Storefront rendering from a photo of the shopfront

A storefront rendering — also called a shopfront or retail facade rendering — shows how the street side of a shop will look once it is redesigned: the fascia and signage, the glazing and window displays, the entrance, the materials and the lighting at night. It is the image that sells a retail concept to a landlord, a planning officer or a brand, because it is the first thing a passer-by will see.

With RetailInterior you start from a photo of the real frontage, so the building, the openings and the street stay where they are. Only the design changes.

Because each render takes seconds, you can compare options rather than commit to the first one:

• Signage and fascia — position, scale, material and lighting of the brand name.
• Window displays — a seasonal window, a product wall, an open view into the shop.
• Materials — painted timber, stone, metal frames, tiles, awnings.
• Entrance — door position, a recessed entry, the threshold seen from the pavement.
• Day and evening — how the frontage reads once the interior lighting does the work.

A storefront rarely gets approved on its own. Once the frontage works, use the same brand kit to render the interior from the floor plan, place a camera at the entrance with Angle Views to show what the customer sees when they walk in, and gather the set in a client project to export as a PDF.

Shoot straight on or at a slight angle, from the other side of the pavement, in even daylight. Keep the whole frontage in frame with a little of the neighbouring buildings, so the render keeps the right scale. Avoid strong reflections in the glazing when you can.