As we sat there observing people who come in to get a coffee and take away I thought back to Starbucks way of making money and how there branding is advertised through take away cups. The employees wear a green apron which separates them from the customers. The aprons give the employees a certain personality like they are undercover and have to put on an act on. The space in Starbucks was very confined, everyone sat really closely together which made some people feel self conscious and feel like an invasion of privacy. people mainly came in twos or on their own. People who came in twos were either couples or business people or just friends. Infront of us sat a woman and man who came and asked us if the space was free as there were no other spaces in the coffee shop. They were talking about business shown by there body movement. They made a lot of hand gestures and has sheets of paper with charts etc on it which made me think it was about work. We realised couples sat closer together which made there body language more intimate and private. Friends sat further apart and were more open as it was very casual and not as cautious about other people. People who st on their own tended to be more self conscious. They tended to fidget or do something to keep themselves occupied, They were more wary about people watching them and self conscious. There was this man who sat diagonally apart from us in the shop who stared at us a lot which made me think that he noticed we were observing people. He glanced over a lot looking uncomfortable with us looking around. Another example of someone who sat alone being more cautious with people around them was a woman who dropped a bottle and looked around to see who was looking at her. If this situation held 2 or more people the person who dropped the bottle wouldn't care who was looking as she would be more confident. The Starbucks we went to is situated inside a shopping center which gives you a sort of feeling of the people around you. Majority of the people in Starbucks were well dressed. They looked middle classed working people who shop in similar places as we do. Shops within Overgate shopping center. There were a couple of men who were in suits which look very business man. One had his laptop which means he could be making use of Starbucks free WiFi. This is another way attract customers. Starbucks is made very attractive with little things which people don't think about. It is very open made with full length windows which attract customers, as an invite for people to come in. As we were leaving we noticed a group 5 or 6 girls who sat in the corner of the coffee shop. They were unaware of their surroundings and sat in the corner to keep away from other people so they can have their own space.
After the observation part of the task we had a little discussion on all the points which were made. We put ourselves in other peoples positions and things which we all agreed on were that If we did the observation on our own we would've felt intimidated and self conscious. We felt as though we were invading peoples space and that we wouldn't have liked to have been watched especially in a place that was designed for relaxing. As I mentioned earlier we were also getting watched by people who were on their own which made us feel uneasy even though we were in a group. We noticed it more because we were deliberately watching but if we went in casually just for a cup of coffee I don't think we wouldn't have noticed it as much. A really good point which we said was that even though we were observing people, it doesn't actually tell you about the person or people you look at as you wouldn't know their lives. We all said we do little things when we are on our own such as Sarah playing with her fingers and I play on my phone which confirms our note that people keep themselves occupied when their on their own.
Sarah presenting the large windows
Me walking towards exit but shows the customers around the shop doing there own thing. sitting down, waiting for order.
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