Stregths & Skill Sets

Strengths and Skill Sets

The major characteristic setting me apart from others is my diverse background. I was born in Mexico and I am bilingual. And although I have lived in the Unites States for over half of my life I am aware of the cultural differences between Hispanics and Americans. I know what points to target and what will sell if a certain company wants to target the Hispanic population. And if I am unsure of a certain element or product I will not be difficult for me to research and find results. I am also fluent in Spanish and English and can connect that way to the Hispanic market as well. Other assets I hold are strong communication skills, task oriented, and ambitious. My goals for the next five years are to graduate from the University of Kentucky, then enroll in the MBA program here at the university after that find a good job with diverse employees and a fast paced company in the merchandising, creative, or retail business.

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Designing Signage Assignment

One of the first assignments we were given was to select a partner to work with for the whole semester on store that we would create. The store my partner and I designed was a professional yet trendy retail store. In which we would sell merchandise for the professional woman but we would also focus on modern/trendy clothing.

In this signage assignment we used the logo we created in our store “Le Chic”. And designed three different types of signage’s for the store, in which our store’s colors and logo would be incorporated. The three types of signage’s were store front sign, departmental sign, and point-of-sale sign. For the store front design we used our logo but in a larger size. For the departmental sign we focused on black and white oval shaped signs. And, for the point-of-sale sign we kept it simple by stating how much items were marked off and letting customers know they were clearance items. This assignment was very helpful because I learned the different types of signage’s are needed within a store depending on the merchandise being sold. Whether it be clearance merchandise or newly arrived merchandise it is important that customer are able to find what they need and sign are able to help customers navigate in the store.

Store Window Display

A great opportunity we had during the semester was to go to a store and come up with a store display. This was a great experience which allowed us to feel and see what visual merchandisers do on and every day basis. The store I went to was Hallmark. Our instructor chose the partner we would work with on the store display. One of the first things we had to do was to contact the owner of the store and arrange a time in which we would come in to create the display. Once we arrived in the store we talked to owner and were given a theme to work in. The theme was UK, since she had new UK merchandise and basketball season was near the corner. In the end the window display was well coordinated and our main colors were royal blue and white. This assignment was a great way for people to experience and get a feel of how much creativity and time it takes to come up with a store display.

Planogram

The layout chosen for the wall display is informal and the theme of it is Valentine’s Day. During this romantic celebration a lot of potential customers will be looking for products, in this case clothing and accessories, to give to their love ones. And a great way to make costumer’s task easier is to coordinate clothing together along with the accessories needed to attain a trendy and sophisticated outfit.

This assignment although, one of the most time consuming was one of my favorites because I was able to play around with clothes to come up with colors that belonged in the theme, in this case Valentine's Day.

Lighting Plan and Budget

The last project of the semester was the lighting plan and budget. In this project we were asked to work with our partner, the one we chose to create the store. The instructions were to find lighting that would complement ours stores environment and would be the most effective. We had to take into considerations the different types of lighting whether they be halogen, translucent, fluorescent, etc.

By the end of this project I learned the importance of lighting and how it plays a crucial role in the store’s environment. For example, fluorescent lighting provides the best ambient lighting and are the least expensive to operate. But, they are not effective to accent merchandise or displays a must for retail setting. Therefore, knowing what you want for your store and learning the differences the different types of lighting out in the market is essential in creating an effective environment for your store setting.

Shadow Box Display

Another project in which we worked in a group of four to five people was the shadow box display. In this project we were asked to design a shadow box display using the principles of design. In this project we chose a detergent theme. The color scheme was primarily baby blue but there were other color shades in the display.

This assignment helped me in understanding that height plays a big role to how well shadow box displays can look. One of the biggest challenge we faced was knowing the right height to locate each item in the display, so that the brand name for each would be visible. We played around with all of the products to finally come up the best way to display all of the products in such a way that height as well as visibility was clearly seen by the consumer.