Creative Kickstarts: In a visually driven industry, it can be easy to forget the power of the written word. Here’s a case for dusting off the dictionary before your next project.
Since I was a kid, I’ve loved words. I love how they sound. Kalamazoo. Liquidity. Buffoonery. Chiffon. I love how a few words together can evoke a precise moment, like the infamous headline: Kennedy Dead. Or how you can make someone feel like a princess with the name of a lipstick: Regal Rouge.
Now that I’m grown and running a retail branding and copywriting firm, I’m often dismayed at the lack of words in retail design.
Why, at a time when people seem as hungry for words and ideas as for things, are retailers falling silent? Think of the explosion of thought-sharing going on via Twitter and Facebook today. The young readers who devoured the verbose “Harry Potter” stories a decade ago are now feasting on the high word counts of the “Twilight” series. And didn’t we elect our latest president on the strength of his words? Yes, We Can.
Words are as important to communicating a brand as color, lighting, space and materials. If you master using words in retail design, you strengthen your arsenal for hitting your target audience.
Put words in 3-D. A while ago, I clipped a photo of a white upholstered chair screen-printed with a furniture store’s brand message. Recently, The Limited put a seasonal message on three different T-shirts and dressed store mannequins in them. At Logan’s Roadhouse, WD Partners (Dublin, Ohio) created “rebel energy” by including music-inspired graphics with evocative quotes and phrases, such as “We keep your seat warm & your longneck cold.” Words can also create layers of information for customers to discover. Try imbedding phrases in architecture or fixtures – on the edges of shelves, tables or soffits, on stairs, lamp shades or under merchandise. When Giorgio Borruso designed Zu+Elements in Milan, he started with poetry rather than sketches. The poems ended up stenciled on the ceiling.
Place words where you can’t go. Most purchasing decisions are made in dressing rooms – yet words seldom appear here. In this intimate setting, words can persuade, reassure, instruct and foster communication. Why not label doors with brand attributes and let customers choose which one to enter? Provide chalkboard labels for associates to organize merchandise by type, collection name or favorites. Label hooks for sorting choices: No. Maybe. Definitely. Create a “help” sign that customers can hang outside the door. Or simply post a thank-you note for trying on the merchandise.
I totally agree with you that a single word can make a huge difference.Actually, I work for resume service and in this a single word has also a great importance because it is done for official work and if this goes wrong then you know what difference can it make in ones carrier and recently, it happened to my friend that he spoke a word without knowing its meaning and finally he suffers because the word he spoke was a slang and also it was in-front of his friends mother. She just scolded him badly. A simple word can make you happy and also a single simple word can bring disaster.
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Place words where you can’t go. Most purchasing decisions are made in dressing rooms – yet words seldom appear here. In this intimate setting, words can persuade, reassure, instruct and foster communication. Why not label doors with brand attributes and let customers choose which one to enter? Provide chalkboard labels for associates to organize merchandise by type, collection name or favorites. Label hooks for sorting choices: No. Maybe. Definitely. Create a “help” sign that customers can hang outside the door. Or simply post a thank-you note for trying on the merchandise.path to success
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