Academic literature on the topic 'Visual storefront'

PurposeThe article seeks to enrich the body of research on store atmospherics by identifying how storefront window design impacts store entry decisions. An innovative multimodal design approach is presented, considering both visual and verbal constituents.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 draws on a corpus of high-end storefront windows to create a categorization regarding different levels of verbo-visual complexity. The survey in Study 2 (n = 234) serves two purposes: first, to confirm these levels of complexity and second, to investigate the relation between the complexity of window design and store entry decisions.FindingsStudy 2 confirms the order of complexity established in Study 1. The results reveal an inverted-U relationship between window complexity and store entry propensity. Windows of medium level of complexity produce shoppers' relatively highest store entry propensity.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that retailers would benefit from adopting verbo-visual window designs of medium complexity, as this combination optimizes the likeliness of consumers to enter stores.Originality/valueResearch on store atmospherics has until recently primarily focused on in-store cues. Studies on store windows remain vastly underrepresented in extant scholarship. The article not only fills this gap but also incorporates an original interdisciplinary angle on multimodality, which offers new methodological perspectives for research in retail and distribution scholarship.

In the final scene of Michel Tournier’s postcolonial novel La Goutte d’or (1986), the protagonist, Idriss, shatters the glass of a Cristobal & Co. storefront window while operating a jackhammer in the working-class Parisian neighbourhood on the Rue de la Goutte d’or. Glass fragments fly everywhere as the Parisian police arrive. In La Goutte d’or, Tournier explores the identity construction of Idriss through a discussion of the role that visual images play in the development of a twentieth-century consciousness of the “Other.” At the beginning of the novel, a French tourist takes a photograph of Idriss during her visit to the Sahara. The boy’s quest to reclaim his stolen image leads him from the Sahara to Marseille, and finally to the Rue de la Goutte d’or in Paris. The Rue de la Goutte d’or remains one the most cosmopolitan neighbourhoods of the city. In Tournier’s novel, the goutte d’or also corresponds to a symbolic object: a Berber jewel. It is the jewel that Idriss brings with him, but which he also subsequently loses upon his arrival in Marseille. From the very moment that the French tourist photographs him, a marginalization of Idriss’s identity occurs. Marginality, quite literally, refers to the spatial property of a location in which something is situated. Figuratively speaking, marginality suggests something that is on the edges or at the outer limits of social acceptability. In this essay, I explore the construction of the marginalized postcolonial self (the “Other”) through an examination of the function of visual representation in the development of a postcolonial identity in La Goutte d’or. In the end, I conclude that the construction of a postcolonial identity is based upon fragmentation and marginalization, which ultimately leads its subject to create an identity based upon false constructions.

Abstract This paper examines how Brooklyn retail signage represents how gentrifying women struggle for claiming space in public and the way in which different intersectional identity formations are used and implicated in transforming urban space. In exploring different ethnographic dimensions to retail storefronts, we show how women, many of whom are college-educated, married, and new mothers, play a significant role in redefining Brooklyn and cultural norms of motherhood more broadly. Yet, as newly arriving women emerge as key players in the gentrification project, they experience backlash against their public roles. We explore how women also employ race, inequality, and patriarchal notions of heteronormative sexuality as a cover for their public challenges to patriarchal power. Drawing on visual ethnography, interviews, and digital archival material we argue that the ambiguity of word play accomplishes both the pushing of normative boundaries as well as the protective cover of public meanings.

This paper proposes a renewed and more textured understanding of the relation between deixis and direct discourse, grounded in a broader range of genres and reflecting contemporary multimodal usage. I re-consider the phenomena covered by the concept of deixis in connection to the speech situation, and, by extension, to the category of Direct Discourse, in its various functions. I propose an understanding of Direct Discourse as a construction which is a correlate of Deictic Ground. Relying on Mental Spaces Theory and the apparatus it makes available for a close analysis of viewpoint networks, I analyze examples from a range of discourse genres - textual, visual and multimodal, such as literature, political campaigns, internet memes and storefront signs. These discourse contexts use Direct Discourse Constructions but usually lack a fully profiled Deictic Ground. I propose that in such cases the Deictic Ground is not a pre-existing conceptual structure, but rather is set up ad hoc to construe non-standard uses of Direct Discourse–I refer to such construals as Fictive Deictic Grounds. In that context, I propose a re-consideration of the concept of Direct Discourse, to explain its tight correlation with the concept of deixis. I also argue for a treatment of Deictic Ground as a composite structure, which may not be fully profiled in each case, while participating in the construction of viewpoint configurations.

