As an extension of the 'Promoting a Preston retailer' project, we were asked as a class to organise an exhibition to showcase our work to the public. As individuals, we had to brain storm and collate any networks/contributions we could bring to the planning the event process. After brain storming, I found that I had PR and Marketing contacts that I made whilst on industrial placement at Flannels Fashion as well as friends in the music/cooking industry.
From the following groups: Catering, entertainment, promotions, fund raising and visual merchandising, I was placed in the installation team (Visual merchandising) Working as a team, our role is to research into trends and interiors which could inspire the look and character of the final exhibition space...
As the installation team we were responsible for creating the mood and layout of the exhibition. Each member of the team took the Bell bins test and had a variety of different personalities. We had three team workers, one resource investigator, one plant and one shaper. Our responsibilities as a team were to create an interesting visual experience for the visitors of the exhibition. This includes how the images will be hung, the visual merchandising of the location and the layout of the group’s images.
Individually our inspiration was resourced from the Internet, interior magazines, books, current window displays and exhibitions. We reported back to the team and discussed ideas. We also leased with the logistics and promotions team to create a theme.As the installation team leader, my main responsibly was to develop and encourage the team. By setting up a Facebook group, I was able to ensure that ideas were constantly flowing and tasks were being met as the group shared their thoughts and ideas on to the Facebook group wall.
Research into interior and merchandising trends was crucial to the look and feel of the event. My team and myself started to collate visuals and ideas from Trend websites such as WGSN and Trend bible and editorials such as Elle decoration and creative spaces. As an H&M employee, I had access to the merchandising books and have contacts within the store, although they didn’t held physically, their thoughts and ideas were invaluable to my group and helped with the final Installation process.
As I was part of the installation team, our role didn’t really kick in until a week before the event itself. Two weeks before event, my team and myself decided on the exhibition layout and image sizes for the room measurements. After deciding on the final image sizes, we noticed the images seemed very small in proportion to the exhibition space. Shortly after realising this, we found out that the room had accidentally been measured in cms instead of inches. This problem was quickly resolved and the images got sent to print promptly.
The day before the exhibition was when the installation team came together to turn the even space into an exhibition. The team got split into two halves, half the team put up the exhibition images whilst the other half concentrated on the small details. I took it upon my own shoulders to create artwork for every group’s individual plaques describing their shoots. I also, with the help from a team member, set up the centrepiece of the exhibition, titled “class of 2011”.
I feel the overall exhibition was a success, not only did it showcase our work, but brought us all closer together as individuals and as a class.
