Part three
A brief annotation on this mapping of the Spectrum: This final map came to life through my original observations, my general mapping of each individual force, the wonderful feedback from my classmates, and some extra research into the world of the Irvine Spectrum Center. With the discussion and comments on my post, I found that while I had identified some prominent forces at this outdoor mall, there were deeper intricacies that could be uncovered with a little more research. Therefore, I chose to categorize the commerce by level of expense, I distinguished between the larger informational kiosks at the entrances of the Spectrum versus the smaller kiosks that served more as just navigational aids. Finally, I expanded my perception of the all the kids and child-friendly activities available to include that the Spectrum is really just overall a family-friendly environment; this is supported by the fact that a lot of the available seating frames that child play areas, giving parents and guardians a comfortable area from which to look over their children. Inspired by this insight, I grouped both my seating and kids play forces under the Family Friendly category. I also noticed that while the shops are pretty well spread out in terms of how expensive they are, the main area of the Spectrum where they have the characteristic ferris wheel has the larger and more expensive stores beckoning shoppers to enter their doors
Part two
Part one
Commerce : The range of stores and restaurants found at the Irvine Spectrum Center affect the environment because they suggest that regular shoppers may have a certain level of income in order to be shopping at may of the stores found. Also, it was interesting to see how what the people who entered the stores were wearing while shopping reflected the sort of items typical of the store they entered.
Window Displays: The store fronts had the affect of either making people stop to look at what was shown on the mannequins, or even go so far as to entice them to enter the store. Every corridor was lined with tall windows so everyone could easily look inside and see what that store had to offer.
Kiosks: Getting around the Irvine Spectrum Center could be a little confusing, so many people tended to stop at the informational kiosk to pick up a map or stare at the full listing available stores and restaurants on the kiosk. I thought it was efficient how the kiosks had both the detailed information around eye level, but at the top had arrows pointing towards the upcoming stores. 
Seating: Essentially everywhere you walk around the Spectrum, there is available seating. Groups of chairs out like these in the picture below, or tables, or even just benches scattered around. People would congregate here, take a quick break from their shopping, etc.
Kid Friendly: I was a little surprised with the amount of children there were around, and I realized that the Spectrum is a sort of haven for the children who visit it. There are so many areas to play, everything from the giant ferris wheel in the center, the carousel shown to the right, and even the misty water fountains located throughout the . So many children laughed and squealed with the fun they had, waiting for the mist to turn on again and excitedly getting their parent’s attention.
Hi Liliana,
Exercise 3.1.1
As I read your map, I see families shopping, eating and playing together at the spectrum. I notice three things working together; the moderate price point commerce being really the majority of the experience, surrounded by kids areas with what appears to be more than adequate seating. This leads me to believe this is meant to be a family friendly experience targeted at the middle class families with children and the environment is designed to accommodate relaxing and not just commerce.
I also wonder about the forces of the expensive and inexpensive and their impacts on the environment; do they impact perception or does the environment of mostly moderate commerce cause them to struggle or thrive?
Hey Liliana,
I think the observation that I found the most interesting was the perception that regular shoppers must have a certain level of income based on the high-end nature of the stores. I thought that could be mapped in a creative way. You could do some additional observing and map where the high end stores are vs the low end stores. It would be interesting to see if the stores are interspersed among each other or if they are somewhat segregated. If they are segregated, it would be interesting to see how your other forces are affected based on the nature of stores (for instance, is there more seating by the low end stores?). Just some food for thought! Otherwise I agree with the other comments – love the minimalist design, the color choices, and the fact that you illustrated your forces using different techniques! Excited to see the direction you take with your final map!
Hi Joseph!
Thanks for your comment! Yeah, I think I am going to make some sort of distinction between the different stores found so that will be very cool to see!
Hey Liliana! When I look at your forces, I see a story about people, how they are dressed, how they discover and search for their identity elements, as embodied in the shops they visit. I just wanted to share that.
I also was a little confused by “store directory” because I thought that was the same as kyosk. I also was a little confused by “store fronts” because I think what you described sounded a bit more like “store window displays”. That might be splitting hairs but it did catch my attention.
Look forward to seeing your next step!
Along the same lines as Tara, I was a bit confused by directory. I think you’re using the term to describe the range/different types of stores offered. In your mapping, I’m not sure how that translates to the purple layer, since this seems to indicate a single type of store.
Overall, I like the minimalist design and direction you are going with your maps, as it allows the color to really pop on what you are focusing on. If I’m understanding it correctly, store fronts are the actual entrances to stores, and your map for this uses lines showing the front area of the stores. I liked how for seating you used individual dots to represent the seating areas. This distinction helped me understand what you were representing.
For kiosks, I’m curious if the layers of yellow represent more than one kiosk, and why you made the design decision to have a sort of blop of color instead of a precise dot, like you have with seating. Also, does each dot for the seating represent a single seat?
Going through your mappings helped me realize the ambiguity in some of my mappings. I use arrows to point to specific types of forces, but there is no degree of the force. Each arrow is weighted equally. So, this doesn’t tell the full story. In your case, you use different weights, but without a legend, it’s hard to understand what the different weights mean.
Hi Joseph,
Thanks so much for your feedback! Yeah, I think my wording was just confusing – definitely something I am going to revisit asap! And actually that is true, I didn’t realize that having it all purple would make it look like one type of store, it would be interesting to give some sort of key to categorize the different stores found there, I will dedicate some time to address this for sure.
Thank you! I did want to make sure there was good contrast between the base map and each of the five forces.
So, I think that what I was doing with the kiosks, layering the color like that, was mostly to make it pop against the gray background since it is a lighter color than the others, but I think what I could do is actually show this layered type of ‘blop’ for the kiosks around the perimeter that number the entrances, and have a single dot for the kiosks throughout the Spectrum that just give general information. For the seating, there is just a ton of seating throughout, so the dots more represent that the seating is scattered at different points.
Haha you helped me realize the ambiguity in my maps as well! So definitely, I need to add legends to give some more explanation about what is shown and find better ways to show the different layers within each individual force as well. I hope to take a look at yours soon too!
Hi Tara, thanks for sharing, I actually really love that interpretation!
Oh okay, I see. I think what is confusing is my wording – what I meant by “Store Directory” is just the different stores that are found at the Irvine Spectrum, but it totally makes sense why that would be confused with the kiosks (since the kiosks display the store directory)! That is why on the map, I basically highlighted all of the buildings because they are the actual stores at the spectrum. Though, there are restaurants highlighted too, now that I think about it – I should probably double check that and remove the purple where there are restaurants and not stores.
And again, “Store Fronts” would be clearer being changed to “Window Displays” because that is closer to what I meant. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention!