Retail Display Sense

Having the space to spread your products far and wide can quite often produce excellent results in the retail world. Creating an airy sense of space and freedom. Making your customers feel less likely to get cornered by an employee.

In most shops however, this luxury of space is often at a premium. Having good retail display stands help to ensure you don't clutter your shop unnecessarily - displaying products in a clean, clear and efficient way can make all the difference when you are short on floor space. Magazine display towers and display racking with Italian styling and practical design is a good place to start. Check out http://awards.designweek.co.uk for some great inspiration.

Keeping your office in shape

When it comes to plan filing choosing the right option can quite often be a minefield. Do you need horizontal paper storage or vertical paper storage? Do you need a lockable plan chest or a plan hanger stand? Metal or wooden? Bright and colourful or brown and beige straight from the 80's?

Despite the dreams of most architects to impose the perfect paperless office on us all, the reality is that most offices cannot escape it. Certainly large format plans and blueprints need to exist in a drawing office and so also need storing safely and neatly.

Most drawing offices tend to go down the route of plan holder systems as jobs can be grouped together into a single plan hanger. This is doubly useful for site offices where plans are readily needed on a building site.

Orchard Mirrors the Fashion World

Mirroring Fashion


As far as the world of fashion is concerned, if drawing boards do have their place then its only in the design studio. Last summer something extraordinary happened as drawing boards and fashion were brought together for a world class display of male suits in Somerset house in London.

Esquire Magazine led the drive to showcase 18 of the finest garments the worlds leading fashion houses and designers had to offer. Teamed up with major artist the goal was to create an artistic vision which demonstrated superb styling with an exquisite attention to detail. Each vision was then presented in full splendor next to a fully mirrored Orchard drawing board with polished chrome stand.

Granted, not all of the suits on display were practical, but the designers were able to let their artistic juices flow and catch the eye of the worlds media as the opening night was star studded with the likes of Graham Norton, Bonnie Wright & George Lamb.

Keeping the wheels turning

The British Grad Prix is one of the most iconic events on the F1 racing calendar. The historic track is brilliant for drivers and with most teams based in the UK it's also the 'home' Grand Prix for many of the teams.

With the huge logistical challenge in setting up the UK Grand Prix at Silverstone, its a small wonder the whole country doesn't grind to a halt in order to make it happen. 12 teams, each with an army of people and equipment all of which need on site catering and facilities. The world's media descend on Silverstone with a vengeance combined with a crowd expected to exceed 400,000 over the course of the race weekend.

The cleaning and catering effort in itself is epic let alone all the fixtures, fitting and equipment required to make the Grand Prix machine run smoothly. The only way you can be assured of a seamless race weekend is if people have the information they need the moment they need it. This is no more apparent than in the world of TV media and race commentary.

For instance take these presentation pedestals designed to get information to the commentators without interrupting them. Not only do they look the part in the glitzy world of F1 but they are highly practical.

Display stands like these and many others used all around the Silverstone site provide a vital way to get information across in the most effective way. From sponsor billboards to leaflet holders for menus, promotional material or free maps.

Optimising your potential to have a blue sky water cooler moment

Space Saving Solutions

Getting the most out of your work space can be challenging at the best of times. Even with a tidy work ethic the combined efforts of you and your colleagues can sometimes lay waste to your office.

Eliminating this problem entirely is certainly an achievement but to do it in style is another thing altogether.



Since Stark made his orange juicer and Kamprad screwed the leg off his table and called it IKEA, designers have been working hard at their drawing board to make your office a pleasant place to be.

The 'paperless office' thing has always been the holy grail but realistically humanity can't cope with it just yet. Paper storage and plan filing solutions exist in their droves allowing you to efficiently organise your paper sensibly.

Educational environments suffer from the same problems. Design studios and art rooms use copious amounts of paper all of which needs organising and filing. Space is often also at a premium so having multipurpose furniture can really help to get the most out of the work space.

Reversible desks are a great space saving solution for schools and colleges. Providing a normal school desk but featuring an integrated desk top drawing board for graphic and design work.

Predicting your customers.

Being one step in front of your customers - knowing what they want before they know it themselves has to be the holy grail of retailing.