PurposeThe study selected five small-scale food operations as visual stimuli and eye-tracking experiment was conducted with 36 female participants in a laboratory setting. Heat maps were used to visualize viewers' visual attention on the storefronts. The eye-movement data were analyzed using one-way repeated ANOVA to identify a significant difference between stimuli in terms of average fixation duration, fixation counts and revisits. An independent t-test was also used to examine statistical difference among text and image in menu board. The significance cut-off of p-value was set to <0.05.Design/methodology/approachThe exteriors of food-service establishments are major business representation. However, few studies have been conducted to examine customers' visual processing toward small-scale restaurants. The present study accordingly aims to discover customers' different levels of attention to the frontage in food stands through eye tracking, which would be practical for future owners to plan their exterior shop design.FindingsThe findings can be summarized as follows: First, upper board shows the highest level of attention, suggesting an optimal location of menu board for grasping customers' attention. Second, customers also gaze the inside of a store along with the food on display, which are related with food hygiene and the perception. Third, textual information on menu boards tends to attract more visual attention than those of images. Overall, the current study indicates various customers' attention toward the location of menu boards as well as the type of visual information on menu board.Originality/valueThe results of this study make a new insight into customers' viewing behavior toward exteriors of food-service establishments. This study is one of the first attempts to explore how customers distribute visual attention to the exterior images of food stand by using eye-tracking technology. The findings of this research thus enrich the food-service literature and offer meaningful discoveries on customers' visual behaviors. For example, this study suggests that customers tend to be attracted to textual information on menu boards rather than graphical ones.

Signs contribute significantly to the visual identity of neighborhoods, often representing the interplay of the collective social, political, cultural and economic values of the people who live and work there. On-premise signs displayed on building facades and storefronts in the neighborhood business district of three distinct neighborhoods in Cincinnati, OH are examined to document the typographic styles and form (material, size and scale, color, etc.) of the signs. An empirical photographic survey is employed for elevation mapping, to record the full range of on-premise signs in each neighborhood business district. Over 150 on-premise signs are documented and analyzed. Our findings suggest that as neighborhoods get gentrified, particularly with non-local capital and investment, the signage form and character, represented by the typeface, shape, material, illumination and other properties, become more homogeneous, replacing the variety of typefaces as well as signage form. The study found that the signage used by the chain stores and other new businesses that are not place based to be mostly all-capitalized, three-dimensional, back-lit, and having other properties that are undifferentiated, generic, and visually monotonous.

Abstract Purpose — The purpose of this thesis is to find how visual identity components impact on the sales of H&M. Through the establishment of a theoretical model. Methodology/approach — Base on the model, the thesis used qualitative research and quantitative research method. The qualitative research method referred to the interview with H&M managers. The quantitative research method referred to questionnaires for 120 customers and the Eviews analysis software. Eviews analysis software was used to analyze the mathematical relationship between the visual identity components and H&M sales. Findings —Through the analysis of the questionnaire and interviews, the thesis found that logotype and/or symbol, advertising and storefront were more important components for H&M sales among the eleven visual identity components. By the Eviews analysis software, the thesis analyzed and found the quantitative relationship between these three visual identity components and the sales revenue of H&M. Research limitations — First of all, the literature on the study of the visual identity for the company is rare. Second, the result of H&M’s analysis may not be applied to all brands. Originality/value —The results showed that H&M can invest more on these three important visual identity components we identified to increase their sales revenue. This is a more effective way for brand awareness. At the same time, this paper fills the gaps in the related articles. The thesis is a detailed research of the important visual identity components impacting on the company. Keywords — Visual identity, Visual identity components, Advertising, Logotype, Storefront Paper type: Research paper

Visuell kommunikation är något som vi dagligen stöter på i vår vardag, i form av reklamannonser, reklamfilmer, skyltningar osv. Skyltfönster är en form av visuell kommunikation, och fungerar som företagens ansikte utåt och det skapar ofta en första bild hos mottagaren om företaget.  Enligt köpbeslutsprocessen är reklam den mest förekommande informationskälla som påverkar konsumenten i köpbeslutet. Denna studie kommer att utgå från Kotler och Kellers modell av köpbeslutsprocessen, som följer kunden före, under samt efter köpet. Modellen består av fem steg, problem erkännande, informationssökning, utvärdering av valmöjligheter, köpbeslut och efter köpbeteende. Forskningen behandlar endast de tre första stegen som sker före själva köpet, och den klargör fönsterskyltnings påverkan på den kvinnliga köpbeslutsprocessen före köpet. Kopplingar dras mellan köpbeslutsprocessen och den visuella kommunikationens tre arbetsområden, text, form och färg. Avslutad studie tyder på en påverkande effekt av skyltfönster i köpbeslutsprocessen. Då studien visade på att antal spenderade pengar ökade beroende på antal shoppingtillfällen. Ett högre antal shoppingtillfällen innebär alltså en större påverkan i köpbeslutsprocessen då kunden oftare stöter på den visuella kommunikationen, skyltfönster.
Visual Communication is something we daily run into in our everyday lives, in form of advertising, commercials, billboards, etc. Storefronts are a form of visual communication, andserves as a corporate public face for the company. Often it creates a first image of the companies’ image among the receivers. According to the buying decision process, advertising is the most frequent source of information affecting the consumers buying decision. This study will be based on Kotler and Keller's model of the buying decision process, which follows the customer before, during and after the purchase. The model consists of five stages, problem recognition, information search, evaluation of options, purchase decision and post purchase behavior. This research only covers the first three steps that occur before the actual purchase, and it clarifies storefronts impacts on the female buying decision process before the purchase. Connections are drawn between the buying decision process and the visual communications three areas of work, text, shapes and colors. The completed study indicates an influence of storefronts in the purchase decision process. Since the study showed that the number of spent money increased depending on the number of shopping opportunities. A higher number of shopping opportunities is therefore a major influence in the buying decision process, when customer more frequently are getting exposed to storefronts when they shop.

