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Artistic Display

The bare mannequin display. Produce a feeling of want/need/urging from the consumer using only signage and space in the window box without any tangible merchandise. You may use articles of clothing or accessories in an artistic or atypical way, as in a medium for your artwork. Really stretch you mind. This project is really about branding and getting to know your company and consumer. Check out the photo examples below and read the articles under them for inspiration.

Anti-Virtual Visual

(August 2009)

Twitter is one way to connect with customers. But there’s also magic marker. And masking tape. And, apparently, toilet paper.

By Kristin D. Godsey for VMSD.com

Walking away from this year’s judging for our International Visual Competition (held in April), I could swear my brain was audibly buzzing. I was on my way back to my desk, where I’d immediately be compelled to log onto LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to check what was happening with the VMSD and IRDC groups. I’d spend the rest of the day -- in between other duties -- periodically posting to those groups, approving members and following up on design-related tweets and posts from others in the field.

But back in the judging room, I’d sat for three hours taking in images of how retailers were doing something completely different to connect with their customers. Again and again, for all different kinds of stores, many of their efforts seemed almost … primitive. It was awesome.

I’ll let Anne DiNardo fill you in on the details of those efforts (see “Craft Works”), but I am going to lift one of the quotes from her article because I’m in love with it. Mihee Yi, visual director for Uniqlo, this year’s Best in Show winner, has a theory why “crafty” displays seem to resonate so well today: “Customers appreciate the fact that instead of throwing money at visual displays, you’re throwing time and intelligence at them.”

Time, intelligence and, I might add, true artistic vision. The judges and our editors kept flipping back to the images of some of these displays, marveling at their simple elegance and intriguing details. We couldn’t get enough. We were – dare I say it? – totally connecting with those brands. We were all wishing we could have seen the displays in person.

This is not exactly a revolutionary observation, but still, the juxtaposition was striking: I found it so ironic, and also so refreshing, that with as much time as we spend “connecting” with one another through social media, what really got me engaged were real-life displays made with hand-sewn doll clothes, ordinary tape and scrawled graffiti.

Don’t get me wrong: Social media has its place, maybe even a lucrative place, for retailers, designers and publishers (though no one’s really nailed that piece of it quite yet). And you can bet I’ll be tweeting my favorite images from the competition before the day is out.

Craft Works

(August 2009)

Award-winning visuals don’t need fancy propping or big budgets. Just ask the winners in VMSD’s International Visual Competition.

By Anne DiNardo for VMSD.com

Shoppers may be focused on value and discount prices, but that doesn’t mean they want to see only “Huge Sale!” signs hanging in store windows. “People are being inspired by hand crafting,” says Steve McGowan, executive creative director at Landor, a Cincinnati-based branding firm. “They’re searching for things that are warm and welcoming.”

Uniqlo visual director Mihee Yi says a craftier style is more approachable for consumers who are less inclined to spend money right now. “It’s softer and less sales-y,” she says. “And customers appreciate the fact that instead of throwing money at visual displays, you’re throwing time and intelligence at them.”

A year ago, during the judging of VMSD’s International Visual Competition, the judges noted that retailers seemed focused on simplicity in their visual displays to cut through the barrage of messaging going out to consumers. This year, judges say that theme has gone even further – partly driven by necessity, due to shrinking visual staffs and budgets. “It’s all about how you make the visual cost-effective,” says Beth Harlor, associate director, CBDi Design at Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati), and a judge at this year’s competition. “Retailers are not using as many props.”

HUMBLE ORIGINS
But they’re still connecting with consumers. For a display touting Uniqlo’s spring 2009 collection, which debuted in late 2008, Yi and marketing manager Jean-Emmanuel Shein wanted something that would inspire “more than just a casual glance while walking in and out of the store,” says Yi.

Working with display and vinyl vendor Carl Odhner, owner of Grafconect (New York), they came up with the idea of a gallery-like setting for miniature replicas of polos, denim, outerwear and t-shirts. The doll-sized outfits hung inside 30 small glass boxes fitted with Fresnel lenses that wrapped around a red, floor-to-ceiling box inside the New York store. Yi says the display created quite a buzz among shoppers (“It was amazing how much time people spent looking at the windows”), as well as this year’s judging panel, which named it Best in Show. “It’s such a great gesture of authenticity,” says judge David Hogrefe, managing director, Fitch (Powell, Ohio). “The repetition of squares is so simple but the focus is on the quality.”

McGowan adds that the presentation “totally captures your imagination and draws you in. You’re going to look inside every one of those boxes.”

Clever materials can be another way retailers delight and entertain shoppers. Judges were almost speechless when they discovered the main component of Hudson Bay Co.’s Cashmere Cancer Awareness windows. The Bay had asked Canadian designers to create dresses made completely of Cashmere-brand bathroom tissue, which was donating proceeds from its sales to cancer research. The gowns were displayed in store windows and throughout the store, strikingly posed next to artists’ original sketches.

Matt Beal, senior designer at Checkland Kindleysides (Leicester, U.K.), was also inspired by “a return to simple, utilitarian and sustainable materials.” Checkland’s material of choice was masking tape, for the Converse’s 1Hund(RED) campaign, which celebrated the philanthropic efforts of the (RED) charity. In one area, the tape was used on the display’s red walls to write artists’ names next to their customized Chuck Taylors. Local artist Kay van-Bellen also created a skyline illustration of London with tape for the display.

Competition judge Brent Hodge, visual manager for Williams-Sonoma Home, says the clever display “looks mindful of budgets but wasn’t afraid to push creative limits.”

ART APPRECIATION
Judges also interpreted several gallery-like presentations to represent an emerging art renaissance in visual. “It’s bringing culture to the masses,” says Hogrefe, “especially now when national support for the arts is declining.”

Tracey Peters says the visual staff at Holt Renfrew is constantly poring through art books for inspiration and regularly contracts with local artists. To highlight the resurgence of florals as a trend in fashion prints, the Canadian department store looked at the graffiti work of artist Shepard Fairey for inspiration and sought help from seven graffiti artists for a spring window theme, which earned an award of merit in this year’s competition. “The only items in the windows were the mannequins and fashions, but the graffiti background was so vibrant and strong,” says Peters, Holt’s national visual and merchandising manager. Our judges agreed.

As in-store displays and store windows work harder than ever to attract shoppers’ attention, judges note that retailers should focus on authentic messages and materials to turn the everyday into the unexpected. “It’s all about the craft of building arresting visuals,” says McGowan. 
  

Follow the links below to see each individual winning project:

Best in Show:
Uniqlo, New York - “Red Gallery – Miniature” 09 Spring Preview

First Place: 
Converse, London - 1Hund(RED) Exhibition
Macy’s Herald Square, New York - The Seven Wonders of Fashion, Flower Show 2008
Hudson’s Bay Co., Toronto - “Cashmere” Cancer Awareness windows
 

elanstyles.com is the website for premiere houston fashion stylist and creative élan raichle rogers. élan specializes in fashion styling, prop styling, show production and fashion consulting with particular regard to photo shoots and marketing and advertising fashion campaigns. élan's work can be seen throughout product and apparel marketing such as Hewlett Packard and handbag designer Elaine Turner; various modeling agencies like Neal Hamil and Page Parkes; editorials and publications such as The Advocate, skirt! magazine, Todo Texas, and 002Houston; her annual fashion show benefitting Spay Neuter Assistance Program; multiple television appearances as a fashion expert on Fox Morning News and KHOU-TV’s Great Day Houston; her instruction of Fashion Styling/Imaging and Visual Merchandising at Houston Community College.