Systems have been developed which gather the information which when used correctly can second guess your customer and make the most out of  a shopping opportunity.

Store cards build comprehensive picture of shopping habit. When coupled with face recognition software customers can be targeted with tailored adverts and promotions in harmony with past purchases. For some time now online adverts have been using this technique - bespoke adverts based on sites previously visited.

Although there is an obvious Big-Brother-Is-Watching issue with techniques like this, most people don't particularly like advertising. If they must be advertised at then making the adds relevant is surely a good thing for both the customer and retailer.

To make the most out of a retail display, eye tracking software has been developed to actually monitor where a customer fixes their gaze and how they visually interact with display stands and adverts.

Visual Stunner

Shine on

The big lights of Vegas are one of the many tried and tested mechanisms which draw crowds in droves.

Replicating this in your own restaurant of bar may be a little impractical but you can certainly go some way towards packing a visual punch for the all important first impression. After all it can make the difference between fine wines being poured in your bar or the next bar, so why not.




Back-lit menu boards provide great interaction with potential customers; catching their attention and drawing them in with vivid colors and approachable information display stands.

Italian design ensures they also look great in daylight. The easy-open acrylic frame makes it simple to swap the artwork and as LED back-lit display frames run on low voltage it makes them both efficient and safe.

The price of acrylic on the day .. smells fishy.

You've got to hand it to the far east; they know how to hike the price of acrylic.

For future reference you throw 3D televisions at the west faster than your average ninja hurls a shuriken, and Bob's your uncle - you get the uncontrollable desire to start melting any spare acrylic down into ingots and lock them away in a fire proof safe.

Oddly enough the 3D screens are not made from normal acrylic. They do, however, require huge amounts of the raw chemical used in acrylic manufacturing which has caused the world acrylic price to spike. This has placed unprecedented pressure on the companies in the acrylic display market as their customers expect the highest quality and the best price.

There are options, magnetic acrylic display blocks could become poly carbonate display blocks. Poly carbonate has very similar properties to acrylic - it comes in sheets and can be heat bent. The sudden shift to P/C could then effect the price of that too and then we'll be trying to use ice (which could work well in the frozen food industry).

Enlighten me please.

There are some super slim light panels around, but when it comes down to how good they are, application is everything. Generally speaking there are two different types of light box:

LED light boxes
LED's provide the light. You can get both back lit and side / edge lit light boxes. The main advantage of this type of light box is that whiteness of the light can be regulated by the specification of tube you fit into them. Typically 5500k is classed as colour corrected which means that if you are trying to reproduce specific colour shades / tones, the light from the tubes will not distort what you can measure.


LED lit also produce a greater intensity of light which penetrates through paper up to 450gsm. It makes them the only sensible choice for designers or artist who are  looking for a tracing light box and really scrutinise the details in their work.




LED lit light boxes 
If you are looking to display artwork on an illuminated light panel then LED will be much more suitable. Designed for high efficiency and constant use they are a great way to catch the eye of a potential customer. However, without the light intensity of the tube lit light boxes, your artwork needs producing on a clear film / acetate.

There are LED light panels on the market which have been designed for simple tracing work, but if you don't have the right tool for the job it can leave you wanting.

Although there are slim light boxes available for design work, if you go too thin you end up with something which can only really be used for display purposes. Designers really benefit from the colour corrected light; something which you don't get from LED light panels so be wary when choosing a light box - make sure it's fit for purpose.

Euro Shop Exhibition Dusseldorf

One key event on the display systems calendar was earlier this year at the Euroshop Trade Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany. Companies from all over the world came together to show off their innovations and concepts in the world of product placement.

If you were prepared to walk around all the 20+ halls which make up Messe, you could find a display system for pretty much any application.

Orchard were over there for 3 days helping out the lads at Tecnostyl who had a prime spot display stand right in the entrance to one of the main halls.

Quite a noticeable proportion of the weird and wonderful creations people had devised involved 3D in one form or another.

Depth perspective when presenting products on screen or virtually seems to be the in-thing; providing a novelty factor which draws a crowd if nothing else. I guess the whole point is to get people looking at your product, 3D makes that almost too easy.

