RR03

I found how cultural differences must go in account to space design. Interior designers attempt to make it the most efficient with space limitations and cultural standards such as bath and overall room size such as the Japanese bathroom in comparison to the American. I especially found the work of smart cards to be interesting as 20 years ago it was cutting edge and less seen, but now is ubiquitous and one is even in my pocket at this moment. Lastly I found the standardization of companies especially services (food or hospitality) to be off putting but brilliant, as it creates a familiarity through basic standard rules in space design and architecture, no matter where you find yourself. Whether you're in Columbus or Tokyo, if you seen one Hilton Hotel or MacDonalds you've seen them all. I wasn’t very fond of the Visual Communication chapter, as it seemed to drone on about the different firms and their achievements, it was less about what they did. I did find that the church of latter day saints had a staff of over 60 V-C designers to be interesting, as they do a lot of genealogical work and missionary work, that I suppose call for extensive public support, and this acts as a type of advertisement. I did find in the Environment chapter, the part about Nike Town and how it was more of a research field rather than a store was fascinating. Though they do sell shoes there, it’s more about the release and reaction of prospective costumers which can go to keep their profit margins in the green from behind the scenes. Lastly, I’ve always been around IKEA’s but I never thought about the sheer genius of their stores’ design and way of doing business. With the build at home style they reduce their costs as well as the customers, but they have to, and succeed in, designing the furniture to be simply assembled by the layman. It is truly brilliant to allowing them to not only reduce all of their costs but also on an economic level build these products in Sweden helping their economy all the more.