God is in the Details

If there is one characteristic that designers, retailers and writers tend to share, it’s a (sometimes excruciating) attention to detail. And though we may defend ourselves with wise words from Mies van der Rohe, if we’re being completely honest, there is a danger of focusing so much on the small strokes that we forget about the bigger picture.

For any visual merchandiser or store designer, it is, at times, critical to take that step back and look at the proverbial forest for the trees. Think about how your work functions within the store environment, how that environment supports the brand and what that brand embodies.

Just last week, I had the opportunity to sit in on the judging of our International Visual Competition, which showcases visual display achievements of limited shelf life. As usual, we invited several leading industry professionals to evaluate our submissions and decide which would receive the top recognitions. (Stay tuned for VMSD’s July issue to see this year’s winners.)

In listening to the judges’ deliberations, it became clear that this skill – this ability to first evaluate specific design and merchandising techniques, then place the whole of the work in context – was critical to the process. The projects that decidedly rose to the top executed on both fronts. Not only were they innovative, often stunning, examples of design, but they were also clear expressions of their brands.

By that, I don’t mean that they were safe or expected, many were emphatically the opposite. Instead, they communicated the essence of their brands and told a compelling story, weaving in elements of whimsy and humor that instantly grabbed you.

Attention to detail is something we pride ourselves on, and the enjoyment we feel when first presented with an intricate, clever and engaging window design or visual display simply can’t be overstated. But as I proofread pages for our upcoming issue, searching for an errant comma or aggravating typo, I often remind myself: God is in the details, just don’t get lost there.