who looks into the mirror or bites into a poisoned apple.
Or think of The Little Mermaid and the Sea Witch. A circus act or a magic trick.
Fairytales: books
Nonprofit organizations
Your windows shouldn't always have to be about you, it's also about helping others.
It's about helping your custumers do the marketing for you.
Do it in a creative way and you will create a lot of good will.
Celebrities & photos
Talk to your vendors, ask for photos, posters and special displays that you can put in your windows.
Try not to give up your creative control, because in the end, it's your store, it's your brand you need to work on.
Holiday spirit
At times shopping is a necessary function.Sometimes it's a therapy for the stressed out souls.
But during the holidays the actual buying or window shopping is also a form of entertainment.
It's something that can not be replicated online.
Your windows should be your gift to the city, your gift to your customers.
Your gift needs to reflect your unique take on the holiday season and spirit.
Usually, the holiday theme takes center stage and your products become the props that enhance the holiday spirit. For example, you have a Santa Claus in your window and your products (the Christmas gifts) are the props.
Below you will find some very specific windows for all kinds of holidays. Enjoy!
Interesting link: Holidays by country
- A list of holidays by country
- This link takes you to wikipedia where you can find all the holidays in the world.
Christmas store windows
Animated Christmas Window
More Animated Christmas Windows
A selection of animated christmas windows.
Inspiration for Valentine's Day
Easter store window inspiration
St Patrick's Day store window inspiration
Carnival store window inspiration
Halloween store window inspiration
Thanksgiving store window inspiration
New Year store window inspiration
Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
Window displays should be designed to entice customers to enter the store and buy what they discover.Color is key here. Brightly colored flowers are perfect for spring, but not for fall.
Tip: You can make a seasonal decoration like a flower made completely from pieces in your shoe collection.
Below you will find inspiration for your summer, fall, winter and spring store windows.
Summer Store Windows
Fall Store Windows
Winter Store Windows
Spring Store Windows
Magnify props & merchandise
You can create an arresting display when you use props in giant proportions.
Like the usage of giant leaves when it's fall, or giant pumpkins for halloween.
Paper is ideal to create giant sculptures.
Or you can blow-up a photo of one of the shoes you're selling and use it as a backdrop for the accessories on display.
Think Outside The window Box
You can make sculptures that dive through the panes of glass.You can wrap your store in holidays lights, decorate your storefront with giant butterflies, use graphic lines in your window and onto the pavement, as well as into the store, there're all kinds of things you can and should do.
You shouldn't restrict yourself to your store window.
That's especially true when your store's location isn't in the middle of a shopping street.
If you want to have the most talked-about windows of the city, you have got to do extraordinary things.
Surrealism, humour & symbolism
Your goal is to awaken the senses and captivate your audience's attention.
One way to accomplish this is to look for relationships of objects that are unconventionally beautiful.
Something that lets us undo old habitual ways of seeing things.
A good example is Salvator Dali's work.
You could give your mannequins long arms and legs.
Imagine how the long legs push the mannequin through the roof and the head reappears through the floor beside the mannequin's feet.
You could also give your mannequins lampshade heads.
You could also use the mannequin's hair to create a "hairpet" , or give each chair in the display 4 shoes.
Or you can let your mannequins use a saw to play a violin.
The possibilities are endless.
The same is true when you're looking for symbolism in design.
There could be a lot of symbolism when you use ice cubes in a scene wherein you portrait policitians.
You can find symbolism in all kinds of objects: a barbecue, a candle, clouds, tape, ...
Surrealism: books
Art
You can get amazing reactions when you take art out of a gallery's environment and push it at people where it's least expected.Use your window spaces as a public gallery wherein you showcase known and unknown artists.
When possible try to create synergy between the art and your products.
Art isn't suitable for every store.
Displays with high-fashion merchandise are more likely to use art. That being said, your creation inside your store windows is and should be a work of art.
What else do you have to take into account when creating a display?
Timing
It's not that difficult to make the new season's windows look fresh because they come right after the sale.However, you need to think of the entire season and start gently with key colors.
Don't put your strongest pieces in right off the bat.
There needs to be an element of surprise.
And read the mood of the street!
When it's a dark & rainy day you shouldn't try to sell bright colors.
That wouldn't make a lot of sense.
It might not be a bad idea to at least change your windows every month but in the end it's your customers who decide how often you need to change your windows. Once a month might not be enough.
This takes some planning and organizing but it's worth it.
The goal is to show your new products whenever possible because you want your customer to see what's new in your store.
When to hire a professional?
- When your creative touch ain't always on 100%
- When you have too much going on at the same time
- When you want something new & unique, something that's different from what you've done so far.
Outsourcing the visual merchandising is a common practice.
Lighting
Display windows need to be lighted intensily because of two reasons:1. It creates a greater impact than the impact of the store's architecture.
2. It eliminates the sun's glare and reflections on the glass.
When this is being ignored or simply forgotten, then you're actually making it difficult for your customers.
