I was walking by the windows on 5th Avenue the other day and thinking about how far visual design for storefronts has come in the past few years. Stores like Anthropologie, Bloomingdales, and Sacs have really started to create some beautiful art in their windows. I talked to an acquaintance who works at one such store about how one might start the process of designing the visual space for a store or window. She said they always worked to come up with a strong theme, be it a color, or a season or a material that could be used at three different scales: one that could be a hand-held item. One design that could be placed on a wall, and one design that could be placed in a window.
I decided to challenge myself to build models of these three items and to get feedback from her at the end, to both see if I would cut it in the retail world, and to push myself to look at design in a different way.
So far this has been my brainstorm:
Season: Spring; Material: Lace? Fabric of some sort?
Window: I have a pretty clear idea of what I want this to be. I would love to create a wave/at the beach look to usher in spring and summer.
Wall: Maybe some sort of lacy pattern on the wall? Overlaping in some way? I need more visual research for this one.
Hand held: Lace or fabric shaped into round form. I found this amazing image of glass fishing floats and would love to make smaller versions of this from. (It would also go with the wave).
And here is my visual research for the wave:
I am excited to get started on this, so today I am going out to source some lace and fabric. Wish me luck!
Across the Pond and Back Again 