English
Style suggestion
...for a modern American storefront. Excerpt from the book 'Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938 – 1950'. By Steven Heller.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Aside from the notion of monumentality, lighting was of critical importance since any kind of reflection would distract from the product display. Selecting the perfect “symphony of glass,” as another catalog touts, was also key to a storefront’s success since different glass compounds provided distinct environmental consequences. For instance, Thermopane (made of two or more panes of glass separated by dehydrated air and bonded into a single unit with a patented metal-to-glass seal) was best for flower shops, restaurants, groceries, and numerous other types of businesses in which perishable goods were sold. Other window brands included Vitrolite, manufactured in a number of colors; Blue Ridge Glass, a family of figured or patterned glasses that evoke modernity; and Bent Glass (the variety seen in Nighthawks), which conformed to a specific mold by means of heat and gravity.
Celebrating a surge of commercial optimism
Nothing was beyond the scope of the imaginative storefronteers. The variety of forms they introduced was varied and extensive. Their goal was to make standard designs as distinctive as possible, therefore “style suggestions”were freely offered through stunning catalog renderings that resembled modern advertising posters. In the one for Senora,“an exclusive jewelry store,” the typography dominates the rectangular display window while the interior and exterior details serve as graphic focus points, drawing the eye directly to the goods. Since jewelry is small, and therefore a challenge to showcase in a monumental way, Senora’s soothing, complimentary color palette, like all successful poster components, is modulated for optimum visibility and allure. Pastel yellows and greens are muted while the bold-red accents in the type and on the showcase legs draw the viewer into the three-dimensional poster. Similarly, the rendering for Scott Brothers is a modern painting wherein all the key elements - from the drop-shadowed lettering of the store name to the recessed-glass wall and door - are designed to give the allusion of a classic surreal landscape. Storefronts celebrated the surge of commercial optimism. Goods were plentiful and cheap. Consumers were primed to consume. Exuberant populist graphics such as these were invitations to take part in the consumer dream. In fact, these shopwindows opened onto sunny, materialist dreamscapes. The storefronts of the ’40s and ’50s reproduced here - both rendered and photographed - were as visually eloquent as the catalog copy was prosaic: “Food becomes alluring when it is selected in such an entrancing market.”“Tools become fascinating when they are seen through this full vision storefront.” “With masculine appeal there is a closer bond between salesroom and street.”While these images may not have the virtuosity of Hopper’s Nighthawks, each enticingly designed window on the world has a curiously irresistible hypnotic pull, which, as the catalog for Visual Frontsassures their customers,“makes sales almost automatic.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Aside from the notion of monumentality, lighting was of critical importance since any kind of reflection would distract from the product display. Selecting the perfect “symphony of glass,” as another catalog touts, was also key to a storefront’s success since different glass compounds provided distinct environmental consequences. For instance, Thermopane (made of two or more panes of glass separated by dehydrated air and bonded into a single unit with a patented metal-to-glass seal) was best for flower shops, restaurants, groceries, and numerous other types of businesses in which perishable goods were sold. Other window brands included Vitrolite, manufactured in a number of colors; Blue Ridge Glass, a family of figured or patterned glasses that evoke modernity; and Bent Glass (the variety seen in Nighthawks), which conformed to a specific mold by means of heat and gravity.
Celebrating a surge of commercial optimism
Nothing was beyond the scope of the imaginative storefronteers. The variety of forms they introduced was varied and extensive. Their goal was to make standard designs as distinctive as possible, therefore “style suggestions”were freely offered through stunning catalog renderings that resembled modern advertising posters. In the one for Senora,“an exclusive jewelry store,” the typography dominates the rectangular display window while the interior and exterior details serve as graphic focus points, drawing the eye directly to the goods. Since jewelry is small, and therefore a challenge to showcase in a monumental way, Senora’s soothing, complimentary color palette, like all successful poster components, is modulated for optimum visibility and allure. Pastel yellows and greens are muted while the bold-red accents in the type and on the showcase legs draw the viewer into the three-dimensional poster. Similarly, the rendering for Scott Brothers is a modern painting wherein all the key elements - from the drop-shadowed lettering of the store name to the recessed-glass wall and door - are designed to give the allusion of a classic surreal landscape. Storefronts celebrated the surge of commercial optimism. Goods were plentiful and cheap. Consumers were primed to consume. Exuberant populist graphics such as these were invitations to take part in the consumer dream. In fact, these shopwindows opened onto sunny, materialist dreamscapes. The storefronts of the ’40s and ’50s reproduced here - both rendered and photographed - were as visually eloquent as the catalog copy was prosaic: “Food becomes alluring when it is selected in such an entrancing market.”“Tools become fascinating when they are seen through this full vision storefront.” “With masculine appeal there is a closer bond between salesroom and street.”While these images may not have the virtuosity of Hopper’s Nighthawks, each enticingly designed window on the world has a curiously irresistible hypnotic pull, which, as the catalog for Visual Frontsassures their customers,“makes sales almost automatic.
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
Concept design, pharmacy, 1942