Zara is a Spanish clothing and acces-sories retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia, and founded in 1975 by Amancio Orte-ga and Rosalía Mera. It is the flagship chain store of the Inditex group; the fashion group also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Uterqüe, Stradivarius and Bershka. It is claimed that Zara needs just two weeks[2] to de-velop a new product and get it to stores, compared to the six-month industry av-erage, and launches around 10,000 new designs each year. Zara has resisted the industry-wide trend towards transfer-ring fast fashion production to low-cost countries.

Perhaps its most unusual strategy was its poli-cy of zero advertising; the company preferred to invest a percentage of revenues in opening new stores instead. This has increased the idea of Zara as a “fashion imitator” company and low cost products. Lack of advertisement is also in contrast to direct competitors such as Uniqlo and United Colors of Benetton.Zara was described by Louis Vuitton Fash-ion Director Daniel Piette as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world.” Zara has also been described as a “Spanish success story” by CNN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara_(retailer)

The element of balance of is visible through the window dis-plays and symmetrical balance of store entrance and areas of menswear, womanwear, and menwear.

Womanswear entrance and is placed at the center, with mens-wear on either side.

Balance is also seen in the window displays as visual weight is placed on the square frames which are colored in black, then draws your eye back to the lower hand as a medium sized bag is placed by the foot of the mannequins. There are three ele-ments of continuity that draws your eye around the whole win-dow display, examining the diverse products and accessories.

Emphasis is placed on the mannequins right in front of the entrance. You are led within the store by the two figures.Circlulation is then either to the left or the right.

There is also emphasis on the mannequins by the rectangular frame around them creating a focal pont.

The element of rhythm is felt from the rectangular frames. The repetition, and overlapping of the rectangular shapes give a sense of motion as they in vary size, thickness and opacity.

The scale of the displays change and vary, as to give a sense of depth, or sense of closeness to the window view-ers.

The scale is of the interior displays are felt, as the garments seem to be sus-pending not too far above from the ground.

Unity & Harmony can be perceived through the window displays. Although the rectangular ele-ments are diverse in size and scale, the balanced placement of visual weight elements are placed so that the elements of line, and color are visu-ally harmonious.

The negative and positive spaces give the whole visual space a sense of unity. Hence the percep-tion of gestalt. The variety of elements leads to a composition of unity.

The table displays hold about 5 pairs of trousers folded. while the lower display supports 2 folded sweaters, and an acces-sory display. While the two display tables are differnt in scale, the proportions of the garments can be assumed.

Proportion is also visible through the shoe display. We can see that the proportions of the shelves are just a bit higher than a pair of woman’s shoes which are about 7’’ high. The size of the bag, shoes, and gar-ments can be recognized in relationship to each other.

The dress displays can be assumed that they are at a small scale, analyzing from the maxi dresses that are touching the floor. This gives a sense of a low ceil-ing within the space. However. the play of volumetric overhead planes give the illusion that there is endless space.

There is rhythm in the displays as the straight archi-tectural lines are divided vertically and horizontally. There is a repetition of vertical, and horizontals.