Week 6: Site Specific | Irvine Spectrum night before the Midterms

          I decided to take this evening to observe & explore lighting in a themed/designed venue by paying a visit to Irvine Spectrum. Overall, I feel the designers tried to cultivate an environment where people would want to gather, spend time, and hopefully spend money. This is evident through the various restaurant options, public spaces, rides, and shops a plenty.

Though it may not have been evident through the lack of people around, I find they accomplished this goal based on past experiences spending time at the Spectrum, when it's extremely difficult to snag a parking spot and the center is filled with consumers. Even for a Monday night, the parking lot was surprisingly full. 

Shop 1 || Active

 

The overall theme for this store is all things relating to the skateboard lifestyle. This was determined by the huge picture of the skateboarder as well as what I was able to see through the clear glass walls in the entry way. The store sign "active" also lends itself to the idea of something pertaining to an active lifestyle. I felt the combination of all these elements at the store front clearly connected with what is sold within the store. Not only does the picture of the skateboarder clue the future customer in to the idea that this is probably a skateboarding lifestyle store, but the clear walls at the entry way provide the customer to see at-a-glance what exactly a skateboarding lifestyle entails, and if that is something they would be interested in. Another aesthetic component that I feel catches the customer's eye is the red light in contrast to the yellow-ish background.

Shop 2 || Spaces 

The overall theme for this store is the virtual reality experience. This was determined mainly by the three signs in the display windows and walking into the store to understand more. The main store sign is unlit and has a logo of a geometric figure above the word "Spaces," and there are three signs lit in the display windows related to the virtual reality experience. The design elements making up this storefront initially confused me; I was not quite sure what was being sold, but this could also be due to my unfamiliarity with the world of virtual reality. The signs lit within the display windows are eye-catching, however I am unsure how effectively they depict what is being sold. I felt a video possibly could be more impactful. I was drawn to the main sign word "Spaces," being a dancer, but feel the word might be a bit abstract for a typical consumer walking by. Another confusing design choice was the lit signs within the display windows coupled with the unlit main sign logo. Maybe the main store sign lights were broken, but without the continuity of light, my eyes were confused and were more drawn to the blue light inside. But, maybe that was the point? After all, I did end up going inside the store to inquire more.

Overall, I felt this store design did not work as well as Active's because it lacks clarity of intention and attention, if we are speaking of design and direct connection to the selling of a product. If the intention was to get the customer curious by providing ambiguity, then I may reconsider this conclusion. A possible influence on the design choices of the store front could be the particular physical obstacles that the store is occupying. Having a pillar in the middle of the entrance divides the entry way in two, splitting the customer's attention. In addition, the pillar gives a closed off feel to the store, and makes a customer feel less welcome than one clear main open entry way. I suppose those who are more familiar with the virtual reality world would know a VR store when they saw one, and possibly do not think about design of the store, but being an outsider to that world and a customer who enjoys aesthetics within functional design, I was left pretty confused and uninterested to learn more.