[FASH 49] – Final Group Projects

Each week students were tasked with designing and installing displays according to a theme I provided.  This semester’s class was larger than usual.  I had 52 students!!  Many hands do make for lighter work, but it can also get really crowded in our small classroom with everyone working on either a:

• Window display
• Cubes (had to present twice)
• Table display
• Wall display
• Shelving display

Here are a few pictures from some their work:

This is actually a display from Group 6.  It was the first week group projects launched.  The theme for this week was POP CULTURE.  I thought it was so clever that they used three very distinct time periods that Britain is known for – the Mod 60s, the Punk era, the Royals, which is reflected in the decoupage of their hand-made blocks inside the cubes.

 

 

 

The above display is from Group 2.  Their cube display for POP CULTURE week was inspired by the artist Yayoi Kusama as you can see in the book cover of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

 

 

Up above, Group 4 also looked to Great Britain for inspiration in the iconic image of the Beatles crossing the street. They actually continued the street on the table!  Nicely done!

 

 

 

Group 1 looked to the current fashion trend of studs as their POP CULTURE inspiration!  I loved everything about this display, it’s nicely balanced, clean, and they cross-merchandised.

Considering all the displays shown above was everyone’s first time at doing this type of work, I must say I was impressed!  Students are required to provided all materials and merchandise themselves, they get no outside help, besides each other!  Is it tough to work this way?  YES, but in the world of display one of the first things you must learn and really need to be is RESOURCEFUL.

Throughout the weeks I saw many groups recycling materials and props into other displays – without me having to tell them, they automatically realized that is basically what display is all about!  Stores don’t have unlimited budgets to spend on one-off props, so how do you take what’s used and make it look new again.  If you can do that you will have a long and prosperous career as a display artist!

In my next post I will show more photos of student group projects from the other themes of:

• Holiday/Wedding
• Sports/Music
• Fashion Designer
• “pick a City”
• Green (eco-friendly)

Group Projects: Food

Here are the photos from last week’s displays.  The theme was food.  I’m finding the displays are getting better and better each week, as the students are refining their skills and taking more chances.  The comments in class, as they critique each other’s work, is also in line with what I’m thinking.  This is a testament to their growth as visual merchandisers and how their eyes are now trained to pick up on slight details that used to be overlooked.  My hat is off to all of you!

Group 1 – Shelving Unit

Looks yummy group 1! – I thought they did a great job with this one.  I could see this as a free-standing display in a bakery or even in a window.  The background matched the sprinkles on the cupcakes, and the coloring of the cupcake prop is not too overpowering, which makes it a perfect complement for the merchandise.  They even added under-cabinet lighting.  Great job and thanks for sharing all the treats at the end of class :)!!!

Group 2 – Cubes

Group 2 chose candy as their product to feature.  This project was good in theory but did not deliver in execution.

This cube is suppose to be cotton candy.  The pieces of cotton candy on the bottom of the cube didn’t work, as the sugar began to crystallize.  There is too much negative space within the cube.  I wish the tree branches had been painted a color, and instead of cotton candy, they could have used cotton batting, or stretched out cotton balls.  Learning to improvise, or creating what you want out of something else is the name of our game!  Plus the cotton will last longer than the cotton candy.

The candy mosaic on the bottom of this cube turned out nice.  They used mint flavored dental floss to hang the candy (kinda’ ironic)!  Again, I wish they had painted the branch, although, the unpainted branches was their intent, as they were inspired from another display that used branches.

I like the last cube showing the jawbreakers and gummy bears.  Now, if only they didn’t add any branches to this cube, it would’ve have been perfect.  Their reasoning was, the other cubes had the branches; they wanted to be consistent and have a cohesive look.  Do you agree?

Group 3 – Wall

Unfortunately group 3 did not finish their display in the allotted time.  It’s a shame because they had a cute idea, and from what I saw on their design plan, this would have been a great wall display!

Group 4 – Cubes

I loved this look!  I wish our cube stands where in better condition, or better yet, they had placed the cubes on tables.  The old stands take away from their work.

They almost went overboard on this project, by placing cupcakes on top of the cube!  Glad they scaled back.

