September, 2009

This is such an amazing window display we’re surprised we’ve not seen it attempted elsewhere before.

Us at Design4Retail think, perhaps, it’s because of the sheer scale of effort that must have gone in to Juicy Couture’s winter wonderland window display creation.

Set back from a sheer expanse of glass that’s uninterrupted except for a single solitary letterbox, a two-storey building façade steals the show.

With its own window displays, apartment balconies overhead and permanent window-lickers poised below, this impressive scene’s finishing touch is that all the mannequins neatly display the brand’s product lines to maximum effect.

When you hear the phrase “life imitates art” you can see what Andy Warhol was getting at by looking at this utterly stunning piece of retail design.

In a scene mimicking real life, consumers lust after commercial objects to imitate the display itself. Very clever, we’re just envious we didn’t think of it first!

And it’s a shame we’ve only just stumbled over this as it was their retail design presentation for last Christmas, although now we come to think about it, they’ve got to go one better this year surely? And Design 4 Retail just can’t wait to see what it will be.

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Here’s a really novel idea.

You’re the producer of high-end designer style carrier bags and how do you promote yourself?

Well, this packaging company have taken what they know about their end users and used it to profile themselves as a serious contender on the high street.

Very clever, they’ve lifted and copied the white fabric back lit look so often imitated for its synonymous style connotations and simply added into the foreground an array of figure outlines carrying bags they would produce themselves and printed with statements like “We make your shopping bags” and “Custom Design”.

Incredibly simple retail design approach, but more importantly this raw window display hits all the right notes in establishing the company amongst the masses.

A cunningly useful piece of self-promotion and some nice PR that Design 4 Retail would do well to mimic!

As our old Design Technology teachers used to say, “it’s not copying, it’s research”. Well, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, is there?!

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Sportswear companies adidas and Puma, founded by brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler during World War II, have ended their 60 year feud by playing a football game in their hometown of Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, Germany.

The brothers began designing sport shoes together in their mother’s washroom in the 20’s before falling out and forming rival firms, splitting not only the family but the entire town.

The teams were a mix of adidas and Puma employees and the final score was 7 – 5.

No joke, Louis Vuitton knows how to make a scene stylishly.

Check out this YouTube snippet of their designer window display with a difference.

Taking the average woman on the street as an innocent bystander, you can’t help but watch as your eyes are drawn to LV’s Speedy history conveyor belt around the perimeters of the store.

This clever conveyor installation pushes the iconic Speedy bags along through time mimicking the belts you find in airport arrivals.

Zipping back and forth between the years to showcase a rich history of what has become one of the most classic and notorious “It” bags of all time, easily rivalling Chanel’s infamous 2.55 style.

This is retail design with a difference, as rarely do luxury brands manage to pull off presentations of their archives with such style without appearing overtly arrogant in doing so.

The dynamics of this particular window display is what we at Design 4 Retail really love about Louis Vuitton’s showcase, and one that’s guaranteed to make a lasting impression upon anyone who sees it.

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Exciting times are afoot; always a fan of the beautifully presented window and in-store displays offered by international jewellery powerhouse, Tiffany, Design 4 Retail are pleased to hear that the established brand is moving in a less formal direction to engage a different type of consumer.

This new style is reflected in a new Tiffany store opening this month at University Village, Seattle. With doors constructed from glass rather than the formidable stainless steel monolithic entrances usually seen at Tiffany, the hope is that the relaxed retail environment will remove the intimidation some customers feel when entering the statuesque store.

The more casual approach is in tone with the change in sales technique Tiffany is experimenting with. Take for example their new tactic of displaying pieces on table tops, allowing customers to freely touch without asking permission, and their use of “organic” large sculptural figure displays to present their collection.

It’s leaps away from the fusty image of locked glass cabinets that used to come to mind when thinking of Tiffany jewellery. Fortunately, now the “look, don’t touch” attitude has disappeared to be replaced with a much more inviting “please look and feel free to touch”.

Retaining the upscale brand identity and achieving mass appeal as an approachable style house for fashionable jewellery can’t have been easy, but the retail design presentation now offered promises to clinch the deal for them.

It is expected that Tiffany will open as many as 70 stores in the style of Seattle’s University Village retail unit by 2020. If only there were a few more over in the UK!

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We’re not shy about blowing our own trumpet at Design 4 Retail, especially not when our window displays look as good as this.

Tasked with promoting the urban clothing mover and shaker G-Star RAW’s new footwear collection in downtown Barcelona, we rose to the challenge with an innovative product display at the RoyAlty Shoes Gallery on Portal de l’Angel.

Garnering some serious fashion kudos, G-Star RAW has showcased at New York Fashion Week and been used in runway modelling in recent years. The high profile fashion brand is renowned for an industrial and construction focused styling.

