Get their Attention!
Creating retail displays that attract customers is top priority. Six items all retail displays should have. Do your displays add up?
1. Keep it simple- Have a FOCAL Point.
Too much in a window can overwhelm and too little can be boring. Start with a focal point and add into the design if need be. When a focal point is missing the customers eyes drift and if they are passing by in a car the message you tried to send was lost. The one focal point can be picked up by the eye even in a moving vehicle. Remember keep it simple- less is more.
2. Have and angle-
Try your best to keep a visual flow to the design, vertical, horizontal, curved lines or even products arranged in a triangle. Using lines can help to keep the focal point and correct placement of items. Don’t just throw them together and think your done, make a plan. Try even sketching out your window display before you start moving mannequins.
3. Using lines creates Balance -
To make this point make sense I want you to think of a scale (like the scale of justice) If one side has too much weight the other side of the scale is off and rises. A window display is the same way. If all items are bunched together and off to an angle (not the focal point) the window will look off - unbalanced. This can also happen with not just quantity placement, but color placement. If you are using a triangle angle to be the focal point in the window (point 1 & 2) and you put darker items at the top and light items on the bottom it will be unbalanced (top heavy).
4.Lighting
Lighting too often becomes the last on the to do list. Hanger or lighting… Well, stop over looking it. Lighting is so important, it can stop someone walking by who saw the item versus a passer by who didn’t even blink. Lighting should always come from above, unless you are doing a Halloween spooky display. Truly every display should have two to three direct light on it coming from over head angles. Now sometimes we don’t have that budget to play with, but do your best. Adjust any over headlights you have to hit the display in multiple places to show the 3 -dimensional qualities of product. Ikea is great for additional track lighting that won’t break the bank.
5. Double Check Your Display.
After creating your window display you need to take an outside look at it and from all angles. Be judgemental, ask yourself would I want to look at this? Would this catch my attention? What can I do better? Make sure you can read all signs, the focal point is still the focal point and the lighting is spotlighting the correct product.
The picture above is a great example of all five points. Keep it simple, one dog sticker, one mannequin and wall art surrounding mannequin to balance the size of the dog sticker. The focal point that grabs the eye is the dog. It is so well lit that you can see everything crystal clear. The plates behind the mannequin keep the balance of the dog on the left. The lines used in this window are vertical. Great window.
*This picture was taken while I was in Vegas for Magic (09). The store is Diesel in the Caesars Forum Shops.*