The saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, should be switched to, a picture is worth a thousand bucks. Today’s society thrives off of the attention from their own personal style and creative design.
Being noticed for creating something trendy just might be your success story or present a journey to success. Every human being on earth has to be visually inspired by something. Some people love travel, fashion and product photography. Are you good at seeing something and knowing you could make it look better? Maybe a degree in visual merchandising is for you. Each category intrigues and introduces a new feeling for every individual on a personal level. Can you think of any materialistic fashion that has taken countries by storm around the world? If so, good. Now, imagine being the creator of that merchandise.
There probably wouldn’t be enough adjectives to explain the feeling of taking an ordinary pair of jeans or a plain t-shirt and creating a style or design that sets trends for 2019. Maybe even a new style jacket that’s never been worn before. The sky is the limit to all the amazing ideas that can take flight from a single moment of brainstorming.
When you think of fashion, what is the first objective that comes to mind? Do you love to create fashion for the looks, to feel or to inspire?
Fashion designers seek to make you look fabulous but also want you to feel fabulous. During 2018, a new style of clothing emerged for the everyday traveler. Using merino wool, the designer created a brand that feels amazing to the skin. The material avoids absorbing odours, adjusts to body temperatures, and reduces laundry days.
I’m not claiming unbound merino as the best example to new fashion design, but I am claiming unbound merino as a great example of creating fashion based on feel and not looks. Each aspect of fashion solely depends on the perception of your targeted consumer. When you get to know the product, you look at it differently. What was once merely a charcoal coloured shirt now becomes your favourite shirt to pull out of your suitcase while traveling, versus the beautifully decorated blue button-up shirt.
The most challenging mission of fashion isn’t just creating perception based off of feelings and looks, but also learning to market the perception. How would someone market the above example of merino wool material? How would this product transition from concept to consumer?
Creating the visual content for your product is just as important as creating the product. Leaving mindful reasons on paper isn’t enough to permanently keep consumers purchasing products. That’s why over ten minutes of commercials show on television every half hour. Studies, research, and statistics have proven the average consumer needs to see an advertisement seven times before noticing the advertisement.
Mannequins play a huge role in fashion display. If I had to advertise the above example, I would depict a crowd of people waiting in line on a hot sweaty day. Each person would have sweat stains under their armpits. In front of the crowd would be a person standing alone with a merino wool t-shirt on. This person would have no sweat stains under their armpit area.
This would immediately imply this particular t-shirt will keep you much cooler and sweat free on an extremely hot day. Once the consumer becomes inquisitive about how the material works, the function of the product would possibly upsell the consumer. If the consumer refuses to purchase the product, this is when commercials play a gargantuan role. That same consumer might travel back home, sit down in their favourite seat, and turn on the television.
Only one hour into watching television, that particular consumer may have encountered the advertisement of your product at least 3 to 4 times, depending on what you have invested into your fashion business.
New fashion and design will always be a part of our society. Many experienced designers will learn to adapt as the new designers learn to express more of their ideas. Some ideas will change, inspire and encourage others to live freely with their creativity. Most importantly, each seed of designer knowledge should plant a wildfire of new products for the world to try, love, hate or collect for ages to come.
Being mindful of the next generation might determine the future for your creative design ideas.