Using lit acrylic cubes which house the new footwear collection and are set upon office chair structures, the product display is certainly an example of Design4Retail’s ability to enhance a brand vision while producing unusual window displays.

If your displays could do with a facelift, give us a call on 01455 203 352 or email enquiries@design4retail.net

We constantly talk about jaw dropping window displays and innovative interior design, and here’s yet another example of how it’s done right.

MagMa is an awesome example of innovative retail interior design. The funky book, gift and gadget shop based in Covent Garden knows how to attract a crowd and stand out from the hordes of shops in the West End.

All the furniture is well designed and engineered to be extremely durable and stylish.

Surprisingly this is not a temporary store promotion but a permanent retail interior that was installed almost 2 years ago. Everything is fire rated so no worries about the store going up in smoke. Never the less it should be the cheapest retail interior to fit out again!

This certainly holds the flag for eco friendly and recyclable 3D retail design and display.

Bangkok, perhaps surprisingly, is becoming a bit of a world leader in where truly innovative retail design concepts are headed. The key to this country’s success has been in creating environments that the public willingly revisits.

Named the “humanscape”, the idea is one that makes sense really – create spaces that people enjoy to be in and the retail dimension of the environment becomes part of the wallpaper.

Many who experience the humanscape retail design concept may not be aware of its subtle yet penetrating impact, what they do find however is the impulsive impact to their wallets they have little control over.

The future of retail design is clever and customer experience focused rather than drawing upon product lines and standalone retail displays in order to create an impact.

The key to its success is in positioning with other companies who have sympathetic retail lines but who do not detract from your own company’s unique offering. Not rocket science you’d think, but taking the right opportunity to position your business in the right environment for subliminal sales takes time and planning.

The essence of the humanscape is in recognising that design and business are no longer foes that pit the fluffy arty types against go-getters who’d sell their granny given half a chance.

Instead, companies need to accept that successful business strategies view retail design as being an essential component that adds value to their existing brand recognition, or in establishing an appropriate tone and reputation for new businesses with retail design doing the hard work for them.

A fantastic example of this is the open-air retail design J-Avenue shopping centre development in Soi Thong Lor, Bangkok, where dining spaces become comfortable lifestyle hubs to lazily browse the internet whilst eating for an hour or so, extending the home experience out of the house into a more social arena.

This customer-centric approach sets a new tone for shopping spaces to enable consumer engagement by considering the retail design environment as a factor that will sustain business in the future.

We at Design4Retail adore this concept, but it’ll only start to become reality when property developers see the value in creating clever customer experiences.

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It’s always a tricky conundrum; how do you enhance and update an established brand without diluting its core feel?

We here at Design4Retail are always looking for examples of well considered window displays that achieve the right balance.  While we work very closely with Lacoste in the UK, ensuring they have the best in-store displays possible, it would seem our American counterparts have the same work ethos.

To launch Lacoste’s new Lacoste Red! collection in their New York flagship store, a really strikingly designed display was in order. The iconic brand chose to place a full-sized light box display a la Saturday Night Fever in the window of the Manhattan based meatpacking district store.

Reminiscent of sharp white suits and John Travolta styled disco dancing, the kitsch nostalgia evoked from this clever retail design concept taps in to the public consciousness no matter which generation they belong to.

The window display’s installation comprises of a 12×14x14 light box display, constructed from plexi and backlit using fluorescent lights within the store entrance. Lights were then filtered through red and white fabric, and juxtaposed against a vinyl overlay disco themed patterned floor for a really fun in-store display.

Cast against the retail display’s back wall are action shots of models superimposed against each other, all wearing new products to promote the new line.

In the foreground mannequins display the products to add a dimension of tactility to the display. Cleverly, the display connects outwardly with the products in store as a red line stretches out from the window display and winds through the shop floor.

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What’s the grandest opportunity you can imagine to provide high profile retail design concepts for?

A high street worth of shops? An entire shopping centre? Either would be an absolute dream, but we think we’ve found a real corker that Design4Retail would love to get their hands on.

Imagine being responsible for designing and fitting the retail armature, an art gallery and a 2-storey shopping centre all on board an ocean liner that will sail from continent to continent, viewed by thousands of affluent customers and impacting their retail experience.

That’s exactly the opportunity that’s been presented by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to design their new liner, Celebrity Equinox.

The largest and most innovative ship within their fleet, Equinox is sister to the already impressive Celebrity Solstice, which launched in November last year.

Solstice’s greatest achievement was in re-establishing the battlelines in liner design and set new benchmarks for the cruise industry.

This spanky new sailing development‘s design will be informed by the way existing users of the Solstice use public spaces to bring the Equinox enhanced levelsl of luxury, style, comfort and choice to its 2,850 guests.

An incredibly exciting retail design prospect that we just wish we’d got our hands on first!

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