Consumer mind control

I think the most telling sentence of the entire article was to the effect of, "retailers aren't controlling consumers so much as catering to them." I think that nearly everything else in the article needs to be taken in the context of this idea. The decompression zone and the Invariant Right mean little to nothing if you believe that they are magical, they simply give you the beginnings of a list of things to not do as you design a store, not one thing in the article (except possibly the belt scene) is a guaranteed sell, and I think that's the point, design is about making the process more efficient and more enjoyable, not selling widgets.

I think it would be naivety to say that anybody is unaffected by a store's design, because for the most part, you aren't supposed to notice the design, save for a feeling that you associate inexplicably with the store. At the same time though, I feel that retail design isn't an end so much as a means, coaxing you into picking up the sweater is a far cry from making you buy it.

I think that I will unavoidably now notice the decompression area and the Invariant Right display, as they are so simple, but without the odd feeling of forced action that a cash register in the back of the store brings. The idea and feeling of stores attempting to force an atmosphere has always felt funny to me, and this is only going to make that worse I will be glad to return to my Ski Shop, where the atmosphere has 90% to do with the personnel, and the other 10% is just an almost juveniley designed layout; whenever I ask my boss (the owner of the store) why anything is the way it is, the answer is almost always simply "because it is," or "because we like it that way," or "just because we thought it was cool." What this un-design, aside from basic aesthetics does is put the focus back on the employees, because that is why you are in the shop. Every single thing in our store is available somewhere else, and probably cheaper, the personnel, however are not, and that is really the point now that I think about it.