Style suggestion
...for a modern American storefront. Excerpt from the book 'Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938 – 1950'. By Steven Heller.
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Envious of France’s unparalleled graphic marketing innovations, American advertising and marketing experts - as well as industrial designers and architects - were finally compelled to design futuristic storefronts as portals to the new moderne bounty.When faced with the realities of the abundant marketplace, even diehards accepted that new display strategies could “move the goods” off the shelves. Throughout the ‘20s, storefronts of glass braced by steel and often sheathed in chrome became essential for luring shoppers into the vortex of consumption.
The innovative mass-marketing strategies of the ‘20s known as “styling goods” and “planned obsolescence” were intended to stimulate repeated buying and push commercial growth. America became the epicenter for a contempo retail aesthetic known by some critics as “Department Store Modern,” predicated on making fashionable consumables irresistibly modernistic. A large part of this ethos was the trend toward designing storefronts - from small emporiums to les grand magasins - into chic dioramas, wherein stylish mannequins modeled the latest couture and showcased the finest products. From lighted windows to heated passions, the goal was to stimulate women of all economic classes (the most likely consumers) into paroxysms of frenzied consumption.
New design styles were created to accomplish this. Streamlining, the homegrown American contribution to Modern design, began in the late ‘20s as aerodynamics was wed to industrial and architectural design. Eventually, this look became stylistic veneer for products like vacuum cleaners, telephones, and pencil sharpeners, and telephones, and was applied to retail display and storefront design - most everything from cocktail lounges and auto dealerships to haberdasheries and cosmetics shops. Among the most exquisite were New York City’s Childs Bar, Florsheim Shoes, Hoffritz for Cutlery, and Bartons Candy, with their shining chrome fronts, dark-glass accents, and recessed display cases.
The introduction of the large glass wall provided visibility, but was not enough to convey futuristic auras. Store designs had to evoke otherworldliness to transform the ordinary into an unparalleled experience.Whether for a confection or shoe store, a glove or little miss shop, the modern storefront was meant to be an environment where consumers felt both emotionally and viscerally pampered, even as they were subconsciously commanded to spend their hard-earned money. Marketplace engineering, including a practical understanding of how various types of customer responded to which stimuli under what conditions, was employed. Architects and interior designers collaborated in strategies to manipulate the average consumer’s behavior by guiding her to that streamlined cash register in the back of the store.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Envious of France’s unparalleled graphic marketing innovations, American advertising and marketing experts - as well as industrial designers and architects - were finally compelled to design futuristic storefronts as portals to the new moderne bounty.When faced with the realities of the abundant marketplace, even diehards accepted that new display strategies could “move the goods” off the shelves. Throughout the ‘20s, storefronts of glass braced by steel and often sheathed in chrome became essential for luring shoppers into the vortex of consumption.
The innovative mass-marketing strategies of the ‘20s known as “styling goods” and “planned obsolescence” were intended to stimulate repeated buying and push commercial growth. America became the epicenter for a contempo retail aesthetic known by some critics as “Department Store Modern,” predicated on making fashionable consumables irresistibly modernistic. A large part of this ethos was the trend toward designing storefronts - from small emporiums to les grand magasins - into chic dioramas, wherein stylish mannequins modeled the latest couture and showcased the finest products. From lighted windows to heated passions, the goal was to stimulate women of all economic classes (the most likely consumers) into paroxysms of frenzied consumption.
New design styles were created to accomplish this. Streamlining, the homegrown American contribution to Modern design, began in the late ‘20s as aerodynamics was wed to industrial and architectural design. Eventually, this look became stylistic veneer for products like vacuum cleaners, telephones, and pencil sharpeners, and telephones, and was applied to retail display and storefront design - most everything from cocktail lounges and auto dealerships to haberdasheries and cosmetics shops. Among the most exquisite were New York City’s Childs Bar, Florsheim Shoes, Hoffritz for Cutlery, and Bartons Candy, with their shining chrome fronts, dark-glass accents, and recessed display cases.
The introduction of the large glass wall provided visibility, but was not enough to convey futuristic auras. Store designs had to evoke otherworldliness to transform the ordinary into an unparalleled experience.Whether for a confection or shoe store, a glove or little miss shop, the modern storefront was meant to be an environment where consumers felt both emotionally and viscerally pampered, even as they were subconsciously commanded to spend their hard-earned money. Marketplace engineering, including a practical understanding of how various types of customer responded to which stimuli under what conditions, was employed. Architects and interior designers collaborated in strategies to manipulate the average consumer’s behavior by guiding her to that streamlined cash register in the back of the store.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938-1950
Hardcover 10.4 x 13.4 in., 246 pages
$ 59.99
$ 59.99
Window shopping
The jewelry store of the future, 1950
Concept design, jewelry store, 1946