Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Window of opportunity for visual merchandising students
The students, on the BA (Hons) Retail Marketing Management and BSc (Hons) Hospitality Leadership and Management courses, were given a brief by the Cookridge Street venue’s manager, Beth Weaver, as part of the Visual Merchandising module, led by Esther Pugh. Four groups of students were asked to design a window to showcase Nation of Shopkeepers as a destination for food, drink and entertainment. They were given a budget of £100 per group by Leeds Beckett and sponsors, Two Visual, to create their windows.
Esther Pugh, a former fashion visual merchandiser, said: “I know the importance of engaging students in real-life industry projects. Walking past the bar’s distinctive ‘window of opportunity’ space on Cookridge street every day, I saw a chance for students to lay their hands on a real window and to bring to life their classroom learning. Students can learn the principles of visual merchandising on paper and from lectures but, unless they can get their hands on a real window or retail space, they will never fully understand the challenges and opportunities of this discipline.”
Hospitality student, Katie Astle (pictured below, third from the right), was a member of team Esther's Finestras. She said: “Our main ideas were to take the brand values and what they showcase as a bar and bring that into the window. Our ideas were based around a vintage retro theme focusing on alcohol, music and good times! We used a lot of inspiration from other shops that we found interesting and also the bar itself, mainly focusing on their outside area where they have live music. It was really rewarding when it was complete and to see all the ideas and hard work all come together.
“The assignment was a good mix of practical and academia as it allowed us to express ourselves through different ways of working.”
Hospitality student Oliver Dickinson (pictured above, third from the left) was also on team Esther’s Finestras. He added: “Working in a group allowed us to creatively design and deliberate on many ideas produced. Our final idea was an 'Old School Vibes Retro' theme where inspiration came from the bar’s inside decor, their tagline "Arts, Booze and Good Vibes" and other local shops in Leeds especially music stores. We installed our display in the bar one afternoon and it was great to see our ideas and concept come to real life and see the end result after a hard day’s work installing the window.
“These opportunities are so beneficial to our degree as they are live assessment briefs which gives us real life experiences and develops key transferable skills needed for a successful career in the work field. The Visual Merchandising module has made me see shop windows in a different light and I have thoroughly enjoyed studying the module and putting the theory into practice!”
Retail student, Ngai Jun Li (pictured below right), said: “Team Prestige’s idea was to play on the name of the bar, which was quoted by Napoleon, and we kept with the British theme. I came up with several initial ideas, including having the word ‘beer’ in neon lights and also the iconic features of a bulldog or the Queen. We decided on our final design of the guitar, ‘beer and chill’ sign and the bulldog picture frame.
“Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this experience as I got to show my creative side. Seeing our initial ideas develop and actually go into the window of a bar in Leeds was an amazing experience. It was extremely rewarding because the feedback we received from the window was positive and it was good to hear positive feedback from the public.
“I have benefited from this experience as it has shown me how much I want to focus on being creative in my future career. This experience has made me consider potentially applying or looking for visual merchandising roles in the future.”
The project sponsors, Two Visual, are a global brand consultancy who work with the likes of Accessorize, Ikea and North Face. Jeanette Cheetham, joint Brand Director, has worked with Leeds Beckett University for the past two years on this module, sharing industry best practice on delivery of strong brand identity through visual merchandising. Jeanette commented that she had thoroughly enjoyed working with retail’s future talent and was delighted to see such bright sparks. Jeanette’s colleague, Christopher Pinnock, an experienced visual merchandiser, also took part in the assessing of the windows and was impressed with the window concepts. He said: “I am really pleased to see that the students have researched the core brand values of Nation of Shopkeepers and designed windows in keeping with this. I also like the way they have incorporated the key principles of shape, colour and rhythm.”