Hi, my name is Eelke Dekker, a fellow Starter since July. I will serve as your wake-up call from Berlin, writing about design and visual communication. This is my first post, I hope you enjoy it.

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I’m not really an expert on retail design, so the only possible way for me to approach this subject, is through the eyes of a consumer, which I happen to also be. While exploring the streets of Berlin, the ultimate designer metropole, my attention was drawn by a remarkable marketing strategy. The barbershop I passed by, had big, clear signs in front of the shop and on the windows with a very straightforward message:

Up until that day I had never ever been cut by a stranger, I mean, not even once. I always had friends and family around who could for better of worse do the job. Only once my hair was touched by a stranger, when a nurse washed it in the hospital.

I was not quite sure, why the concept that the shop owner had chosen six years earlier was so strong, that it got me entering the shop, sitting down, getting my hair washed and cut, paying the €10 bucks and heading off.

A simple Message

On my way home, I saw several other barbershop which had the same deal for the same price. But the same message didn’t appeal. What the previous owner had perfectly understood, was that in order to get me inside his shop he had to communicate one simple message: get a new cut fast and cheap. He used the complete display window to communicate this.

I noticed some other shops using the same technique.

When you are opening up a shop, realize that your façade is probably the cheapest and most effective advertisement that you have, so why not cut to the chase and get your message across?

I think the same thing goes for your website design. Sure you can complicate things by listing numerous advantages of your business compared to others, but often it is much more effective to focus on the one most important message. Consider your landing page as your shop window.