Window displays are a way to showcase the spirit of your store and company as well as the products you are selling. They can be playful or serious, simple or wild, focused or varied. Each approach can create a beautiful window display, it’s the way you go about creating the display that determines this beauty. Here are a few tips and tricks so you can produce a head-turning display that will draw in customers and impress everyone who passes by!
Focus On Telling A Story
A good window display needs to be cohesive. It’s easy to think about window displays in terms of general themes, such as “the holidays” or “springtime,” but utilizing a theme rather than telling a story can make your window display look patched together. Would you rather see a bunch of pastel products next to a giant painted eggs or a little girl in a pastel dress picking decorated eggs up in a field of flowers? While the first example fits the theme of springtime, the second goes beyond just a theme, instead asking each onlooker to participate in the display. By telling a story through the elements in your display you’ll keep onlookers engaged and excited about both the display and your product.
A good example of encouraging onlookers to engage is the Tequila Patrón window display for Selfridges, a high-end department store in the United Kingdom.
Source: Tequila Patrón for Selfridges
This window display states “It takes sixty hands to make one bottle of the world’s finest ultra premium tequila,” and shows sixty individual hands to really demonstrate the impact of those words. While less of a literal narrative than what may come to mind when thinking about telling a story visually, this window display tells the story of the many people it takes to craft a single bottle of Tequila Patrón. Though the message may not be conveyed at first glance, this window display makes a statement, thus encouraging people to take a second look rather than quickly pass it by.
Source: Made Urban
Another great example of telling a story that engages customers is British menswear retailer, Hackett’s windblown window display. You can almost feel the wind gusting as you walk by!
Make Sure You Have A Focal Point
When telling a story, it’s easy to want to say anything and everything you can. However, a window display is a relatively small space to work with and it’s important to not overwhelm your viewers with a million things to look at once. This can be avoided by having a focal point that draws a passerby’s eye instantly.
Source: VM
Moschino’s “Barbie” window display does this flawlessly. The display has a definite focal point, the large box full of doll clothes. It calls the passerby’s attention to it immediately through its use of bright colors and vibrant patterns. Additionally, the display is conjuring nostalgia for those looking at it, urging them to remember the days in their childhoods when they played with Barbies, telling the story of buying a new outfit for your doll and the excitement and happiness that comes with it. This window display definitely uses storytelling and focal points to its full advantage.
Be Vibrant And Bold
The key to a good window display is catching the eye of someone passing by. We all know that most individuals (ourselves included) spend a good deal of time on our phones, iPods, FitBits, and other distracting devices. Your window display needs to be bold and vibrant in order to beckon those passing by to look up from Instagram, Facebook, or their group chat.
Source: VM
This LK Bennett window display is as creative as it is bold. The bright, vibrant colors of the “paint” compliment the shoes the store is selling. Using flowers as paint is very unexpected and eye catching. The display also has a sense of motion that guides the viewer’s eye from bottom to top; if you’re passing this window display while walking and looking down at your phone, you see the flowers on the ground which entice you to look up at the full display. If you’re looking at the display head-on, your eye follows the spilled paint downwards, leading you to the product, the shoes.
Window displays should be a fun way to showcase your products as well as your company’s style, brand, creativity, and spirit. While the task at hand may seem intimidating at first glance, creating a fabulous window display is easy as long as you tell a story, have a focal point, and remember to be bold.