Primary Research:: Store Report

Today I took some time out of the studio to pop into town and gather some primary research for both my tee brief and Hope clothing re-brand brief. I was focusing on high street stores, high end stores and clothing boutiques looking specifically at the store layout, the presentation of the products, swing tickets, packaging and promotional material. I visited a variety of stores (some more successful than others)


Alexander Wang

This store layout was within Harvey Nichols. The use of the halogen bulbs drew attention to the section, this was the replicated with the use of brightly coloured stripes of vinyl on the walls. I really like the application of this; bright colours and bold angular shapes is something I would like to experiment with within my work.


American Apparel

What I found interesting here was the caged racks encasing the whole of the store, to which the store is then laid out via this; thus the shop can be continually changed with ease. I also found that they had a very strong use of colour coding appearing throughout the store which almost added an extra visual to the store's appearance. Lastly, the use of the vinyl type on the steps as you go up then and on the wall seemed to work particularly well, as the stairs are a place where people generally look down to ensure they do not trip up any steps! So it kind of makes sense.

 
Urban Outfitters

This was another interesting store, especially with regards to having multiple clothing lines within a single store, as this is what I am going to propose with my tee shirt line. Each section had it's own area within the store and a sign to highlight each section. I also found the presentation of the products and shoes to be highly influential; again, it was their use of colour and shapes which got me intrigued. Definitely aspect of design that I would like to infuse into my own designs.


Republic

I was very surprised by what I found in the Republic store, it is new so it had a lot of new features. The most interesting feature was the interactive shopping they had present, this consisted of three large touch screens where shoppers could browse the stores products and purchase them if they so desire. This then provides the shopper with a entirely new shopping experience and also allows me to propose design for screen for my products that I am potentially going to sell in there. Republic also had some ingenious methods of presenting their products; using chests of draws, ladders and vintage barrels etc. This has given me a lot to consider when designing how my tee range will presented at point of sale.


Reiss

The type on Reiss' window design caught my eye as I walked past, the letters had be fixed to the outer of the window so that they stood away; almost an embossed effect. Also, the white colour and clean lines of the letter shapes allows the store to appear high end and sophisticated.


Zara

There was nothing that interesting about the store design of Zara, other than it was well organised into sections within the store; A/W and different ranges within Zara.


All Saints

The All Saints swing tickets are printed onto a thick stock and have a rustic feel, which reflects the style of their clothes. I think this is an important factor that I need to consider when designing the swing tickets for my clothing range.


Harvey Nichols

I took a variety of photos whilst I was in Harvey Nichols to explore the general presentation of the products within the store; everything is well organised to create clean cut lines and free space within the store.


Aqua

I am very fond of the Aqua branding, it is clean and fresh with a simple triangular logo. I really like this and want the branding for my tee range to follow this simple design.

Miss Selfridge

 
There is a small vintage clothing line 'Blue Rinse' within the Miss Selfridge store. I was intrigued to see how this represented, however, it seemed to just follow the standard structure of the store and had nothing special about it.


French Connection

I walked past Ted Baker and was very interested by their window design; their clever use of luminous type on the windows and a scene created by the used of pop up card, makes it look like a scene out of a movie! I particularly like the type on the window, as I think it is eye catching yet legible.


I have learnt a lot from this visit and it has educated/inspired me as to how I can design my work.