Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
lagship store; or the illuminated lotus blossom columns and golden statues of Harrods' Egyptian Room in
London. Going to shop at these places is an event, an immersive experience that says as much about the
brands they sell as it does about their sense of occasion. There are retail environments in virtual worlds that
have the same impact. These are places such as Barnesworth Anubis' Prefab, the Furniture and Décor Shop
in Demersal, the Curio Obscura shop built by Padora Wrigglesworth, and the Horizon Dream shop with
designs by Marcus Inkpen (J. Matthew Root in real life) and Sharni Azalee. Images of these shops are shown
in Figure 10.2.
As you set out to create the identity of your brand and its related design components, you should real-
ize that you are embarking on one of the most challenging and exciting aspects of retail. This coordinated
approach is fairly new in the history of advertising; only in the last 50 years or so have the marketing forces
gathered information about a company to create simple, comprehensive image concepts that can stand the
test of time. We can thank advertising legends like Saul Bass, Paul Rand, and the irm of Chermayeff &
Geismar for the origin of this idea. As Wikipedia notes: “The visual brand identity manual for Mobil Oil
(developed by Chermayeff & Geismar), [was] one of the irst visual identities to integrate logotype, icon,
alphabet, color palette, and station architecture” [2].
Let's launch our virtual store design with the idea of a sailing ship,
The Flying Cloud
(1851-1871). When
you think of the famous
Flying Cloud
, what simple shapes come to mind? Now suppose you want to open a
virtual shop that sells sailing ship models, full size ships and related nautical paraphernalia. How would you
design the look of it? Should your shop have a sail-like design along the roof, like the Sydney Opera House in
Australia? Or, should it look like the main deck of the
Flying Cloud
herself? Each style has a mood to convey
to the visitor, and you should decide to what your customer base would best respond. Before you continue
with detailed thinking about a potential
Flying Cloud
shop design, take a little time to consider these three
elements in general terms: architectural style, signage/display, and color/lighting.
10.2.1 a
rChiTeCTural
s
Tyle
Four thousand years of architectural ideas and innumerable descriptions of fantasy architecture may make
the choice of architectural style hard for you. One of the best ways to get a handle on the “look” is to start a
“look book.” Find a binder or notebook somewhere and start collecting images that remind you of your con-
tent and themes. When you are deining how much your architecture should look like your product, consider
these design extremes: In Flanders, New York, there is a shop that sells ducks and duck eggs called, simply
enough, The Big Duck. It is easy to ind this 20-foot high ferro-cement duck statue along the roadside, and
once you realize it is also a shop, there can be no doubt about what kinds of products the shop sells. On the
other end of the retail design spectrum is the featureless black or white box that is often seen in the modern
stores. These “high-concept” retail environments provide support for the sale of all manner of goods since
they imply no connection visually to one sort of content or another. Which one do you need? The oversized
icon or the featureless box? There are more options than those two, of course. Choose your shop design ele-
ments carefully because strong visual architectural details will help your customers remember your shop,
especially if the details are consistent with the look of your logo and products.
10.2.2 s
ignage
/d
isplay
You will quickly discover that signage and displays are 50% of your store design. This is your opportunity
to make a direct connection between the 2D aspects of your store brand, the logo, the typeface, and the color
palette and the 3D space where you are displaying your content.
