VMER 4910 - Senior Capstone - Visual Merchandising

Visual Merchandising
Previous Course Number: VMER 420

This course serves as a capstone challenge at the senior level, incorporating the skills and knowledge learned throughout the four-year Visual Merchandising program. Emphasis is placed on understanding the development of a retail image and the role of visual merchandising in defining that image. The store environment is a critical medium in the selling mechanism. It’s the fulfillment of the customer’s expectations and the deliverance of every promise ever made to the customer through storewide advertising campaigns. The capstone challenge is to redesign the first floor of an existing 140,000 to 170,000 square-foot department store, located in an urban center. The first floor, ranging in size from 42,000 to 60,000 square feet, will house Cosmetics, Accessories, Designer Sportswear, Women’s Shoes, Intimate Apparel, and Men’s Furnishings. The class will be divided into teams, one for each family of business listed above. This will be a real-world challenge with the class operating as a retail design firm. Together they will design a memorable and recognizable branded environment, including developing a floor plan, a color and materials palette, signage, and packaging, as well as visual merchandising techniques to differentiate their store in the competitive marketplace.
credit(s): 3
Prerequisite(s): FNCE 3410, VMER 1010, VMER 1510, VMER 2601, VMER 2602, VMER 2610, VMER 2614, VMER 2710, VMER 3014, VMER 3310, VMER 3350, VMER 3610, VMER 4510
Corequisite(s): EECM 480B, VMER 4920