Some companies go out to happy hour after work. JSDesigns puts up window displays.
One day last fall, after perusing a Communication Arts magazine, I came across an envelope advertisement. As a former invitation designer, I have an affinity for stationery products, so naturally, I paused and admired all the different colors. And that’s when I remembered a window display I’d seen back in my mall-walking days (yes, I really am that cool) that had used a bunch of envelopes. This window had moved so far away from product placement and into the realm of art, that I looked forward to passing it every additional lap.
And that’s when it hit me – I wanted to do window displays in real life. A chance to explore other creative mediums outside of our current opportunities at work (and home.)
At our next weekly meeting, in my typical awkward-self, I blurted out that I thought we should do a window display for Halloween in our conference room. I didn’t expect the boss-man, Jeff, to approve. I knew he was all about continuing our creative experience, but I wasn’t sure if this was too far out there. Much to my delight, he was on-board!
And just like that #JSDWindowPics was born.
Over the course of our 4 window displays, we’ve learned a lot:
Taking all of us at the store trying to decide Which. Ornaments. To Buy. isn’t the best idea
Jeff and I find great joy in the search for materials, where the rest of the team….does not. Ha
Painting on glass is VERY different than painting on paper
We CAN make a paper-mache chocolate bunny that looks real. Virtual high-five!
Lighting upgrades a good window to a great window
PVC is the building material of the gods
The Cricut machine is our best friend
Spray mount gets everywhere. (To be fair we already knew this, but it’s been re-confirmed after adding fake hair to our spider…)
Mostly though, we learned that taking time out of our normal work processes is imperative to not only keeping morale high, but to also improving our team’s creative process. Even though window design is different from what we do on a daily basis, learning how to think in interactive and 3-D terms has improved our creativity as a team. We’re more efficient, don’t hesitate to add ridiculous ideas to the table, (who knows, we might all just LOVE it!) and, we have new skills to add to our arsenal. We’ve learned through our window process what each of our strengths are, and how to utilize those strengths for our clients.
The finished products:
Behind the Scenes: