1. Observation Lab /// Oct.25_journey
#Varuzhan S. at Blekinge Institue of Technology /master of
strategic leadership towards sustainability
Location: Karlkrona Sweden
store1: Glitter
The carpet on the floor is pink. It is in the center with a lady's poster above it
( who has an expression on her face that fluctuates between fear,
amazement and excitement ) not so inviting. Having observed how women
walk in the store- nobody looked at the picture. Perhaps a warmer look on
the face might be more welcoming.
By not having doors - the store creates an impression of an open space that
is inviting. By not having to open a door and enter it partially removes the
anxiety and uneasiness to walk out without buying.
The lettering of the store name design doesn't speak emotionally to me as to
what products they sell.
In the store, if they take away the pink from the floor, darkness will dominate this store because there is too much black on the walls and
floor, the background on which the jewelry pieces are hanging. The mirrors are hanging from the ceiling, except for one little stripe that
allows you to see yourself squeezed in it. Suggestion: what if you had the mirrors installed behind the artifacts and different color lenses
would be attached to them. So you would have colored mirror tiles / of very big and small sizes/ comprising the background. And this way
the viewer inexplicably engages into applying these products onto herself. This becomes even more possible when we eliminate the
clustering of products on hangers. the necklaces of the same kind clustered in a bunch on one hanger and another one just like it next to it
create a wall of stuff that are hanging. What does this tell us..what inherently wrong asumptions are made here? those are: quantity and
imagination. Quantity : it is assumed that as if having many of the same object packed up next to each other create an effect that speaks to
needs of the buyer in the context of the shop. The quantity abundance perhaps solves the issue of availability in case of many people
wanting to buy it at the same time. But it is irrelevant to the context of a shop that doesn't operate with the supermarket format- that is -not
so many people buying at the same time. Then why occupy the space with the products themselves, when there is no logical or economical
connection between more products and more sales. This raises the question of how should space be used: and the answer is simple:
whatever way that contribute directly or indirectly to people's desire to spend money in this space. So this question transcends the
experience of selling stuff /items into creating space where people spend money. This
then is something completely different. It brings in nuances of space and experience,
relationship to the space.
Store 2: Dressman
Space is used so that it is hard to walk between stands and creates pressure.
How can space be designed for better experience ? Better meaning: inviting,
giving you ideas, triggering imagination, speaking to multiple senses.
5 minutes after I stood there with my iPad the salesman came.
That was enough time for me. I said I am good he left me alone.
Then I decided not to be framed by the given questions for the
assignment alone and initiated contact with the salesman.
I spoke with Markus at Dressman about how they make decisions
about designing their space. Markus told me that he jams clothes
on a hanger because he wants all the sizes to be available to the
customer. And that started to make a lot of sense even though it
still didn't look good. Before that he had told me that a decorator make space
woman comes once a month and gives them advice about decoration. i got to move !
He said that she advices them to put less clothes and make it look it's not a junkyard
nicer but he still does what he thinks is good, because be wants to sell don't pile up stuff
more and not to make it look good. This is literally what he said and while

2. he was speaking an idea blinked in my head "what an illusion" but then
after he told me about the sizes and their availability I realized that he
is actually trying to solve a problem, not that the decision to jam clothes
on a hanger is arbitrary but it is there to fulfill a need, solve a problem.
Then it became apparent that the art woman and the salesman being
both true at the same time had to find a solution that addressed both
in a direct or an indirect way. Something very important about salesmen
is that they are both the best experts of frontline experience as well as
the fact that they tend to get desensitized to their context ( like the person
to his house smell ) and it become extremely difficult for them to see things
differently and therefore see opportunities in the things they are used to.
Store3: Kicks. Parfumerie
Great smells . No wonder
Easy to access shelves
Backgrounds are lit and have a nice glossy color glass..very nice
#### perhaps it is interesting that even though all the different shops sell
different things - satisfying different needs - but they set up their stores in
similar ways - couple of stands here and there displaying products on
them. Off course the shelves are different with different designs and
coloring as well as shapes- yet they are still shapes and they activate only
the part of our asthetic apparatus for abstract color and shape liking / no
story, no emotion, identification ( ad banners with models work for this
when they actually are done well).
I spoke to the employee and asked her the question about how she would
rate on a scale of 1 to 10 the communication between herself and the
management. And she gave it 5. She mentioned that the customers were
not involved in any feedback loops. Apparently customers have no
leverage points on their own experience design. That is to say if we
agreed that the goal that leads to better sales of any business is
experience design - then what does the fact that customers that have no
influence in that experience dsesign tell us? and what if we said that
experience design is not even perceived by the business as such. People
a still selling stuff !
Store 4:
Stjärn. Ur &Guld
great use space for a little bit of a space.
Was addressed by a smiling attendant without a hint toward can I help u
This felt very good. It was like - you are welcome.
It turned out to be the owner and I spoke to the him. He

3. mentioned couple of strategic decisions he made to make his shop more
attractive and accessible.
1. They put cheaper furniture in the shop to not scare people off when
they decide to enter the shop or not. # this opens up the question of
identification: identity affects the choice and is affected by the choice.
What we choose reflects who we are or who we want to be ( fear and
other barriers will affects this).
2. they chose to create a round shape with the furniture so the store didn't
look like a box with the traditional square corners.

4. Hemtex
z
x
Then I walked into Hemtex and came
across a great idea – in one of their
store sections they had these pillows
that had a sign next to them about the
artist that makes them. This was a great
plus that made me click to the store. So
even if the store gave an error on the
other parameters discussed above this
would have made me click, because it
spoke to my values and established
communication.