Video Retail Research

Over the past couple of weeks I have spent time researching the local video rental retail industry; this would include Video Gallery, Blockbuster Video, Video Warehouse, and Hastings. I happened to grab some photos of the stores overall, as well as up close pictures of the different types of display materials. I also interviewed employees with an in-depth survey.
In general there were some consensus issues with the four retail competitors. One of which was placement; at what level the rental was placed in regards to eye level. Another concern was how well the display actually displayed the product. Ease of cleaning the display was also a major concern with retailers. I'm currently in the process of taking this information and developing some innovative solutions.

Constructing my Spectar Sky Sculpture......

Overall, I haven't had any problems working with the spectar in creating my sky sculpture. A couple of the issues that I did have with it was that when I used a heat gun to heat up smaller sections on my sculpture, the pattern on the gloves that I was using was sticking to the spectar and also the blue fabric from the gloves was sticking onto it as well. This made it difficult to keep clean and continue forming my sculpture. Also on a couple strips of plastic that I heated up, they got way too hot and were like pieces of spaghetti when I tried to form them. the plastic stretched too much and therefore I was not able to use a couple of the pieces on my sky sculpture.

Working with Spectar Material

My plan as I worked with the material to create my light sculpture was to vacuum for these stacked cyclinder shapes and cut it how I wanted. Just putting them on top of each other didnt work so I tried taping them together. That made the plastic push out where the air couldnt escape to I used less tape leaving air holes so that the air could be pulled through. Third time was a charm... After that I cut pieces from the models that didnt work out so well and sanded to make my light sculpture.

Fresh Squeezed Spectar

During my early research at the local super-market, I found quite a few opportunities for spectar in the produce section. After talking to Chip, who works in the produce section, I was introduced to a few problems that he had with the existing fruit baskets. He has also brought to my attention issues with organization of the vegetables and displaying prices. I plan to investigate more innovative solutions to keep the produce fresh for longer periods of time.

Research with retail grocery stores

My research for the eastman project is in the area of grocery markets. I have narrowed my observation down to self check out regesters and how to improve the area around it. My partner and me interviewed the assistant customer service manager Betty Ward who gave me very good information on the problems and complications with the self checkout. She explained that the main problem was space. This is first self checkout that I found that had displays incorporated with it. More could be placed at the top of the regesters with better use of space and placement displays could be placed around the counter area.

My first visit was to Win-Dixie, I focused on the shelves and the self check out stands. One of the first things I noticed was the how crowed all the shelves were, it was a massive information overload. In the self check out area I also noticed there was a good bit of unused overhead space that could be used for add space. There are also many uses for spectar in specialty displays. The flexibility of spectar in terms of use ,leaves this fairly open.

Retail Research

Brunos was the start of my research. I have shopped in this place over ten times, so I know the layout pretty well. Just because I know the layout of the place does not mean I know where everything is. First I just walked through the store and noticed all of the different uses that this product already has, after all, Spectar has been around for about 10 years now. On this first trip to the supermarket I just wanted to get an idea of different areas in the store I could focus on: Self Check out, the grocery cart, cleaning supplies, P.O.S.. Those were my areas of interest.