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Unit 11: Window Displays

semi-realistic or “vignette” setting. The visual merchandiser presents the essence, and Notes
leaves the rest to the active imagination of the shopper. This is a more effective but
simpler approach to merchandise settings.

Example: In a predominantly black or dark grey window (walls, floors, and side walls),
imagine a small table covered with a red and white checkered cloth, two bent wood chairs with
cane seats, a candle stuck into a straw-encased Chianti bottle already heavy with rivulets of
melted wax, some bread sticks in a water tumbler, a brass hat stand, a potted palm. Couldn’t this
be any romantic, old-fashioned, neighbourhood, Italian restaurant? Or, simply, a palm tree
dripping heavy with green leaves, a mound of sand, an open, boldly striped beach umbrella-
anybody would know it was some faraway island in the sun. Who needs to look beyond this
into the nebulous, no-colour, no-detail background?
On ledges, in island displays, and in store windows with open backs, a semi-realistic
setting works most effectively. It is theatre in-the-round, but the viewer does not go
beyond the fragment being shown. To the display person, it means getting to the heart of
the setting, presenting that “heart,” and then fleshing it out only as necessary. A park
bench, a tree, some pigeons or a squirrel, the hint of sky, some grass and gravel-it is a park!
An awning swaged off the dark back wall, a small metal table for two, two ironwork
chairs, a bottle of wine and two glasses, a suggestion of a kiosk, over to the side, bedecked
with French posters-it’s romance, it’s April in Paris!
4. Fantasy Setting: A fantasy setting can be as detailed or as suggestive as the display
person, budget, and time permit. It is creative, requires thought, energy, and lots of
planning, but it can be very rewarding. It can be surrealistic or just completely off-the
wall.

5. Abstract Setting: An abstract setting might seem as if it would be the easiest to do, but it
is often the most difficult. The least amount of display often makes the biggest statement.
In an abstract setting, the merchandise is the dominant feature and the setting supports
and reinforces the message, often subliminally.

Task Collect information on some more types of setting with visual examples.
The abstract setting is predominantly an arrangement of lines and shapes, panels, cubes, cylinders,
triangles, curves, arcs, and circles. The design does not really represent or look like anything in
particular, but it does evoke certain responses from the viewer.

Lab Exercise Go to website http://studyvm.blogspot.in/2012/02/types-of-display-
setting.html#!/2012/02/types-of-display-setting.html and collect more information on
types of display setting.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

9. A ............................ setting is essentially the depiction of a room, area, or otherwise
recognizable locale, reinterpreted in the allotted display area, either in the windows or
inside the store.

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