From Photos to Real Stores: Context squared

Abstract

Retail design is design discipline in which designers focus on translating retail and brand values to a spatial program with the consumer in mind. For retail design research, the element of ‘context’ has received quite a different meaning during the last decade. Especially in the case of experimental research aimed at getting more insight in the effects of different store design aspects (e.g., ambient scents, color palette, shapes), there has been an increased appreciation for a ‘designer’s perspective’ (e.g. Cross; 2006) . To illustrate this perspective, we describe a sequence of five related experimental studies on the topic of lighting in supermarkets, in which we gradually shift from the more traditional research approaches to this ‘designerly’ perspective. Comparing the outcomes of these experiments provides an insight into some of the limits and possibilities employing different contexts and emphasizes the potential and the importance of the designerly perspective in future research.