Hazel Diane

The Visual Merchandising department of Harding Retail is responsible for designing shop interiors and window displays on over 50 cruise ships, 10 of which I was personally responsible for. Each of my 10 ships housed up to 8 shops.

My work at head office consisted of designing new window concepts; planning the shop layouts; ordering props and designing window backdrops; printing my own posters and managing outside printers for large scale jobs. When I oversaw the final delivery and installation of the new designs it had to take place at whatever location the ship was in at the time, so international and domestic travel was necessary.

When visiting the ships I had to prioritise my work load, installing the new window concepts, checking on all pos and marketing materials and training staff on visual standards, clear communication and a great working relationship with the shop managers was vital as the ships were away for weeks, to months at a time so they had to work closely with the vm teams to keep the visual standards whilst at sea.

These visits needed to be fitted in around the work I had to do at head office where the vm team planned the shop layouts and the current promotional designs and liased with brand representatives to order and new collateral and display materials.