Yamaha Music London store window designs at Christmas

Posted 6 years ago in design chat, event design, retail design

’Tis the season to be looking in shop windows, bathed in the glow of their Christmas promotions…

Needless to say these store window designs were completed months ago, probably on a boiling hot summer’s day. We designers tend to sit in tee shirts doing creative work for the coldest time of the year. We look forward to our summer holidays while trying to imagine how we might feel wrapped in knitwear and hunting for presents.

Our client providing this particular festive brief was Yamaha Music’s UK flagship store, on Wardour Street in central London.

As a 1990s art school student in London, the idea that a business I lead might one day actually design something on the amazing and iconic Wardour Street would have been … bonkers. And yet – here we are. Best of all, it looks really great. A colourful, modern celebration of all things musical from the classical to the bang up to date in a extravagant festive motif.

DEVISING A CONCEPT FOR CHRISTMAS

We began this project by working on a Christmas press pack launching the entire campaign. This smart piece of print was designed to have a wrap-around ‘envelope point’ so that the booklet could be sealed and put in the post. Rather a good solution for a twelve page booklet.

In developing the actual design we asked what sort of creative concept would work best. It was pointed out to us that as the promotion was for Christmas, this was not a time to be subtle…

With that advice ringing in our ears, we threw around a few ideas. In the end it was the notion of putting the music front and centre in the most graphic and memorable way possible that won out.

The pairing of red and gold is a pretty classic choice for Christmas. The twist for Yamaha here is that our ornamental snowflakes are created from their musical instruments. Trumpets, violins, guitars, trombones, synthesizers… the list goes on.

These are then reproduced in full colour and as a single-tone background ‘Christmas wrapping’ pattern in red and gold.

Yamaha Music London – 2017 Press Pack

THE YAMAHA MUSIC LONDON STORE WINDOWS IN SITU

The next step in the project was evolving the design concept of the Christmas PR pack and taking it to the streets – quite literally.

With a long stretch of windows down London’s Wardour Street, Yamaha Music London has a unique opportunity to shine out with a truly memorable set of visuals. Our idea was to expand the brassy red and gold ‘musical snowflake’ visual concept and feature one, large-format, on each window.

To pair with this idea, the creative team at Yamaha Music London came up with a set of playful taglines for every poster. Then finally, to align with the nature of the wording, we added in a retro script reminiscent of classic Americana for the ‘key word’ of each.

To add a final touch, each poster is studded with a set of around thirty flashing LED lights which sparkle in the dusk and catch the eyes of passers-by in the chilly early evenings of December.]

And there we have it – a complete set of fourteen window visuals which appear both on the street and are replicated in-store on the back. I must say they look terrific. Really memorable, gusty, on-brand and with a consistent, super-festive look to each.