Visual merchandising’s purpose is “to attract, engage, and motivate the customer towards making a purchase.” -Wikipedia

Large format graphics serve this purpose. Large format graphics provide an immediate grand scale impression.Their role is stimulus to aid in the close of a sale. Through grand scale magnification, it commands the attention of viewers and illustrates close-up detail of the product. It supplies the customer with information and inspiration on how the product is to be used or how the particular garment can be worn. It advocates a certain cultural acceptance and validates the product’s importance by its grand display. If the image is relevant to its target audience, it will attract the eye of the ideal customer.

Think of the building wraps you may have seen, you simply cannot resist taking a look! The photo illustration narrates how the garment can be worn and how one might feel when wearing such a garment. Large format graphics can encourage both close-up viewing and long distance from many feet away. This affects a broader audience by visually reaching out to those both near and far in large malls and airports.

The face-to-face experience with the large graphic within the retail establishment is important because it tells the customer that indeed they can find that product “here.” The strategic location within the retail establishment is effective for thoughtful and impulse purchases; but has equal influence on both. Social media lacks the tactile description and the physical presence within the store. Or, at least to date that is true. I have yet to experience a “Smart Store” that syncs up with a specialty retail phone app that gets triggers as you walk through their store. In the future there will be an app which aloud to you about the beautiful merchandise as you stroll through. (Be certain there’s a millennial out there working one up as I write this!) Imagine some sultry voice softly describing the merchandise in sensuous tones, triggered by a signal from the display racks, and sounding like the reading of an eclectic upscale dinner menu.

How to make large format graphics become more sensuous and tactile  is through fabric graphics or ‘dye sub.’  Dye sublimation fabric graphics is a digital fabric printing process which allows advertisers and designers to make short runs of custom-printed fabric. The colors are saturate, pure, and brilliant. The size of the large format graphic typically runs eight or ten feet wide by whatever length. The dimension is truly grand scale, it can be 45 ft or 60 ft or 120 ft wide. You can even create backlit images with it, similar to the ole’ duratrans (but better). The inks are encapsulated into the very fibers of the polyester-based fabric through a heat and compression processor. Once the fabric cools, the dyes become permanent, and even washable. Its hard to damage fabric graphics in contrast to the old rigid board graphics. The fabric is available in many choices of weight and weave; from heavy knit to a sheer mesh, and everything in between, with different surface textures.

Besides bold colors, short runs, limitless size, the other very attractive feature about fabric graphics is no glare, such that the graphic can be viewed from all angles. No glass required for its protection. This means the graphic is no longer separated from the viewer, but rather, sharing the same tactile space. These fabric graphics can be used to create a certain brand ambiance in any location. The designer’s palette has many possibilities in how to display the fabric graphic such as draping it, hanging it like a flag, layering it, or stretching it into a channeled frame called SEG. SEG is a term which means “silicone edge graphic” which gets displayed by its gasket sliding into the channeled frame.The frames are generally low-profiled. The changeouts are so easy that the average store employee can switch out the graphic for the next sale or seasonal campaign. She might need a ladder for its size, but no other special tools are required. In retail locations, one could keep the same-sized graphic in the same-sized SEG frame and regularly rotate out images. If wall-mounted, you can additionally make them into acoustical panels with the added acoustical insulation. Many choices are available for the designer to create. Digital large format fabric graphics made to your specifications in short runs are more accessible than ever!

Visual merchandising displays made larger than life are simply difficult to ignore. Creating them with attractive fabric graphics gives your establishment an edgy look and the inspiration to potentially influence the close of a sale. Large format graphics are an easy way to produce a grand look of your product, without breaking the bank! Interested? Call 1800-829-4562