What Main Street Can Learn From The Mall

Robert Gibbs closely compares Main Street with large shopping and strip center malls. He believes that the downtown areas should take into consideration the entire appearance of the downtown, not just the stores themselves. Gibbs main criteria is as follows:

1. Stores should be on the righthand side whereas coffee shops and cafes should be on the left. This matches with the flow of traffic.
2. Downtown should be comfortable--sidewalks and roadways should be maintained, rest areas should not invite loitering, and police/security should be present to provide reassurance.
3. Storefronts need to appeal to both the walking shopper as well as those driving through the downtown.
4. Should have around 20,000sf of retail space to make the trip worthwhile to shoppers. Also, should contain well known stores as well as one-of-a-kind stores; shoppers like a good mix.
5. Traffic should be slowed down in a downtown area so drivers cannot fly through, this gives drivers more time to look at store displays.
6. Main Street should not be too fancy, attractive sidewalks and other features distract shoppers from what is important, the stores.
7. Display name brands that are sold at stores; this makes the downtown more attractive.
   

I do not think that "Main Street" should be a mall; however, I do believe that it should resemble one. Downtown areas need to have slower traffic and similar displays to that of a mall to attract shoppers and invite them into the stores. Also, downtown areas need to have a lot of retail space along with well known and rare stores.

If I were to judge a Main Street, my checklist would be similar to that of Gibbs. Some things that would be important to me are:

1. Good variety of stores, both name brand and one-of-a-kind.
2. Clean walking area and inviting storefronts.
3. High traffic area with slow automobile traffic.
4. Comfortable shopping area as described above.
   

Retail Analysis

1. I observed the Abercrombie & Fitch store. They market to upper-middle class teens from the ages 13-18.
2. a. From the outside, the store looks very inviting. There are numerous manikins on display in the windows displaying all the latest fashions and designs. The entrance is very large and allows users to go right or left upon entering; right being male and left being female.
   b. The store plays very loud music, mostly techno and some electropop.
   c. The are various displays of merchandise, from clothing racks to tables with assorted clothes. They have a large amount of clothes on display and for sale, giving the customer a lot of choices.
   d. The floor is carpet.
   e. There are signs all over the store informing shoppers about current sales and directing them to the cashier area. These signs are blue with a white outline and white text, the stores colors.
   f. The cashier area is located at the back of the store, forcing potential buyers to make their way through the entire store.
3. The business tries to reflect a very trendy, cool image. Their loud techno music and overpowering smell of perfume and cologne along with their vintage clothing style show this. Also, they have pictures of half naked men and women plastered all over their walls, displaying their clothing.
   
4. Many customers enjoyed the design of the store; however, some were overtaken by the smell and loud music. The customers were typically young teens, some with their parents, most with their friends.
5. I found it interesting that they have sectioned off the store, one side for male, the other for female. However, in the middle of the store, they have mixed in male and female items so that the customer must explore more of the store. I was also intrested to see that they put the cashier area in the back of the store, along with the dressing rooms, so that the customer must travel to the very back of the store to make a purchase or try on some clothes.
   

The Science of Shopping

The most important points in this article were the Invariant Right, the Decompression Zone, typing, and "point of view." The Invariant Right says that shoppers almost always turn right when entering a store; therefore, the retailer should put its most attractive products to the right of the entrance. Also, this goes with Underhill's idea that stores should always be on the right-hand side because shoppers tend to walk on the right-hand side. The Decompression Zone is the area outside of the store where the shopper must "decompress" or notice a product that they like, slow down from walking speed to shopping speed, and enter the store. Typing is what retailers use to describe their potential shoppers by putting them into categories and subcategories. They use typing to describe what the people in these areas like to do. The "point of view" of a store is how the shopper feels when they enter. The store should not feel like a store; instead, it should be an experience. For example, the Kelvin Klien store's display is simmilar to that of an art gallery, giving the shopper a more personal experience.

Personally, when I enter a store for the first time, the design and the items on display in the windows usually attract me to the store. If I like the atmosphere of the store, I am more likely to buy a product from that store because I feel comfortable there. Also, the products themselves play a big role in what I buy. If I like the products and the design of the store, I am way more likely to buy a product than if I only liked the product.

My checklist to analyze a retail store is as follows:
1. Is the store on the right?
2. Is there good products in the store?
3. Are the most attractive products in the front?
4. Are the necessary products in the back?
5. How does the store make you feel?

Isn't It Iconic / The Power Of The Box

Packaging is very important in marketing a product; however, the product itself is also important. Consumers will a buy a product because its package is viscerally appealing but if the product inside the package doesn't serve its purpose, they will not buy that product again. Packaging is a very important aspect of "impulse purchases" because people buy a product because of the way it is packaged. Furthermore, packaging is important for prestigious name brands such as Coca-Cola because people can easily identify with the package.

Other products that have iconic packaging are Pepsi, Pringles, and Downy.

Usability can be an issue when it comes to packaging. Some packages only serve a visceral purpose and other packages are not durable enough. Also, some packages are awkward in shape or size, making them difficult to transport and store. An example of a usable package would be anything that is resealable so you can store the product in there even after the package has been opened.

Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

This reading states, numerous times, that the design of websites should always be user-focused. This is because you are making your website for the user, not for yourself. The author goes on to discuss that everything should be very easy to read and navigate, and that the designer should consider the user in every aspect of their design.

I feel that the point about navigation was very important because when a website is hard to navigate, I often get flustered at how confusing it is to get from one web page to another. I also thought that the author's point on color schemes was important because many websites are very hard to read when they use two colors that do not contrast well, one for text and the other as the background.

If I were to create a list of important design factors for a web page, it would look similar to the following:

1. Color Scheme
2. Simple Navigation
3. User-friendly
4. Flash/Non-Flash
5. Style
6. Layout
7. Content
   

Know It All

The author stresses the accuracy of Wikipedia compared to that of Encyclopedia Britannica. It is very important for an encyclopedia to be accurate since it is very commonly used for research and other practices that rely on accuracy. Schiff also explains that Wikipedia is constantly being edited and many topics are subject to point of view and vandalism. The author also questions the credibility of various topics as they can be edited numerous times before the day is over by anyone from a Ph.D professor to a fifteen year old.

"Part of the problem is provenance. The bulk of Wikipedia’s content originates not in the stacks but on the Web, which offers up everything from breaking news, spin, and gossip to proof that the moon landings never took place. Glaring errors jostle quiet omissions. Wales, in his public speeches, cites the Google test: “If it isn’t on Google, it doesn’t exist.” This position poses another difficulty: on Wikipedia, the present takes precedent over the past. The (generally good) entry on St. Augustine is shorter than the one on Britney Spears."

I believe that this passage illustrates the effectiveness of supporting detail because it complains about the numerous sources on the internet that are based on the authors opinion and not on factual evidence. Therefore, as it points out, the article on Britney Spears is longer than that of the one on St. Augustine.

The design of Wikipedia is very nice and easy to use. The user can simply input the topic they are looking for into the search bar and it will provide the user with information pertaining to their topic and related searches if nothing is found. It is very easy to understand and use, and it has no limit to its size. Encyclopedia Britannica can be very confusing to use and very hard to find information on something without having to look up something else that is related. I prefer the layout of Wikipedia to that of Encyclopedia Britannica because it is easy to use and it can be easily updated.

Simple or Complex?

When it comes to Visceral Design, I believe that simplicity is very important. When a product is simple, it is usually more attractive to the eye because the designer focused more on the actual design of the product than all of the features that it has. For behavioral design, I believe that a product can be either complex or simple, depending on what type of product it is. For example, someone might buy a product because it can do a lot of things making it complex, or they might buy a product because it does a specific thing very well. Reflexive design, in my opinion, tends to be simple, but it can also be complex as well. Most items that are reflexive are so because they carry a level of prestige; however, an item can also be reflexive because the consumer has mastered this complex product.

"I bought a digital camera with much more options than I needed or would ever use. Some of them I don’t even really know what they mean. However it is fairly simple to just take a ‘normal’ picture. I wanted to be able to do all sorts of fancy photography, just in case." -Liz

"Sometimes complex things can be more more desirable. One thing that comes to my mind is my friend's microwave. It is a really cool microwave that can do all of these different options. It has a toaster on it plus all of these really fancy buttons. The first time I tried to use the machine I could not even get it started. Once i figured it out i learned how to use the basic toaster and the microwave features but not much else. I still would like to get that microwave but not anytime soon." -Andy

I chose the above excerpts from Liz and Andy's blogs because I found them very interesting and although they describe two completely different products, the ideas are still the same. Liz purchased a digital camera because it was very complex and she wanted to do "all sorts of fancy photography." Andy, however, discusses his friend's microwave toaster with numerous functions that when he first tried to operate it he failed to even get it started. Both of these posts describe the desirability of complexity with added function.

Wikipedia Proposal

Edit: I have changed my Wikipedia topic from Computer Science at Kalamazoo College to Alice (software).

My Wikipedia topic is going to be Alice (software). This software is used to make computer programming more visual and hands on. I have decided to do this because there will be a good number of sources I can pull information from and because we are currently using it in our computer science class (COMP105).

The current Wikipedia stub can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(software).

Simplicity is Highly Overrated

When I bought my phone, complexity made it much more desirable for me. I chose the phone that I have now because of all the features that it has. Even though I do not use all of the features, I bought the phone because I have the option to use them.

Complexity is justified when extra features are included. Many products include extra feature which make the product more complex but also more desirable by many consumers because of the idea that it does "more." Simplicity is most important when it makes a product easy to use and when the product doesn't have the need for complexity and extra features.

The designers of the iPod revolutionized natural mapping by the use of the wheel to scroll through the menu; turning the wheel clockwise scrolls down and turning the wheel counterclockwise scrolls up . In addition, the iPod also has properly labeled buttons to play, pause and switch songs. The iPod also features a simple hold switch at the top of the system.

I found this post by Kenny very interesting because I also thought that the wheel make the iPod truly innovative. Also, the layout is very simple and makes even a product as complex as the iPod easy to use.