There is a big difference between window displays that are just displaying things, and window displays that are creating an experience. A visual display only becomes an experience when there’s clarity in the story behind it. When a window has story, it’s an environment for a story, not just a container for product.
Why is Story Important to Window Visuals?
Customers do not buy products in a window. It’s an experience.
An experience that starts with how they feel about the display.
It can be interesting, it can be fun, it can be aspirational, it can feel familiar. And, once a customer decides they feel a connection, then they are willing to come inside to buy.
Story gives window merchandisers the ability to think bigger, to organize, to put elements in place with clear purpose. To make decisions about what products, which props, which colors, and how they work together.
Story is an organizing principle for the way you present your visual merchandising window concepts.
Organizing the Display Elements into a Visual Story
Visual story begins with an idea. An idea is an organizing principle like a concept, it can be a time of the year like “Fall”. It can be an idea or attitude like “Urban Contrast”, “Modern Simplicity” or an experience like “Relaxation”.
Whatever the organizing principle for your story, it determines what products, props, colors and lighting goes in the window, and how to put the elements of the display together.
Once the organizing principle or story is decided, everything else fits into that concept and has no place outside of it. It’s all part of the concept. The products, props, and lighting are part of the visual story, the colors support and enhance the story.
Visual Story Creates an Emotional Connection With the Customer
Story is important to visual merchandising because it creates emotional connection with customers. It’s an organizing principle which allows customers to make a connection with their experiences or their feelings.
Visual story gives customers something to identify or feel about. It doesn’t always have to be obvious. Sometimes it can be subtle or abstract. But the idea should make sense to customers. For example, they should understand it.
The visual display might feature an idea like “relaxation”. This could look like bright open space, lots of light, and natural materials and colors, with the products in place in an unstructured, relaxed way.
On the other hand, “modern contrast” might look dark and shadowy, and the products might be in place in a structured arrangement.
The story could be any of these ideas, or many others. The point is that story is all about creating connection through emotion.
The Role of Products in the Visual Story
Products are just one part of visual story. Products are there to tell the story, and in many ways they are not the main story element in the window.
They are integrated into the scene, they are placed in relationship to the other elements, and they become part of the visual narrative.
Customers do not buy product from a window display. An integrated product that belongs in the story looks more valuable than a product out of context or unrelated to the story.
Fewer is More for Strong Visual Story
Story works best when the idea is very clear. That means it doesn’t try to tell multiple stories in the same display.
When you have only one story to tell, it can be easier to put into visual form.
If the concept is strong enough, it’s possible to tell a great story with very few elements.
Simplicity is key. A simple concept will be easier to read and understand by customers. It will have more impact.
To Wrap Up
Story is the key to visual displays. It helps transform your windows into communication.
A display creates meaning. The display turns product into symbolic form. The product becomes part of the story and the scene. The visual display communicates an experience and creates an emotional connection with the customer, who may then come into the store and buy.