O comércio foi uma das razões que impulsionaram os amplos investimentos em infraestrutura e desenvolvimento dos meios de transporte, com o intuito de facilitar o deslocamento por grandes distâncias. Além de influenciar diretamente o surgimento dos contratos mercantis, das instituições financeiras e da moeda. O comércio, na forma como conhecemos hoje, teve início com o escambo, que ocorria em feiras itinerantes. Com o tempo, houve a necessidade de se estabelecer um local fixo onde fossem promovidas tais trocas. Com isso, surgiram os primeiros armazéns de secos e molhados, que propiciaram a base para a arquitetura comercial. A pouca relevância dada a este tipo de arquitetura, bem como a influência clara do comércio na paisagem urbana, foram os impulsos necessários para este projeto. Os ambientes comerciais são a estética dos espaços urbanos e, muitas vezes, são projetados sem a devida preocupação em conciliar a arquitetura com ferramentas de design visual, como o merchandising visual, que permitem projetar ambientes que se comuniquem melhor com os consumidores e com a cidade. O presente mestrado consiste em uma pesquisa para levantar, identificar e indicar parâmetros pertinentes ao design visual aplicados em fachadas de estabelecimentos comerciais e as influências do modo de consumir do sujeito pós-moderno na concepção destes espaços.
Commerce was one of the main reasons that boosted investments in infrastructure and development of transportation systems with the intent to facilitate long-distance movement. It also influenced directly the emergence of commercial contracts, financial institutions, and currencies. Commerce, as we know it, began with the exchange of goods and services that happened in roving markets. With time, as the demand grew, there was a rise in the need for an established location where trade could expand. That enabled the development of the first warehouses of dried and liquid goods which formed the base for commercial architecture. The low level of importance given to this type of architecture along with the influence of commerce in the urban landscape were the key motivations for this project. The places of trade area the aesthetically shape urban spaces and, in many cases, these places do not align the architecture with tools of Visual Design, such as visual merchandising, which allow us to design environments that better communicate with the consumers and the city. This present study aims to find out, identify and specify parameters relevant to the visual design applied in commercial storefronts and influences the way of consuming the postmodern subject in the design of these spaces.

This thesis focuses on the active dialogue between the visual storefront/building edge and the adjacent public space. Pretoria's inner city arcades are the public spaces of the city. However, the current design of most of the defining edges presents very few opportunities for lingering. In most cases the dialogue between interior and exterior has died down, causing a loss in commercial activity. The study investigated how specific design features of the visual storefront edge influence the city dweller's experience of the surrounding public space and associated commercial activity. Insights gained through mapping and studying various arcades and thoroughfares were reworked for incorporation into a document - called Edge handbook - that provides guidelines for bringing the storefront edge to its full potential when seen in relation to its surrounding public space. The guidelines were implemented in a detailed design proposal for President Arcade. The reality of the inner city is that the arcades and thoroughfares are city dwellers' main form of public space, which thus calls for a redefinition of the economic retail ideal. It was found that the storefront edge cannot be seen as an entity separate from the surrounding public space and therefore does not justify merely giving the retail tenant as much clear display area as possible. The needs of the urban city dweller - for example, to observe a variety of activities and exert a choice in the level of exposure - must be considered and used to guide the design of the edge within an inner city arcade. The treatment of this edge can re-establish a sense of place, previously lost. A strong sense of identity associated with the edge can furthermore help to orientate the dweller within the urban fabric. This treatment also functions the other way around: a public space where city dwellers feel comfortable and which satisfies their social needs can make them more aware of the edges surrounding them. The design therefore cannot focus only on the public arcade space or the storefront edge, but it is the dialogue between the two that will determine if the space becomes a destination for the city dweller, rather than just another thoroughfare. Copyright
Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Architecture
unrestricted

In the decades before the U.S. Civil War, the city of Boston evolved from a dilapidated, haphazardly planned, and architecturally stagnant provincial town into a booming and visually impressive metropolis. In an effort to remake Boston into the "Athens of America," neighborhoods were leveled, streets straightened, and an ambitious set of architectural ordinances enacted. However, even as residents reveled in a vibrant new landscape of landmark buildings, art galleries, parks, and bustling streets, the social and sensory upheaval of city life also gave rise to a widespread fascination with the unseen. Focusing his analysis between 1820 and 1860, Justin T. Clark traces how the effort to impose moral and social order on the city also inspired many—from Transcendentalists to clairvoyants and amateur artists—to seek out more ethereal visions of the infinite and ideal beyond the gilded paintings and glimmering storefronts. By elucidating the reciprocal influence of two of the most important developments in nineteenth-century American culture—the spectacular city and visionary culture—Clark demonstrates how the nineteenth-century city is not only the birthplace of modern spectacle but also a battleground for the freedom and autonomy of the spectator.