OUGD504 - Design Production: Design For Print and Web: Inspirational Places Research

At the moment I am currently unsure as to how many different products I will end up with, it totally depends on the time I have to do it all. As long as I am able to create a successful logo that I can apply to everything though, it should be quite easy to do. At the moment I have a brief idea of what I would like to produce. When I imagine what I would like everything to look like, and how I want the pop up shop to feel, I instantly think of some of my favourite shops, or shops which closely relate to this brief. I have therefore decided to create this post as a reference for me to document my initial thought processes.

L'Occitane

L'Occitaine is a brand whose products and graphic design I absolutely love. Their branding is so unique and special and all of their packaging is luxurious and memorable. I most certainly want to adopt these traits when creating my own products. Also, because they are a French brand, this strongly represents what I would like to create for my Chateau de Versailles sub brand.

The Imaginarium

The Imaginarium is a shop in York I visited the other week. We weren't allowed to take photographs inside as a rule as they want the next visitor to find it just as magical as the first without it being spoilt beforehand. I did however manage to find some photographs online which illustrate what it looks like from the outside as well as the inside. However the atmosphere can't be put in to words. I love how magical it feels inside and this is something I want to create in my store through creating all of the products.

Yorkshire Soap Company

The Yorkshire Soap Company also own The Imaginarium and both shops are just as special as each other. The two men that own the shop made the soap themselves and they have designed all of their packaging and then handed it all over to a graphic designer to perfect and print for them. One thing that I love about this shop is the fact that the visitor's use a small tray to put all of their chosen soaps on, ready to take to the till at the end of the experience. I would love to adopt this idea and perhaps create some sort of hanging basket or wheelbarrow basket which could be used to carry all of the desired items to the counter.

Liz Earle

Liz Earle's branding is beautiful. I absolutely love her packaging for her perfumes as well as all of her other products. I have a lot of her products myself so I am able to look at the designs more closely which is ideal. The layout of her shop inside is ideal and I would certainly take inspiration from it. All of her products contain essential oils and they smell lovely. If I could create something with a similar level of class and sophistication but at a lower cost I would be extremely happy.

Jo Malone

I have always loved Jo Malone's branding and packaging and love how her different fragrances are used for perfume as well as candles, and many other products. By simply creating one scent she has been able to apply it to a variety of products and successfully create a range. If I could think of an appropriate scent to represent The Chateau de Versailles, or perhaps a set of fragrances, then I could easily apply them to a variety of different products.

Lavendar Farm Ormskirk

The Lavendar Farm is situated near to where I live at home. I have been a couple of times for treatments and to go to the cafe. It could do with updating slightly as everything is quite dated, however they must do quite well as they have been open for quite a long time now. I like how they have food, beauty products, essential oils as well as gifts and fresh produce. This is the kind of place I would like to propose for my products.

Neil's Yard Covent Garden

Neil's Yard in Covent Garden is stunning. All of their packaging is consistent throughout their products and they present themselves in a similar way to Liz Earle in my opinion. I would love to create a logo which is just as successful as well as I think it works really well and is very easily applicable to a wide range of products. 

Lavendar Farm in Jersey

I visited the Lavendar Farm in Jersey when I was much younger and can remember it vividly. The gardens were so beautifully kept and the cafe and shop were lovely. Looking through the photographs I have collected here it reminds me of how much I loved it when I visited. I am essentially bring a part of the Chateau de Versailles to the UK and to tourists or visitors who perhaps cannot afford to travel there or can't travel for other reasons. I therefore want to make their experience within my pop up shop a memorable one. I most certainly want to include plant inspired food and would absolutely love to use a truck similar to the one pictured below as a form of transportation from one pop up shop to the next. I would love to use the gypsy caravan as the store itself, however there is limited space inside which would mean that not many people would be able to fit in there at the same time.

OUGD504 - Design Production: Design For Print and Web: ISTD Initial Research

I have decided to start my research by looking at images relating to the Chateau de Versailles. I feel as though I will be taking inspiration from the shapes and patterns in the gardens to be able to apply to my designs. I already have an image in my mind of what I think my end result will look like which is helping me a lot as I am aware of the amount of research this will require.

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The shapes used on the floor here could be extremely influential as I could design my perfume bottles and other products with this in mind, giving it quite a geometric feel.

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Below is an image of part of the gardens of Versailles. I think the architecture as well as the patterns found within the nature in the gardens in beautiful, and I could certainly imagine creating a set of products using the patterns as a basis for my designs.

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Finding birds eye views of the garden is ideal as it allows me to accurately apply the patterns at a larger scale. However, by finding images of small areas of garden, this will allow me to almost create my own pattern that I feel represents the Chateau de Versailles successfully.

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OUGD504 - Design Production: Design For Print and Web: ISTD Pop Up Shops Research

Whilst brainstorming ideas for my ISTD brief I had the idea of creating a shop for all of my products. I have therefore decided to look at some existing pop up shops for some inspiration. I have also decided to consider the transportation from one pop up shop to another and how long people usually rent a shop for. This is important as I would like to consider how everything would be transported from one place to another.

Examples

The first three examples below are really clever in my opinion, but they would be fairly hard to propose without actually creating the container. I could however quite easily use a plain box and but my branding on it. This is something I would consider.

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Although this wouldn't necessarily be suitable I love the idea behind this pop up store. It is obviously very appropriate to the brand, and this is something I could really work on with mine, linking it back to nature. I could situate it in Tatton Park for example, but then I would ask myself the question, why would visitors at Tatton Park want to visit a store which is based on the Chateau de Versailles? I would have to make sure it moved around regularly to perhaps all of the different National Trust gardens within the UK.

