Paperworld Trends are a highlight at the international stationery, office supplies, and writing materials trade fair: They show the latest trendy colours and designs on the basis of selected exhibitor products. The trend worlds inspire manufacturers and dealers alike. But how can a trend theme be implemented in a store? Designer Claudia Herke from the style agency bora.herke.palmisano provides tips.

At the beginning of summer, many stores for stationery, office supplies, and writing materials are faced with the task of decorating their outlet for the school season. In many cases there are additional satchel promotions and other special events for school starters. This requires a lot of creativity, as the display window should look different every year and attract customers' attention. The inspiration gained from Paperworld Trends is ideal for this purpose. With fresh and summery colours the "graphic + particular" trend matches the season perfectly.

The "graphic + particular" trend world combines a wide variety of patterns with graphic colour combinations, giving the theme of gift-giving, packaging, and writing a special touch. In early summer, and against the backdrop of back-to-school products, this colourful trend creates vivid highlights. The predominantly geometric designs are derived from modern architecture and the materials themselves. Characteristic features here are halftone prints, perforations, grid structures, prints and collages.

Mint blue, mandarin, rose, taupe and intense anemone blue characterise the refined colour range, with black and white also providing graphic highlights. The trend is furthermore lent a special and modern touch by the metallic sheen of gold, bronze and coloured aluminium.

"The trend is defined by patterns and coloured areas, which attract attention and can be implemented particularly well in shop window displays," says Claudia Herke, designer at bora.herke.palmisano style agency.

Claudia Herke has some easy to implement tips for creating attractive showcase designs that suit the back-to-school theme but also appeal to students with the latest trend colours, or whet their appetite for a new home office design: "The shop window design is based on geometrically stacked cubes that reflect the trend colours. School satchels or other stationery products can be attractively arranged on them. The individual cubes are stacked on top of each other in a staggered formation resulting in columns of different heights."

For stores with a back wall to the window space, Claudia Herke has an additional tip: "This wall should be kept as neutral as possible so the products come into their own. Don't be afraid of a plain surface, it really emphasises the colours in the window display. Or you can span black rubber bands over a white surface to accentuate the geometric component of the 'graphic + particular' trend. Binders, files and folders can be integrated into the spanning as decoration."

If you prefer a design variation open to the retail area, files and folders can be hung from the ceiling on cords.The "graphic + particular" colour range is varied, with a high proportion of pastel shades, so the decoration should not be too playful. "The trend radiates a simple elegance and the colours are suitable for both girls and boys. These airy light shades are also very popular with teenagers and students. In combination with graphic patterns in black or gold, they are the megatrend of the summer," says Claudia Herke.

The style agency bora.herke.palmisano was once again commissioned by Messe Frankfurt to design the prestigious trend area at Paperworld 2019. To do so, they filtered current trends from society, fashion, architecture, and designed and transferred them to the upcoming colours, shapes, and materials for the stationery, office supplies, and writing materials sector. With the innovations from Paperworld exhibitors, the trend area offered retailers a rich portfolio to draw on all year round.