Downtown Kalamazoo

1.  My first reactions to the Downtown Kalamazoo business area were the wide sidewalks and the one way street.  The wide sidewalks make it very easy to walk around the area plus the one way street makes traffic far less, creating a safer environment for people to walk.  To further the safety of walking in the downtown area I also noticed the order of shops and restaurants throughout the street; it seemed that the order was retail type store followed by a restaurant or a small walk-in food place.  I thought this was a good order because too much of the same store type might lead shoppers to skip over shops.  The downtown area also had plenty of benches for sitting which was nice and trees to make the area look nicer.  As far as safety is concerned, the police station is located right in downtown.

 

2.  The downtown of Kalamazoo should: add more shops, there didn't feel like very many small shops with little gifts and things of that sort; try to add a larger store like a Dillard's as a primary vocal point of the area; and finally add more sit down and dine restaurants to attract people at dinner time.

 

3. "Towns, Gibbs insists, must follow the malls' example in dealing with the public's fears. That means ensuring a visible police presence, removing or rearranging benches and other features that encourage loitering, and keeping the streets and sidewalks clean."  

Downtown Kalamazoo takes a firm stand with public safety by locating a police station right in the vicinity; therefore, even thought downtown contains benches that encourage loitering, the police presence more than makes up for it.

1.  Gibbs has many different criteria for evaluating a Main Street: the visibility of police or security, adjusting objects that may encourage loitering, cleanliness, clothing stores never next to restaurants, clothing stores never on the north side and restaurants never on the west side.

2.  I think Main Street should have some similar aspects with that of a mall.  I do think Main Street should be filled with shops and stores and I do think Main Street should take into account design techniques similar to that of malls listed above.  When I think of a downtown, I think of tradition and old buildings crammed together and for some reason I like that feel.  I think downtown's should preserve their early American roots and remain the jumbled up bliss they've always had.

3.  My own checklist to judge a Main Street would be: cleanliness, preservation of old traditions, an almost cluttered feeling with hilly and uneven land, easy access to parking and design technique's listed in question in regards to location of stores and restaurants.  The most important aspect in my opinion is the preservation of a downtown's original identity and tradition.  

Hobby Lobby

1.   I observed the Hobby Lobby, which markets to people looking for arts and crafts, fabrics and different household decorations. 

 

2a) The store has a simple front with a red sign that reads Hobby Lobby.  The color of the store is a dull white and the front of the store has windows to see inside.  

2b) The store wasn't playing any music, but you could hear different customers asking questions to employees.  

2c,d,e) The merchandise was on shelves on the floor all placed in different categories labeled with large signs above each aisle.  The store was very cluttered and it was difficult to find a specific item without asking an employee where to look.  The floor was white tile and the signs had writing with large font in order to make it easier for the customers to find items.  All the products the store carried were on display to make for visual marketability; therefore, when customers walk through the store looking for one thing they might see something else they want to buy. 

2f) The cashier area is located in the front of the store for easy access.  The area is filled with impulse buys like gum, candy and magazines.

 

3.   Hobby Lobby tries to project the image of an art studio with an at home feel.  The store exemplifies this by setting out all their products out, which are generally items used in the home, so the consumer sees an item and imagines how it would look in their home.  The store also wants to convey an image of easy to use by using large signs to direct shoppers and by having cashiers in the front.

4.   Customers seemed intrigued by the stores vastness and product layout.  Customers seemed to come for one product, but would see other items they might want which led them to wander the store further.

5.   I thought it was interesting that the store smelled so good.  The first thing I noticed when I walked in the store was how warm it was and how it smelled like a grandma’s house.  I think the store was specifically designed to give off this homey feel.    

1.  The article has three main points: the goal is for shoppers to walk farther into the store, stores need to promote themselves through the environment and the self-image they give off, and design based on the people.  In order for shoppers to walk deeper onto stores, and therefore buy more products, the store needs to have the right environment for its customers: comfort and a self-image that each particular store gives off.  Stores also need to be designed for the customer: natural designed for people walking on the right side of the mall and necessities in back with impulse items in the front.

2.  A store's design plays a large role in how I view it.  If I'm walking in a mall and I see a store with music I like and an environment that is pleasing to me, there is a much better chance of me walking into that store over a boring store.  If stores want to attract customers they need to be design friendly and their environment needs to reflect the customer they wish to target.

3.  My analyzing checklist for a retail store:

1) Design.  Does the store design for the customer first?

2) Environment.  Does the stores environment reflect the audience it wishes to target?

3) Gender Gap.  Is the store conscience of the fact that women tend to have more patience                                        while shopping than men?

 

Monday October 20, 2008

1.  Packaging gives the consumer its first glimpse and instincts toward a product.  When it comes to things like shampoo and items bought over-the-counter, the packaging is the primary component of Visceral Design.  One situation I can think of when the packaging motivated me to buy a product was when I considered a new brand of deodorant.  I was at CVS looking over the deodorant aisle and the Adidas deodorant caught my eye because of its sleek black packaging.  I ended up buying the deodorant, knowing nothing about how well the product worked.

2.  Other products with ionic packaging include: nike shoe boxes with there orange and brown box, Pantene Pro-V conditioner with its white bottle and Plochman's mustard with its barrel-shaped yellow bottle.

3.  Sometimes packaging contains too much wrapping and material.  Other times packaging is far too difficult too open.  A situation I can think of that brings both of these issues together is my old CD player.  The packaging was like trying to break through the Great Wall of China and it had tons of wrapping and unneeded plastic which wastes our planet's resources.  

"Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015"

1.  The reading indirectly focuses on Visceral and Behavioral Design.  The article focuses on how the user will perceive websites and their usability.  At the very beginning of the article it even talks about how websites should be designed for the user in mind and not designed for the people making the site.  

2.  The most important points of the article are: making websites for the user, usability of websites and don't use a website exclusively if other marketing strategies are working too.  The article overall stresses the importance of putting the user first.  

3.  1) Website grabs the attention of the user without being too over-the-top

     2) Icons correctly labeled and easy to find

     3) Finds a way to bring users back again

     4) The order of the website is user friendly 

"Know it All"

1.  I think the authors main points are wikipedia is an innovative website that stands unique among other encyclopedias, wikipedia has a community of its own and wikipedia's unique innovation may lead to its own destruction.

2. "Wikipedia, which was launched in 2001, is now the seventeenth-most-popular site on the Internet, generating more traffic daily than MSNBC.com and the online versions of theTimes and the Wall Street Journal combined. The number of visitors has been doubling every four months; the site receives as many as fourteen thousand hits per second."  

The author defends his claim of Wikipedia's growth and does so with a staggering statistic.  The fact that Wikipedia receives 14,000 hits per second makes the reader sit back for a second in shock.

3.  In terms of Visceral Design, Wikipedia wins.  Wikipedia is the easy to use and edit site that has flash while Encyclopedia Britannica appears as the boring site that's made by boring nerds.  In terms of Behavioral Design, Encyclopedia Britannica serves better for the small array of topics they have while Wikipedia offers many more topics with less credibility.  Reflective Design goes to Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is the more popular site with more users, equipped with a "household name."