Pantone Color of the Year 2011
It’s official, Pantone Color Institute® has announced the new color of the year. Out with last year’s calm and cool Turquoise (my personal fav) and in with the invigorating Honeysuckle. It’s an uplifting color that elevates the psyche to manage the challenges of everyday life.
“In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going-perfect to ward off the blues,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Panone Color™.” Honeysuckle derives its positive qualities from a powerful bond to its mother color re, the most physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum.”
The runway filled with a version of this color in women’s apparel, accessories and cosmetics. Ladies, this color can be partnered with navy, black, white, charcoal or shades of grey. It will also be seen in Menswear items such as ties, shirts and sportswear. Honeysuckle is guaranteed to produce a healthy glow when worn by both men and women. It’s a striking, eye-catching hue that works well for day and night.
Home Collection features patterned pillows, bedspreads and tabletop which will add a effervescent punch of color to interior spaces. Looking for an inexpensive way to perk up your home? Paint a wall in Honeysuckle for a dynamic burst of energy.
Honeysuckle has already been spotted on the market:
Watercolor Brushstroke Pillow by CB2
Cynthia Steffe Spring 2011
Nanette Lepore Spring 2011
Nanette Lepore Sprint 2011
Jonathan Adler Pillow
Ella Moss Spring 2011
Peter Som Spring 2011
To see our older post of 2010’s Color of the Year-Turquoise, click Here.
Often overlooked, lighting is an essential part of the character and performance of your store. But more important than a store ‘with a few lights on’, you should consider the appropriate type of lights to highlight your product. We can spend hours on this subject but, we’ve listed a few helpful tips to keep in mind.
The 2 Functions of Interior Light - Safety and Product
Safety lights are fixtures that provide enough illumination for movement within a space, typically these lights ‘wash’ over a large area evenly. Product lights are designed to highlight a group or singular piece of merchandise or area. They should not be the same light as product lights tend to be focused and narrower.
How much lighting is enough
A good rule of thumb for determining how much lighting you’ll need in a store can be estimated by the product size and quantity. Supermarkets and department stores require lots of light for reading labels and people movement. Fluorescent lighting works well in this situation. While jewelry stores, boutiques and restaurants rely on lighting to focus attention or set a mood. Spot and accent lights are best for this situation. Safety lighting can be reduced based on the amount of people movement within the space. Diners at a table requires less lights than a school cafeteria. (Nightclub don’t apply here)
Color of light matters
Remember these simple concepts: Fluorescent lighting has a bias to blue and incandescent has a bias to amber (yellow-orange). Intensity of your light (through power or wattage) will determine the level of color influence. An easy way to remember this idea is through the positions of the sun. Noon time light is typically bright white while sunlight closer to the horizon will be softer and more colorful. We witness color shifts as the Earth moves from direct to indirect light everyday.
Position is Everything
A good light far from its target is a bad light. A weak light near an object can become good light. Keep in mind where your lights are in relationship to your products and get them together.
Color of Skin
Lighting can make someone or something beautiful, ugly, pale or healthy. Choosing the correct bulb for the job is important to its target. The image above shows how human skin is affected by different types of bulb technology. Don’t forget, human skin comes in many colors too!
Source: core77.com
From Bits to Bricks: Online blog turns into a store
NiceKicks.com is a website for shoe fanatics. Period. They uncover every possible style, color way, prototype and limited release they can get their hands on. From deciphering what NBA players are wearing on the court to blurry camera phone shots of Jay-Z on the town, shoes are their game. In the video above, founder Matt Halfhill explains the transition of the Nice Kicks website into a brick & mortar retail store.
There are plenty of unknown variables in this scenario. Pixels are typically cheaper than atoms and the ability to refresh shelving is harder than refreshing web pages. Motivated to explore past the confines of the digital world the Nice Kicks crew hope to create a store that is equal to the online experience. The upside: your readership can turn into instant customers. The downside: Your readers may live nowhere near your town.
Having your product or brand represented online is nothing new for retail. But the idea of providing a physical ‘portal’ for fans of your blog to connect and interact with each other is an emerging trend in retail. Opposite from the typical shoe store, Nice Kicks is an online magazine providing consumers with information and specs as to who carries the latest and greatest at the mall. Now they plan to be at both ends of the court (cough,cough). Not every website has what it takes to become a real store but some websites do. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more small online businesses transition from bits to bricks in the coming years.
Designing Customer Experience
The video above demonstrates a new generation of capsule hotels, overnight lodging similar to motels in the West, being developed in Japan. Sleeping in miniature pods is still a foreign concept to western society but the act of sleeping is equally shared across the Pacific. What the 9 Hours Hotel achieves in this video is the simplification of a very personal activity, going to bed. From the moment you step in, bold graphics guide you through your stay at the hotel, easily overcoming language barriers. What the 9 Hours Hotel gets correct is the attention to each step in the process of turning in. Secured storage lockers, private showers, clean amenities and complimentary supplies help to ease the anxiety of hurried or forgetful travelers.
