The art of display

Every day you are surrounded by displays. There are so many types of displays, some that may not even come to mind when you think of the word “display”.

While strolling through the mall you are bombarded by window displays of the latest fashions, accessories or must haves. When walking down the streets of any city, you can become mesmerized by the window displays that you pass. Some people even entertain themselves by “window shopping” or checking what is on display. There are people that make special trips to see what is on display.

There is the public display of affection. This often has various affects on people. If you pass by two people making out right out in the public forum you could have a couple of reactions. Maybe you’re angered, disgusted, jealous, happy to see two people in love or maybe you completely ignore it. If that’s the case it couldn’t have been that much of a display in the first place.

During the holidays we often see many types of light displays. Most, I would say, are tasteful while others are obscene. I have been witness to a holiday display that had every symbolic figure displayed on his lawn and in his yard. It was actually quite atrocious to look at – but that is definitely a display that gets a lot of attention. It’s a good thing too, because people give him donations when they come to view his holiday display and this gentleman gives it all to charity. 'Tis the season giving!

There are also displays on phones, treadmills, televisions and computer monitors. These displays have different letters to describe them. For example, there’s LCD, which is liquid crystal displays and there are LEDs or light emitting diodes. I’m not sure which one is better, but they’re both the preferred method of television and electronics displays.

Stores need to purchase displays to put all of their merchandise on. Think about a Hallmark store and their displays. They probably have glass display cases and shelves, cute picket fence displays, greeting card displays and stuffed animal displays. There are wind chime displays and candle displays. And of course don’t forget the candy displays. There isn’t a general merchandise store around that would be complete without a candy display.

Sale items are always on display at the ends of every isle in grocery stores, variety stores or hardware stores. It is a silent calling to the consumer saying, “check me out, I’m on sale and I’m on display. Buy me, buy me.”

We put people, animals and objects on display. Any museum is a perfect example of this. There are art museums, aquariums, and botanical gardens. There are circuses, theatrical plays, and the covers of magazines even that put people on display. Sometimes we even like to put ourselves on display for others. Men and women’s magazines make huge profits from men and women putting their bodies on display. The same goes for Victoria’s Secret. They have made huge profits from women putting their bodies and their lingerie on display.

Displays are always trying to get us to buy something, try something or be something. Window displays want us to buy the entire outfit, the treadmill displays want us to push ourselves to do something we haven’t accomplished before, end caps in stores want us to spend more money too. Museums and tourist attractions want us to enjoy something. Whether it be displays of affection, clothing, animals or holiday lights they are all works of art and somebody has put some time and effort into making their display attractive.