The “Heaven and Hell” theme comes across clearly in the overall display.

Group 5-Window

This display is a great example of when the store display follows along with the marketing campaign.  Every week we receive newspaper fliers in the mail advertising a store’s sales, holidays, hot ticket items, etc….this display would go along perfectly with that.  The slogan they choose “on the go” with quick and easy food products, for when you are “on the go”, would go perfectly with an advertising campaign along these same lines.  [VONS is a large grocery store chain in Southern California.  They are the equivalent to the Safeway chain we have here in Northern California]

Group 6 – Table

Group 6 never disappoints!  They do clean, professional looking work every time.  What can I say, the display speaks for itself.  I like that they added lots of different heights to the table.  Very important and visually interesting, as it keeps it from looking flat.

As I mentioned in class, the projects are getting better and better each week.  I’m finding less to criticize and more to praise.  Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see what you do next week with our theme of FASHION DESIGNER!

Your Inspiration File

This week the students had an inspiration assignment.  The purpose of the assignment was to mark the beginnings of an inspiration file.  Some of us catalog items in actual files as Kaitlin K, showed me in class; or in notebooks they’ve been collecting since their teens, as Anthropologie intern Brianna L, showed me – and many of us just pull tearsheets from magazines and pin-up on an inspiration board!

Whatever your method, keeping an inspiration file is tantamount to being a good display artist.  Below is a brief write-up from Shelby S., a veteran window dresser, on what inspires her:

I like the way the frames are displayed here—I’ve seen this technique before & I love the randomness and uniqueness that is involved—never boring.  For our class wall display project, music is the theme, so maybe a different picture could be featured in each frame…?

I love the 3D effect that origami has – so simple yet chic at the same time, an art that isn’t really appreciated or used enough over here in the states.  This could be used as a quick and easy way to bring life and shape to a display.

I thought this was a really cool display & we also just so happen to have holiday as our theme for when we use the table for our class project.  I like how consistent and representative the theme of Halloween was used here—it’s scary yet inviting at the same time and immediately draws you in.

I’ve done a window display using books before, where we folded/rolled the pages to make these cool shapes out of the books—and I like how they used the same effect with magazines—I have a ton of magazines that could use a purpose rather than just collecting dust in piles around the house… but I also love their sense of balance with it, and how they completely created this whole world with these magazines—and its GREEN!

I was inspired by these images simply based on the fact that for our GREEN theme-class project, we are required to use the shelving unit – and it only makes sense to use some sort of product that actually belongs on a shelf that also requires some sort of green set up to represent what it stands for.

Thanks Shelby S. for this write-up!

 

Where do you look for inspiration, please share your ideas!

 

Group Projects for Spring 2012

[Hello Class – I have updated the syllabus on this site for those students who are in my class.  You were given a hand-out at school but if for any reason you lose it, you can find all of the same information on this site.  Click on Class Syllabus under The Categories.]

 

 

GROUP PROJECTS

Group Projects will be assigned this coming Saturday.  We have six groups.

The themes are:

• Pop Culture
• Fashion Designer
• Movie
• Environment
• Holiday
• Music or Sports (we need to decide)

 

The schedule is as follows:

March 31 – #1 wall, #2 big cubes, #3 window, #4 table, #5 shelving, #6 other cubes   (Environment)

April 7 – #1 other cubes, #2 wall, #3 big cubes, #4 window, #5 table, #6 shelving        (Holiday)

April 14 – #1 shelving, #2 other cubes, #3 wall, #4 big cubes, #5 window, #6 table       (Movie)

April 21 – #1 table, #2 shelving, #3 other cubes, #4 wall, #5 big cubes, #6 window      (Fashion Designer)

April 28 – #1 window, #2 table, #3 shelving, #4 other cubes, #5 wall, #6 big cubes      (Sports/Music)

May 5 – #1 big cubes, #2 window, #3 table, #4 shelving, #5 other cubes, #6 wall         (Pop Culture)

The number corresponds with what group you are in and what surface you will be presenting for that day.

 

See you Saturday!

