[thelist] Re: is web design dead?

[Erika Meyer]

>And the layout of the store compares to the heuristics, how?

My point was that it is contains the components of a "typical" 
supermarket, yet the design (and content) are unique.

>But your objective as a supermarket is to increase sales, not to 
>make them Nice Places per se.

Sure.  And, assuming your primary motivating factor is profit, you 
can become a big box like Walmart, elbow your way into little towns, 
build superstores, make massive profits thru volume sales, thus 
undercutting and destroying all local competition.

It's the American Way (TM) and doesn't everyone want to be American?

>Because they don't have the sales volume? Or because customers get 
>through the tills faster with the same purchases?

There is a higher cashier-customer ratio.  I should point out that 
while this store attempts to make its pay and benefits competitive on 
a local scale, the wages are a bit lower than at a larger (unionized) 
chain.

>  >slightly more expensive
>
>Because they don't have the sales volume so need higher margins?

yes, smaller stores cannot save money on volume sales.  However, we 
have a lot of excellent locally-produced food products and a lot of 
nearby organic farms & I'm thrilled to pay a bit more to buy this 
stuff & avoid the genetically engineered BGH additive-filled food 
which is often the only option at larger supermarkets.

Wildberries also offers space for Farmer's Market weekly, in the 
parking lot.  Both venues draw customers for and from each other.

>  > Human beings still have hearts and we still have taste and
>  > design ain't dead and won't die until we turn into machines.
>
>But it still doesn't mean that clients will thank you for reducing 
>their income.

<blockquote>
The driving force of modern industrial civilization has been 
individual material gain, which is accepted as legitimate, even 
praiseworthy, on the grounds that private vices yield public 
benefits, in the classic formulation. Now it's long been understood, 
very well, that a society based on this principle will destroy 
itself, in time. It can only persist with what ever suffering and 
injustice it entails, as long as it is possible to pretend that the 
destructive forces that humans create are limited, that the world is 
an infinite resource, and that the world is an infinite garbage can.

At this stage in history either one of two things is possible, either 
the general population will take control of its own destiny and will 
concern itself with community interests, guided by values of 
solidarity and sympathy and concern with others, or alternatively 
there will be no destiny for anyone to control.
</blockquote>

  --Noam Chomsky  (from speech given at end of film: Manufacturing 
Consent (Canadian Film Board).
http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/


(I guess I owe a tip or 2.)

Erika

erika at seastorm.com
http://www.seastorm.com