Failing 3D, good old fashioned illumination is always a crowd-pleaser. LED poster displays were pretty much everywhere and you had to admit they were effective - guiding your eyes and telling a story at the same time.

Even though none were like the artistic light boxes used for photography or tracing they still pack a visual punch with colourful printed acetate graphics.

Paper weight

In a drawing office or design studio inevitably you'll spend time playing with paper. In an effort to make it more exciting I ran a little experiment by  making paper airplanes from the larger sheets and playing miniature Stanstead ... didn't work.

oops.

So instead I had a look at what options were available to manage paper in an office. Depending on how you use your paper there are many options to look at.

Vertical Plan Files
Large metal cabinets which work like a large lever-arch file. For A0 or A1 paper you stick self adhesive plan strips onto the drawings.

You can get up to 1000 drawings into a single cabinet and are ideal for archiving and large capacity storage. You can have them with an anti-tilt mechanism so they stand alone and they're also great for storing drawing in plan wallets.

Mobile Drawing Trolleys & Wall Racks

Planhorse make an excellent range of storage solutions for A0, A1, B1 and A2 CAD paper. Drawings are held in clamps with each clamp capable of holding up to 100 drawings. You can mix A0 and A1 drawings up on the same trolley because they all load from one end.

This type of system is ideal for site offices or project offices where its useful to group drawings into projects and have them quickly to hand. 

Plan Chests

For that hearty traditional feel there's always the Traditional wooden plan chest. A set of either 6, 9 or 12 drawers with a choice of wood finishes. Perfect for design / art studios they provide an in-keeping way to store A0 or A1 paper.

Constructed to withstand even the most care-free art students they'll stay together, looking good just as long as a metal plan chests.

Lighting the way

Today light tables and light boxes are used for an unprecedented number of applications. Barring the usual photography and graphic design work they provide elegant solutions to problems faced by some industries; quite often nothing to do with paper or design.

Over the past 20 years we have produced lighting tables and illumination systems designed for highly specialised and industry specific procedures. One area where light boxes are extensively used is in the food industry. A professional light box is the ideal way to check the quality and consistency of food produce. Comparing bacon and the colour of tea leaves are just a few areas where having an even and reliable back light can be the key to becoming the market leader.

Testing in laboratories also may call for a large, evenly lit work surface. Calculating the absorption rate of different materials for use in nappies or other sanitary products is made easier with the correct equipment, whilst sexing flatfish is only made possible by having a strong light source to hold the fish up against.

Replicating daylight indoors by fixing light boxes in fake window frames .... we can even fit them with adjustable dimmer switches to simulate an overcast day. We are still trying to work out how to replicate night time.

Back to the drawing board

The drawing office industry is vast, no doubt. Constantly evolving over the last century to keep up with the times; it's come a long way since the dawning of the humble drawing board; when man first took pencil to paper properly.


Back in the early 20th century it would have be hard to imagine where design technology would ultimately take our society. CAD (computer aided design) has pushed boundaries and opened limitless possibilities with what we can do with materials. This, coupled with the desire of designers to be remembered for their work, has produced impressive results over the whole spectrum of design.


The Seed Cathedral is one of my recent favorites for its bonkers brilliance. It displays a way of think about construction that questions conventions built up since man started arranging stones into wall shapes. But at the heart of all this development still remains that first idea, that initial scribble on the back of a crisp packet (which is really hard if you've ever tried it). The next step is the drawing board where the idea is given a chance to really flourish for the first time. That initial sketch lays out the basics of the concept and gets it out in the open for the first time.


Drawing boards help you thrash out an idea in a way that a computer program never could. And so, with even the most cutting edge technological advances, life still started out on a drawing board. Computers have tried to emulate what a drawing board can do with limited success - at the end of the day there really is no substitute for pencil and paper.


Ultimately, computers have the major role in modern design from building skyscrapers to space stations and it's likely it'll be that way from now on. "CAD" was born the first time a computer was used to replace that final stage of drafting a finished technical drawing. Maybe though, its simply that computers can never totally replace that initial design phase.


No matter what you are designing "CAD" is almost a given in this day and age, maybe we should change it to "DAD" (drawing aided design) and celebrate the drawing board and it's legacy that still lives on.