Color Me… Expert Advice From a Visual Merchandising Guru
Visual merchandising isn’t something most ECPs understand. It’s definitely not anything you learn in school. To help shed some light on sound strategies for using color in your displays and even product selection, we sought out the expertise of Travis J. Reed, owner of Creative Visionary Inc., headquartered in Las Vegas. A sought-after speaker, Travis has been involved with the design, remodel, and merchandising at leading practices around the U.S. Here he offers seven color-related strategies that practices can implement on their own.
Tip: Separate colors vertically—light to dark or warm to cool—and alternate solids with patterns.”
- SEPARATING COLORS-Separate colors vertically—light to dark or warm to cool—and alternate solids with patterns.
- MERCHANDISING BY COLOR-Instead of always displaying by brand, merchandising by color can be a fresh and more visually appealing way to attract the eye of the consumer.
- FOLLOWING THE WHEEL-Keep a copy of a color wheel on hand. And use it to determine the order in which to put the colors. You can start with any color–a trend color, or you can work from light to dark or warm to cool. After you begin with that color, follow the order of the wheel. For example, if you begin with blue, then next you will use its adjacent color, green, then yellow…and so on.
- MAKING IMPACT-Use opposite colors on the wheel when you want to make the most impact. They are called complimentary colors–blue with orange, red with green, yellow with violet, etc.—and when used together, they exaggerate each other.
- GOING VERTICAL-For best effect, merchandise by color vertically, from top to bottom. Use the same color, and still go in that color order indicated on the color wheel, moving from left to right. For example, blue frames should have blue above and below them. If you want, you can do lighter blue at the top and darker as you move down.
- DOUBLING UP-Double expose frames that you want to promote. That means get two pairs—one that stays on the frame board with the rest of that color or brand, and then do another display or fixture of just that trend color.
- TRENDING WINDOW-Do a color-trend window display, vitrine, shadow box, etc. Paint the back of a window box or bottom of a vitrine the trend color or a contrasting color and display trend color items and add signage or vinyl lettering to call out the trend.
Have you tried displaying by color as opposed to brand? Tell us how you’ve used color in your displays and windows, and share in the Facebook conversation here.
Erinn Morgan
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