By Claire Greene, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Apr. 8, 2024
At a living history museum in Massachusetts, you can visit a bank built in 1835. That bank has sturdy fluted pillars, a design element that has wordlessly spelled out “bank,” “security,” and “safety” for at least 200 years. A 19th-century bank building in my hometown, now a shoe store, has not only the pillars but also an imposing pediment.
I’ve blogged about trust as an amorphous concept, driven by feeling and past experiences—nothing you can see, smell, or hold on to. Trust also can be firmly grounded in design decisions and the physical world, as a recent report from the Filene Research Institute and UCI Community Credit [coauthored by Bill Maurer, IMTFI Director and anthropologist, and Melissa Wrapp, ’21 anthropology Ph.D.] points out.
“Aesthetics matter for trust,” the report states. “The basis for a trusting relationship is built, or broken, from the moment a person begins interacting with a financial institution.” That could mean the experience of walking across a parking lot, glancing through a window, or examining the attire of staff members. Even in the digital age, real experiences remain important.
For the full story, please visit https://www.atlantafed.org/blogs/take-on-payments/2024/04/08/trust-and-design-of-bank-branches?utm_medium=email&utm_source=mailchimp&utm_campaign=take-on-payments.
Image credit: From The New York Public Library, “Branch Bank of U. S. erected 1825 – front 75 feet.” https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-7b8c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99