art challenge!

Every week over a the HAMB board the art dudes show their stuff on the Friday art show and it gave me this idea to have a little contest.. these guys know custom cars, so what if I presented them with a stock car and told them they could do whatever that wanted? This is what happened.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Miracle Mile????

Wow, where do I start. On my recent trip to Chicago, I spent an afternoon walking Michigan Avenue to find inspiration in the "flagship" stores. Usually they are cutting edge, ground-breaking experements in retail design. I was so dissapointed that I HAVE to critique a few of the worst.

First, I toured the new Garmin store. Here in KC, it was touted in the newspaper as great achievement for this local company. What an utter and complete waste of money! It was plain, empty, cold, and worst of all - zero signage. I couldn't tell what it was about even by walking through the store. They may as well have been displaying produce or duct tape for all I could determine.

Table after table of small objects attached to tiny easels all in rows. Nothing stood out. No color, no graphics, no environment. The first floor reminded me of a jewelry store, and the upstairs was more like the birthing ward at the hospital. Even the hospital has way-finding and environmental signage!

OK, enough about Garmin. Now I visited Apple. I realized where Garmin got the design for their store, only they didn't execute it as well as Apple. Which, again, is not saying all that much. The Apple store had some interesting graphic elements on the walls, but they also failed at the product level. Just table after table of computers with tiny signs, and nothing to differentiate the product lines. I did really like the skylight and Apple window. They added light and a hi-tech feel without being cold. Over-all it was OK, but shopping product was a major challenge. At least I knew where I was, and what the general product lines are.

I don't know if it's an economic issue, or if I hit it at the wrong time, but I just did not see any "WOW" stores. I guess I need a trip to NY - assuming they still value great design in their flagship stores. What a waste of time Michigan Avenue was!