By creating order and calm in your establishment can go a long way to generating a valuable customer experience. Intimately understanding your core product or service, and how your customer will ultimately want to be treated when purchasing it, will assist you in creating an atmosphere that is conducive to a positive customer experience.
What is your store communicating?
If your store had a voice, what would it say? How would it describe itself to passing shoppers? What tone of voice would it use to attract your attention? Is it soft or loud? Insane or intelligent?
As your store lacks the vocal ability to convince customers through it’s threshold, storefront and interior decor are the next best thing. Do you know if your store is communicating the right message? Do your customers receive a different message than the one you intended?
The Lomography Store in L.A. is a perfect example of a focused delivery of brand awareness and overall clarity. From the showcase of cameras, to the ceiling-high wall of photos, it is hard to miss the message. The interior is designed to promote the joy of photography; and will charm any passerby who isn’t a Lomo fan already. What may seem like a simple task, is actually the hardest challenge for most retailers today. Many stores will send mixed messages in the hopes of attracting different types of customers, but end up only confusing them (boutique or outlet, high-end or cost friendly, made locally or national reseller, choose one) By minimizing or removing distracting products, services or elements throughout your store can help focus your message. For the Lomography Store, the product display was obvious, but the challenge was to avoid becoming a museum of general photographic history. Lomo photography is a low-entry camera designed to make quirky and original images, the store should reflect that and nothing more.
Stand outside your store (or another) and listen for the message.
Will online shopping change what we shop offline?
The graphic below wonderfully illustrates the variety of product categories that we consume, and a noticeable shift from physical to virtual shopping for a few. Are some businesses increasing profitability online compared to their physical counterparts? A quick observation tells us that shipping is still ‘too slow’ for some categories; but probably not for long. It’s a good time to analyze your business to see where you belong - on the street or in the clouds.
Source: permuto.com
5 Simple Tips for an Impressive Storefront
Operating and managing a retail store each day can lead to overexposure of your merchandise and general visual exhaustion. Unfortunately, by not maintaining an objective perspective on your stores visual presence can lead to promotional liabilities, especially your storefront.
Did you know the average time a customer will contemplate entering a store is 7 seconds? What does your storefront need to do to protect you from losing potential customers? Below are simple (and economical!) tips to create a functional and impressive storefront entrance.
1. Avoid tall fixtures
Using large fixtures or complex displays at your entrance will create visual barriers that reduces sight-lines and create a feeling of unwelcoming ‘separation’. Keep floor fixtures at waist or chest height for better browsing and overall higher visibility.
2. Provide a Decompression Zone
Place your lead fixture (preferably a table) 3’ - 4’ feet inside the store threshold rather than at the immediate entrance. This space will allow customers to prepare themselves for shopping and navigating your store.
An attractive and inviting storefront at Soha Living / Kahala Mall
3. Make a Statement!
Use exciting products to attract customers into your store. Tell a story through lifestyle, color or a mixture of both. Be creative and make an impact.
Victoria Secret’s Pink Store shows off a great example of classification merchandising; highlighting a few styles while using complimentary items to surround them.
ReForm School in Los Angeles shows a great lifestyle presentation. (photo credit targophoto.com via Flickr)
4. Change your Product Weekly
Plan to change your display product weekly. This will help keep the store looking fresh and appealing to frequent customers. Even better, be the customer! Shop your store for signs of stale or ineffective displays, then fix them.
5. Maintenance
IMPORTANT! Be mindful of untidy areas throughout the day, always check for dust or trash that has accumulated. Pickup after customers and remove unncessary clutter from view of the public. If you use an entry rug, straighten and clean it routinely.
Pictures Plus / Ward Warehouse
You have one chance to make a good first impression, make it count. By applying these steps to your storefront and actively working on improving your displays can help turn a passerby into a loyal customer. If you don’t take the time to care, neither will your customers.
Could Swing Shops be the New Pop Up?
Pop up stores may not have made it to the islands (yet) but traveling to the mainland the last couple of years, we came across several of them. Not only did we see small, boutique style pop up’s but giants like Uniqlo, The Gap and Target took over empty spaces at shopping centers to bodegas.
The idea of “get it while you can” really creates a sense of urgency in these temporary stores. Most last a week, while others pop up for the weekend and are gone by Monday.
If Swing shops are the future of retailing, it seems the idea of “seasons” are becoming less and less. It’s about capturing fashion as it happens and simply not waiting for a calendar season to influence you.
Keeping inventory from becoming stagnant is a major challenge for most retailers; maybe swing shops will be the answer. It not only reduces your stock but keeps your brand fresh and appealing, leading to repeat visits.
Click on the link or Here to read more…
Source: psfk.com