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This is so appropriate for my brief. I would love to have the same format as stands within my pop up shop as I think it would work really well to represent the gardens and all of the beautiful products I will have on display.

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Rent

When researching in to pop up shops further I found a website which provided me with everything I would need to know and consider when trying to set one up. According to the Ni Business Info website it is worthwhile speaking to agents about whether they will consider a short term let as this is sometimes an option. I have also come across a variety of other websites however, which exist specifically to provide people with spaces all over the country.

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Find the right premises for a pop-up shop

Location is a key element to pop-up shop success. A short term business cannot compete effectively in traditional advertising markets, so footfall and accessibility hold greater importance. Finding quality empty premises and negotiating the right deal for a short term let are crucial to your business's profitability.

Finding available premises

A pop-up retail shop should ideally be located in, or near to, a prime retail area. Few high streets, town centres or retail parks will be operating a 100 per cent occupancy rate so you should be able to find suitable prime location premises.

An established business may prefer to use traditional retail space in a shopping centre to promote their service or new product. Large centres will be used to such short term arrangements, whether in full shop units or pop-up units in a concourse.

Using a vacant shop premises can bring other benefits. A unit outside of the prime retail area can increase the guerrilla feel to the pop-up shop. Vacated shops may also retain some fixtures and fittings from the previous let, which could be utilised to reduce costs eg a kitchen area, point of sale furniture and fittings.

Non-traditional premises can be a lure to potential customers. A disused warehouse, street trading or office premises may be an option for a pop-up business. Check with your local council about operating a business within particular premises on a short term basis. Find contact details for your local council on the nidirect website.

Negotiating a short term let

Commercial landlords will be looking for the stable income of a long term let. However, the income from a short term let, as well as demonstrating to prospective future tenants that customer footfall is strong in the area, means a deal can be struck to suit both parties.

You should contact local commercial agents to discuss your plan. Agents can be key brokers in persuading reluctant landlords to let their premises for the short term. As well as providing short –term income the pop-up shop could create a buzz and interest in the retail premises.Talking through your idea can allay any fears, and if you hope to build a more permanent business if your pop-up shop is a success, this may be an opportunity for a future long term let.

To find local commercial estate agents in Northern Ireland you can search our directory of over 90,000 local companies. Alternatively, you can search for commercial property agents on the Institution of Commercial and Business Agents website.

Occupying a previously vacant retail premises may mean the property incurs an increase in rates. It is important to establish at the outset how any increase will be paid for. You can find more information on this issue in our factsheet non-domestic vacant rating in our guide on help available for business rates.

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It seems like a lot of the spaces on this website are in London. I would however prefer to locate my shop further up North as I know the area better and I am more likely to be able to photograph an area or a shop front more successfully here to enable me to get a better feel for the location and the surrounding area. I am aware that this isn't something I need to look in to in great depth but I think it would help me a lot when designing, to be able to picture where I would be situated.

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This website on the other hand is specifically for people who would like to situate themselves in Liverpool. A lot of the areas are within the Met Quarter which is a shopping centre and I could quite imagine it to be suitable there, as there aren't many shops on the upper level where they are advertising, meaning that there wouldn't be too much competition there. The only down side to this would mean that because there aren't many shops, the business may be quieter.

There is also another one situated on Castle Street which is just outside of the centre of town and there are a lot of offices around there, as well as people commuting in and out of town using the train station nearby. This would be ideal as a location and I will consider using this space as a prospective pop up shop.

Transportation

A lot of the time, pop up shops themselves exist within their transportation, and they are actually inside vans, like the ones shown below. I did consider this idea, but because I want it to be a sensual experience, I didn't think it would be ideal locating it inside a van, or even outside, because I would be limited for space and wouldn't be able to have as many products as I would like. This is always an option however and I do want to eventually develop a plan or proposal of what the van would look like which would be used to transport all of the products from one pop up store to the next, as this is an important way of advertising.

If it turns out that I don't have the time to create as many products as I would have liked to as well, it may turn out that this would be the most suitable option and cost friendly too, in terms of not having to pay for rent as well as the transport, all of it would be in one instead. This will become clear during my development.

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Possible Location

Cedar Farm in Mawdsley near where I live at home would be the perfect location for my pop up shop. As I am planning on designing a wide selection of products which are all relating back to plants, it gives me a lot of scope to locate it somewhere like this because they have a lot of different shops relating to craft, aromatherapy oils and many other products. I could therefore take any of the shop fronts and develop them to look how I would like them to on the outside.

Burscough Wharf is also another place I could imagine it to be located. This is just outside of Ormskirk and just a train ride away from Manchester and Liverpool. There wouldn't be much competition there as a result and if people weren't wanting to travel in to town then they just simply buy a gift from the shop here instead.

Shop Front Images 

I think it is important for me to be able to imagine what I would like my shop to look like. This is why I am going to continue to add any images of shop fronts to my blog when I come across them, and then I can apply the logo I create to the most suitable one at the end. I am not sure whether or not I will have time to design the interior, but I could perhaps propose what the wallpaper or decor may look like and what the floor plan would be, by drawing it out on illustrator.

As well as finding images of shop fronts I think I will also look for alternative pop up strategies. For example when they are in a large box placed in a city, or even a small carriage on wheels like the Chanel one shown above in my research, as this would be ideal to design and have outside during the Summer, but also inside during the Winter months.

Shop Fronts

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