Group Projects – Fashion Designer Week

I’m finally able to get the photos up from Fashion Designer week for group projects.  Each group was allowed to choose any fashion designer they wished as inspiration for their display.  Here’s how they did:

Group 1 – Burberry (window)

(I apologize for the flash, I’m not really the best photog!)  This window was a class favorite

Group 2 – Colleen Atwood (table)

This group chose Colleen Atwood as their designer of choice. If you don’t know, she is a costume designer, most notably for the Alice in Wonderland movie, as well as others, in which the students noted with place cards on the table.

Group 3 – Chanel (shelving)

This was executed so well – the photo doesn’t do it justice!

Group 4 – Chanel (wall)

Another homage to the Grand Dame, that was well done!

Group 5  – Betsey Johnson (cube)

A Betsey Johnson look for the girl-on-the-go!

My favorite for this week was the wall display – considering they made all the props themselves, they did a superb job!

 

How do you think my students did?

Visual Merchandising Student’s “holiday” Theme Displays

Here are the photos I meant to post last week on the in-class group projects.  Considering what limited resources we have to work with, I’m very impressed with what my students come up with every week.  The theme for this week was “holiday”.  Students were allowed to choose any holiday they wish and interpret it into a display.

The only rules are:

1. I must be able to identify the theme immediately from looking at the display
2. I must be able to identify what product/merchandise they are promoting

So how do you think they did?

Group 1

They are displaying books in a children’s store.

Two future visual merchandisers, very happy with their work!

Group 2

Last week we weren’t able to see anything from group 2 as the cubes were temporarily M.I.A., so this is their first showing.  Obviously they chose Easter too, and they are displaying towels.  The bunny artwork is adorable!  I would have like to see more towels displayed on the table.

Group 3 –  This group had the clever idea of doing a story line for Valentine’s Day.  I will admit when I first saw it, I thought their theme was weddings.

The Courtship – There are transparencies in each cube with a love poem on it that pertains to the occasion.

The Engagement

Happily Ever After!

Group 4

This group choose Christmas in April!

Group 5

This group’s holiday is 4th of July and cute H&M sandals.

I love how they displayed the shoes and made all their risers in class!

Good job group 5!

So how do you think they did?

An Education: Movie Inspiration for Group Project

The class has begun to settle into their groups and begin brainstorming on their group projects, as mentioned here.  The themes for the visual displays they will be creating are:

• Movie
• Music
• “Green” (as in the environment)
• Fashion Designer
• Holiday

I’ve decided to play along with my class and come up with my own inspiration for a project.  Feel free to play along too, whether you are in my class or not and post your ideas in the comments section.

If I were to do a window or interior display based on a movie, I think the one I would choose right now would be “An Education” I found that movie to be incredibly chic!

I don’t know why, but I have a feeling most of my students might choose the favorites such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Marie Antoinette, The Devil Wears Prada, etc….they are good movies but too obvious.  Heck An Education isn’t an original idea, but I think it’s less obvious choice than those mentioned above.  I would really love to see my students go far out and choose something totally off the radar!

What movie would you choose for your display inspiration, and what product would you be highlighting?

 

 

Group Projects

There have been some changes to the Group Projects:

We now have 5 groups

The display themes are:

• Green
• Holiday
• Movie
• Fashion Designer
• Music

(Pop culture has been eliminated at the class’ request)

You will now only have five surfaces to complete:

• Wall
• 2 Large Cubes
• Window
• Table
• Shelving Unit

For privacy and safety reasons I will not be listing student names for each group, ask me in class if you have forgotten which group you are in.  The group assignments are as follows:

April 2 – #1 Wall , #2 Cubes, #3 Window, #4 Table, #5 Shelving (Green)

April 9 – #1 Shelving, #2 Wall, #3 Cubes, #4 Window, #5 Table (Holiday)

April 16 – #1 Table, #2 Shelving, #3 Wall, #4 Cubes, #5 Window (Movie)

April 23 – #1 Window, #2 Table, #3 Shelving, #4 Wall, #5 Cubes (Fashion Designer)

April 30 – #1 Cubes, #2 Window, #3 Table, #4 Shelving, #5 Wall (Music)

Please remember in addition to decorating according to the theme of the week, you must also choose the “product” you are selling.

Let me know if you have any questions!

See you in class……