For this project, I aimed to create a piece of critical design which challenges assumptions and conceptions made by consumers about the role brands play in selling products through targeting consumer’s insecurities. For this, I looked at existing designers who create critical design pieces, to see how they balance delivering an artistically appealing piece, while communicating a political, environmental or social message, making us think about everyday life. When experimenting with how this design approach could be used within visual merchandising design (within retail stores), I found that I was taking inspiration from the design of Victoria’s Secret stores, a place I worked as a sales assistant in 2019. It made me begin to think about my time there, which was during the brand’s downfall after the chief marketing officer made transphobic comments, stating that transgender models, were not part of the ‘fantasy’. I looked into the brand further and gained insight into their significant influence in setting the ‘ideal’ body type of the 2000s/10s. Their models, known as angles, followed strict diets and multiple trips to the gym a day to achieve their slim body shapes. For the brands consumers, achieving this body type is near impossible, while following the angles in a cult-like manner. The brand was aware of this appeal and used consumers insecurities (of not looking like the models) to sell their products. I explored a range of the brand’s visual materials, including their magazine which was their primary touch point in the early 2010s, and found that the brand was direct with communicating this appeal. I followed guideline documents found online to then curate 5 displays for the brand’s retail stores.
