Visual Merchandising and Store Design | VMSD.com

Landor uses its office space’s retail roots to fuel creative minds

By Whitney Harrod

Located in the former Shillito’s building in downtown Cincinnati, design firm Landor Associates takes full advantage of what the department store left behind – its storefront windows.

When Landor opened the office in 1998, its design team decided to utilize the windows to fuel their own creative thinking. “We try to be thought provoking and tell different stories, which are inspired by graphic design, packaging, branding or anything we participate in our business every day,” says Steve McGowen, executive creative director of Landor.

Each person in the firm plays a role in implementing and executing the theme of the show, which rotates on a quarterly basis. “We curate it as you would a gallery show,” McGowen says. “Then each window becomes a canvas.”

Past themes have included “110 Experiment,” where Landor asked bloggers to document their experience on websites, Twitter feeds and Facebook pages everyday at 1:10 a.m. and 1:10 p.m. Their work was then translated into the windows. And with another theme, “Smashup Creative,” local artists inspired the branding teams to interpret familiar brands like Old Spice and Ritz Crackers.

Landor recently boxed up its “Inspired by Anne” exhibit – celebrating the work of fashion illustrator Anne Wainscott – and sent it to the Cincinnati Museum Center to be re-launched as a summer exhibit.

This year, the firm also teamed up with Cincinnati Fashion Week, using the event’s opening reception to reveal its installment “Graphic Fashion,” featuring graphics-inspired window clings and large-scale photos of Landor employees in artsy clothing.

In addition to inspiring employees and the community at large, the installations act as a tool to attract talent from New York and across the globe to Cincinnati, says McGowen.

So what is next? More interactive windows, says McGowan. Think “Minority Report,” where people can manipulate objects, or an interactive game, which morphs the viewer into something else.

“Before, people used to just pass by the windows. Now they look forward to our shows. We have a blog family in Cincinnati that can’t wait to see what we do next.”