Winning Visual Clicks The New Directive for Creating Dynamic Window Displays by Rachel Crippin Clark Just as click-throughs are crucial to digital marketing, window displays can be a critical visual click that attracts a consumer’s attention and leads them to your store’s products. To be certain, technology has changed much of what makes a window display successful today, says Anne Kong, professor and program coordinator for the Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design Program at New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology and partner in design firm A+D Kong. First off: the physiology. “Motion graphics have conditioned our eye’s response time to what we see and how long we look at it,” explains Kong. “Simply put, when something moves, we’re hard-wired to notice and perceive it. Also, our attention span has decreased dramatically.” And then, there’s the context. Sight lines have fallen as consumers are now looking down (at tech gadgets) one-third of their waking hours. As Kong puts it succinently: “Down is the new up.” Yet, 70% of purchases are influenced by displays, according to Shamir Insight Inc. in 2021. And windows are still a store’s first impression for walk-in shoppers. So how to capture attention? Some of the secrets lie in infusing technology’s same energy into store windows, and getting creative with bringing elements of window design “outside the window.” Visual merchandising expert Kong—who co-authored the 7th edition of Visual Merchandising and Display with Martin M. Pegler—offered a variety of strategies, tips and inspiration for retailers during IHA’s Connect FALL virtual event.
“ Sight lines have fallen as consumers are now looking down (at tech gadgets) one-third of their waking hours. Down is the new up.”
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