They won't see what's inside your windows and it makes your store look like it's closed.
In addition to general lighting, overhead spotlights should be used to highlight the focal point like the merchandise.
You can use those spotlights to create a theater like effect when you combine it with a dark background.
As a result you will have a higher contrast with the merchandise.
Keep in mind, the darker the merchandise is, the more it tends to absorb light, therefor stronger lights might be needed.
Sometimes you will need side-fill light to eliminate unwanted shadows.
Shadows create the illusion of depth in your store windows.
The right amount of shadow makes luxurious items look interesting, while general lighting sometimes does the opposite.
You can also change the expression on the mannequin's face with it.
When you mix everything up, do try to make sure there's balance in your window.
It needs to look like the light comes from one source.
And try to show the merchandise in its true colors.
Photo on the top right : on a cold day you can use lighting that warms up the display.
Props are the DNA
Props: antiques, reproductions, architectural fragments, furniture, ...Props are the key players in your window because props complement and enhance the merchandise.
For example, in the photo on the right, the miniature Vespa scooter makes it clear the watches are Italian.
You can also have it the other way around: products can become props when you want the customer to focus on the topic or theme (like Christmas)
There's usually an obvious relationship but it shouldn't always be like that.
When your display engages a response, it works.
The props should never upstage the merchandise or clutter the display.
How you select your props depends on the message.
They may be selected for the contrast value, or because they create harmony and rythm.
The strongest messages are created when all objects in your display support each other.
Mannequins
Mannequin design changes as ast as fashion styles.Some stores prefer the mannequins to be a little bit more abstract compared to the realistic mannequins.
Abstracts are more reflective of the times without being too specific.
Do keep in mind that:
a) the mannequins should be a perfect fit for your store, brand and the lifestyle you're trying to sell.
b) your customers expect that whatever the mannequin wears is the latest fashion and is available in the store. You don't want to disappoint your customers.
Mannequins shouldn't just stand there and do nothing. There should be some interaction. (see photo)
You could give them an attitude that helps establish the lifestyle you're trying to sell. It's important because your customers want to identify themselves with what they are seeing in your windows.
You don't want your mannequins to look like they aren't having a good time.
Sales
Obviously, a sale should not be used as an excuse to leave your windows unstyled and boring!
You need to create a sense of urgency and you need to stop your customers in their tracks.
How to increase your sales & profits:
The Profitable Retailer: 56 surprisingly simple and effective lessons to boost your sales and profits
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 11/09/2009) 
Retail Selling Ain't Brain Surgery, It's Twice As Hard
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 11/09/2009)
Cost
Most stores don't have access to thousands of dollars to invest in visual merchandising, but that doesn't mean you have to compromise and settle for some not so amazing windows.Your customers want you to be amazing so you need to be creative.
And the good news is; creativity doesn't cost money.
Some props cost money, and the time you put into it costs some money as well.
But, consider this:
Let's say your amazing windows pull in 5 more customers a day who spend $50 each.
And when your store's open 300 days a year, your sales will increase by $75,000.
If your windows pull in 20 extra people a day, you're looking at a sales increase of $300,000.
That's an extra $25,000 per month.
What's that worth to you?
How to compete without discounting:
The way to compete is not necessarily by lowering prices, but by adding more value!
You Can Compete: Double Sales Without Discounting (Second Edition)
Amazon Price: $22.45 (as of 11/09/2009)
Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 11/09/2009)
1001 Ideas to Create Retail Excitement, Revised Edition (2003)
Amazon Price: $13.60 (as of 11/09/2009)
Interesting Find November: Michelle Smith's photosets
Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/michelledawnsmith on Flickr.com to see more photos / photosets.
Special : Jewelry Displays
More Visual Merchandising Ideas!
Dreams Through the Glass: Windows from Bergdorf Goodman
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Forefront: The Culture of Shop Window Design
Amazon Price: $52.91 (as of 11/09/2009)
Store Windows No. 16
Amazon Price: $30.40 (as of 11/09/2009)
Store windows and technology
The goal is to interact with the audience, captivate them and sell them on your ideas. Take a look at the videos.
Animated Store Windows
Do you like teddybears, teapots, puppets? Watch them move!
Industry Insider: Barney's creative director Simon Doonan
3 books by Simon Doonan
Through the Shopping Glass: A Century of New York Christmas Windows
Amazon Price: $10.38 (as of 11/09/2009)
Beautiful People: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 11/09/2009)
Confessions of a Window Dresser: Tales from the Life of Fashion
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Industry insider: Yellowdoor's Mary Portas
2 books by Mary Portas
How to Shop with Mary, Queen of Shops
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Windows: The Art of Retail Display
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Retail Excitement & coaching for managers!
Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 11/09/2009)
Retailing Management
Amazon Price: $129.90 (as of 11/09/2009)
Did you know?
