Winter as a visual display

Students from Wodonga TAFE’s design department have turned winter into a visual display which is open to the public until Friday, 2 July.

First-year Diploma of Visual Merchandising students were set the task of creating a visual display through their interpretation of a ‘monochromatic winter’.  Design program leader, Kerrie Bonnel said, “The assessment demonstrates just how important visual merchandising in a retail environment can be. 

”Window dressing has come a long way. It now incorporates developing professional floor plans and layouts, analysing traffic flow, colour psychology, consumer behaviour, and developing merchandising and promotional calendars”, stated Ms Bonnel.

The art of visual merchandising is an important skill to possess, particularly in today’s competitive and sometimes uncertain retail environment. In many ways professionally merchandising your store can impact considerably on a business’s bottom line. As Ms Bonnel stated “we call it ’silent selling’, as a properly merchandised display sells products and add-on sales without the assistance of a sales person”.

Visual merchandising requires students to develop a solid understanding of design principles and elements. It is definitely a hands-on career choice and attracts those who enjoy working with new products and are energetic and fit. With such a diverse set of skills, the range of students that are attracted to visual merchandising is varied. 

”Our students come from all sorts of backgrounds, from people running their own business who want to build their profile and bottom line, some wanting a career change, school leavers looking for a career and professionals who have worked in the industry and want to up-skill”, said Ms Bonnel.

The visual display exhibition is just one method of developing the students’ skills throughout the course. Industry experience is also integrated into the course, where students work with local businesses on a design brief, developing their ability to liaise with clients and deliver projects within set timeframes.

The visual display is located in the foyer areas of both Building C (Ground) and Building E at the Wodonga TAFE campus, McKoy Street, Wodonga.