Today our responsive group had another meeting where we showed our first initial ideas, designs and concepts, as well as finalising an idea and deciding on one concrete theme. We covered a lot in this meeting and started to become more realistic with what we can actually achieve instead of trying to be too 'different' and out there. We decided that the brief wouldn't ask for Autumn if it wanted us to do the opposite, so we went back to basics and talked about how we can relate our display to Autumn links and associations, but we don't have to be too cliche, we can still be unique and innovative.
One of my group members, Sara Winter, knew someone who is studying fashion who got us the official fashion trend forecasts for the upcoming Autumn of 2016. She said that usually you have to pay to see the forecasts but because of her friend's course she was able to access it for free and show them to us. I found this to be really exciting, but also extremely useful because it meant that we could incorporate these themes into our display and increase its chances of relevancy.
The first trends were to do with clothes and colour. The two that are forecasted to be trending this Autumn, is 'Salmon Pink' and 'Vintage Blues'. I think this is an interesting take on Autumn colours, because usually they are very dark and are either very orange or red. These colours I would usually associate with spring, but I like that they are different and could potentially contrast the other displays along the same high street!
The first actual trend that peaked our interest, was 'Neon Lights'. We had already talked about using a lot of lights in our last meeting, so to see it as a possible trend for our season was really pleasing! The only downfall that we had to consider, not only with this trend but with all of them, is possibility, and how we are actually going to make a mock up using these elements. Though we want to have neon lights, how will we get a hold of them? How will we illustrate that we want them? These are all things that we are going to have to research and consider before committing to completely involving them in our display.
I also brought up the fact that the actual John Lewis on Oxford Street is quite dark because of it's overhanging roof with it's logo on, so lights would be perfect for this particular store, which the brief asks for. I also mentioned that because it is curved, will we have to think about the concerns that come with that? However it doesn't mention this on the brief, it only mentions the dimensions of being 2.6x6.0 metres long, so we have decided to create our display as if it is straight and not curved. Also because none of us have ever made a window display of that size, we got out some metre rulers on the floor and measured 6 metres just to gain an idea of perspective. We realised that the display is rather long, (longer than we expected, and longer because it is three times its height), therefore we will have to think about spreading the contents of our display out because otherwise there will be too much negative space.
The next trend that we liked, actually sparked ideas for our final concrete concept. 'Around the house' is a trend that conceptualises everyday objects, which is perfect because the brief asks to display some of John Lewis' very own household objects. From this, we thought about perhaps having a large doll house that involves some of the John Lewis items, from radios to chairs to cutlery. We could make the house out of laser cut paper or plastic as Sophie (Kilmartin) suggested and join it together for our small mock up so that we can actually have an example of what we want the display to look like physically, and in real life. We also talked about having some scenes in the house move and having some animation in there, so that people really will want to stop and have a look at it. I considered perhaps have people on their computer browsing or purchasing products from John Lewis as an example of shopper habits, or have a delivery man at the door with a package from John Lewis. We all seemed to really love this idea, and therefore have decided that this is the one we are going to interpret each and start expanding on.
The last trend that we want to incorporate into our display is the 'Graphic-Inspired' trend because it reminded us of a 70's theme which we thought we could have as our style for furniture and decoration. Another one of my group members, Jessica Lomax, suggested we use this style and make our own wallpaper and counter tops which I think is a great idea! Not only will we incorporate the theme into the fashion brand, but also with their home goods too, which covers even more of the brief requirements. I think this will be a good opportunity to explore a range of patterns and geometrics which are new to me, but also really interest me.
We then did some quick research on possible doll houses that we could take influence from. We want to have an open doll house, but we also want to have lights that will invite our audience into the display. We felt like this concept is really engaging, and family friendly/orientated, which is who we think John Lewis aims to please. Also there is something strange about a life size dollhouse, so we think this could be our marketing point, where people will want to leave their house and have a look at it, blog about it and share it on social media.
The last thing I brought up was light projection mapping. The other three members in my group had not heard of this, but when I explained it to them, they thought it was really unique and were very enthusiastic about it! They even started to come up with ideas such as fireworks and shooting stars that we could have in the background of our house, which I think would look so captivating to anyone walking buy, especially busy commuters. I have not previously done light projection mapping before but I would love to try it because I think this could also be one of the most engaging points of our display, making it move and bringing it to life!
Overall we discussed a lot in this meeting, but we finalised a concept and can finally start doing some sketches and designs ready for our production stage! for our next meeting we have decided to all do some interpretations of these themes and ideas, draw them on paper, so that when we meet next we can take bits and pieces from each one, and then get building our mock up and start animating!
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