In 1939, Dali was commissioned by the New York store Bonwit Teller to create two windows. One of these featured a mannequin crying bloody tears propped in a bath of muddy water and surrounded by hundreds of suspended hands holding mirrors. It was too radical for the store and it had to be disassembled. Dali was emptying the bathtub when he slipped (by accident?) and it crashed through the glass window. Dali spotted the opportunity and dived through the shattered glass after it and as a result he filled the front pages the next day.
Careers in Fashion : Fashion Merchandising Jobs
Careers in Fashion : Fashion Merchandising Jobs
Fashion merchandisers are often in charge of retail stores and boutiques, or they are responsible for designing the display windows at larger department stores. See how fashion merchandisers get customers through the door with advice from a fashion designer, stylist and model in this free video on fashion jobs. Expert: Pegah Sasani Contact: www.pecosacecela.com Bio: Los Angeles-based designer and stylist Pegah Sasani first established her fashion line, "Pecosa Cecela" in 2007. Filmmaker: Nathan Boehme
Runtime: 2:00
1195 views
2 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
Careers: Visual Merchandising
- Visual merchandisers
-
FOREVER 21/FOREVER XXI - Champaign, IL
at reasonable prices. Store Visual Merchandiser - Responsible for upholding the Visual and Merchandising... and execute corporate visual standards Knowledge of... ... - Visual Merchandiser
-
Thomasville Home Furnishings - Brookfield, CT
THOMASVILLE HOME FURNISHINGS... VISUAL MERCHANDISER Brookfield, Manchester, Orange... and Orange... The Visual Merchandising Specialist... ... - Visual Manager/ Visual Merchandisers
-
Forever 21/Forever XXI - Las Vegas, NV
Forever 21 New Store Opening FOREVER 21 FORLOVE 12X12 HERITAGE 1981 GADZOOKS XXI 04,204);FONT-FAMILY:Arial;"> Forever 21, Inc. is one of the... ...
Careers: Retail
- Assistant Manager
-
Retail - Eden Prairie, MN
systems/processes * Manages overall store when fulfilling the roles of manager on duty or sales leader... then retail management, click the Assistant Manager... ... - Retail Product Manager
-
US Retail Business of Leading International Bank - Boston, MA
to processes Manage strategic planning process for mortgage, direct lending, and various products, developing comprehensive yearly product plans Manage these... ... - Senior Director of Sales and Client Program Manage
-
Asurion - Dallas, TX
initiatives. Serves as the program relationship manager and key interface between Asurion and the client... telecommunications and retail companies. The company... ...
Books
Careers in Asset Management and Retail Brokerage
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
List Price: $24.95
Used Price:
First Steps in a Retail Career
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
List Price: $29.95
Used Price: $13.92
Start Your Retail Career (Entreneur Magazine's Pocket Guides)
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $11.01 (as of 11/09/2009)
List Price: $12.95
Used Price: $6.50
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Interesting "store window" links and comments on Twitter, right now!
-
- mbarthomewares
- is so excited Christmas is coming...Store windows look amazing...Online shopping is updating as we speak...Click Website for New Xmas...
-
- VegMeg
- I'm running around in shorts and a t and there are christmas trees in store windows. There is something wrong with this pic.
-
- ShanliShan
- for the record...marshall fields christmas store windows were a million times better than macy's...which are rather m'eh.
-
- BenniBeatnik
- Is anyone else upset about the new Microsoft store? Windows is great, but please Microsoft, dont completely rip off Apple's store design
-
- ii_XVi
- @pb_and_jay if they do go with it, i would hit up all around the shop, the parking lot, all the signs around there, on the store windows..
-
- Cre8ivPiedPiper
- Loves the Bershka & Zara store windows... http://myloc.me/1oWp5
-
- musicsHeroine
- I like the way it's getting colder outside. And the Christmas displays in store windows... :)
-
- blazie
- Apple store + windows 7 shirt = fun :)
-
- evilkellychan
- the black and gold crosses an ocean... while at Ala Moana Center i saw a Troy Polamalu jersey and Penguins hat in 2 different store windows.
-
- RadioBucio
- The sickening act of putting Dylan reissues on store windows... this is what me and my twin talk about.
Interesting links & websites!
- VMSD magazine's blog perspectives Kaufman
- Industry insiders give their perspective on the news. I prefer Mr Kaufman's perspective. Maybe that's because I'm more familiar with his writings.
- DDI Magazine
- Display & Design ideas. A great magazine that helps you with your store design and visual presentation. It's free for anyone living in the US.
- Retail Design Diva
- The site calls itself "your hip connection to everything retail" and they are right, it's another great blog that gives you a fresh perspective on the industry.
- Retail Customer Experience
- When you're looking for ways to enhance the customer experience then this might be one of the magazines you need. The link jumps to an article on An interactive store window you need to see!
- Skillsmart Retail
- This is a site for readers from the UK who would like to start in the retail business. It's a non-profit led by retailers.
Their objective is to promote skills and qualifications to individuals & employers.
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