JD Vincent

JD Vincent is a freelance visual merchandiser and display designer based in Chicago, IL. He has been a display designer for 47 years and has been an independent contractor for 29 of those years.

His visual merchandising clients have included well known companies such as Reebok, The North Face, Cartier, Zegna, Hart Schaffner & Marx, the Chicago Merchandise Mart as well as many other local retail and wholesale companies.

In his full time career he worked at various Chicago department and specialty stores including Marshall Field's and Bonwit Teller. It is his work at Bonwit Teller that is featured in his first book - "Me and the Mannequins - The Way I Display(ed)". This book was updated in 2018 with higher resolution photographs and re-titled "Vintage Visual Merchandising, Me and the Mannequins: The 1970's".

In what is to be a series of coffee table style books, it features many photographs of vintage display windows that feature fashion, the style of mannequins and display design of that era. Along with these vintage photos are anecdotes of the creative process that created these display windows along with his thoughts about what display was like in that time period.

In 2019 Mr. Vincent published a compilation of his favorite blog posts titled: "6 Top Things I Found Out While Becoming A Freelance Visual Merchandiser". In it are informative tips to aspiring freelance visual merchandisers and many anecdotes of projects over his career as a freelancer.

Mr. Vincent currently resides in Chicago and works as an independent visual merchandiser and designer for both retail and wholesale companies. Over the years as a freelancer his clients have included Cartier, Reebok, Ermenegildo Zegna, Nike, North Face, Hart Schaffner Marx and the Chicago Merchandise Mart - as well as many local Chicago companies.

He intends to continue to document his early career to share with a new generation of visual merchandisers as well as those of his own generation who might like to reminisce about those times.