The legendary Rob Cockerham looks at the Point of Sale Trail in Fry’s Electronics, Sacramento. Shoppers queuing for the checkouts are routed through a maze of aisles densely packed with impulse products: “At any point in the line, approximately 280 different products are within view, and 38 are within reach.” Pule.
Sara Cantor discusses techniques for encouraging/persuading/forcing people to wash their hands after using the toilet, from polite reminders to ‘social influencing’ (sinks in full view of a restaurant, for example). Very interesting post and comments.
Russell Davies notes the “embedded assumptions” in the design of some task-specific stationery: “You can be as forward thinking and media-neutral as you like but you can’t fight the assumptions you’ve built into the fabric of things.” (Thanks to David Bausola for sending me this!)