Shoes and Desks

This week’s blog was by far my favorite. We were assigned the task of sending a text messages to friends in order to receive two random inanimate object/thing words. We sent the message because we weren’t supposed to pick the words on our own. Once we received the words we were supposed to “mind dump” and just write everything we could about the words individually. Next, we had to think of as many combinations, using the two words, as possible.

First Word: DESK

When thinking about desks, several things come to mind. First, desks can be made from different things such as wood or metal. You can also use them for various reasons. You can complete your work at a desk. You can sleep at your desk. It can be a furniture piece for decoration in a room. You can use it to hoard things inside or place things on. You can stand on it to fix something on the ceiling. It can be a symbol of power. The bigger the desk is the better. Desks in school always have nasty things under them. I had friends that looked silly sitting in them because the desks were too small. I never had enough space to feel comfortable sitting in them during high school. I wasn’t able to lay all my assignments out to get a visualization of everything I needed to complete. Things you can use instead of a desk could be tables, dressers, or countertops. I can honestly say that I have never carved any message onto a desk. Some of my worst encounters with desks involved bubblegum on the seat.

Second Word: SHOE

Shoes are an obsession of mine. I probably own over sixty pairs. Despite how many pairs I own, I’m actually very picky. You can use them to express yourself. You can throw them at people if you’re mad (I have never done this I promise J). You can use them to squash a bug. I once saw a shoe used as a replacement for a hammer. There are so many types of shoes: heels, tennis, flats, boots, and flip-flops. You need them to get into restaurants. You can use them to get better grip, which can be used in construction work or competitive athletics. When worn inappropriately, you can mess up your feet. Sometimes they can smell really bad. The Pope wears red Prada shoes. My favorite pair of shoes growing up had lights that blinked when I stepped. They were so cool until they stopped blinking. Shoes are actually very important because they protect your feet from injury. It’s hard for me to imagine that there are people in this world that don’t own a pair and probably need them more due to harmful surfaces.

            It’s really difficult for me to think about ways to combine them, but here goes nothing.

·      You can use a desk to display a shoe.

·      You can store a shoe inside a desk.

·      You can place a shoe under the leg of a desk to make it a more even surface.

·      You can make shoes for a desk. They have legs after all.

·      You can carve a desk into a pair of wooden clogs.

·      You can use a shoe to fix a desk. More specifically, a loose nail on the desk.

·      If the desk is small enough to find in a Polly Pocket then you can transport the desk in a shoe

·      You can make a desk from a bunch of shoes.

·      You can decorate a desk with shoes (why not? We decorate with stockings for Christmas.)

·      You can make shoes modeled after a desk (Maybe Lady Gaga would wear them.)

·      You can make a desk modeled after a shoe (I know they make chairs like that already.)

I know creating shoes for a desk sounds silly, but some people might actually enjoy the humor. I personally wouldn’t buy shoes for my desk, but I would very much be entertained if I saw them, and some people out there seek to entertain. The other idea that I felt could be tweaked was the concept of storing shoes inside a desk. I know women do it already or they simply leave their shoes under their desk. They do this when they’ve brought two pairs of shoes to work and their feet hurt. Why hasn’t a desk been made with a small shoe shelf? I would definitely buy that! If there’s anything that bothers a woman more than her shoes hurting it’s people knowing that her shoes hurt. I think a small shelf to store shoes discretely would be great.

Illusions, Magic and Purses

             On a recent trip to Vegas, my mother took me to the Louis Vuitton store in Caesar’s Palace. Needless to say, I loved it. The lighting made everything look so beautiful and exclusive. The bags sat on their own piece of personal wooden shelf, which made all of them look more like art pieces than purses. The sales associate made me feel like no one else existed. It took me a while, but I finally made my decision. I chose the Sistina PM with Damier Ebene Canvas.  It was the perfect size and it had a gold buckle that was to die for. Leaving the store with my new bag, I felt confident in my purchase (I had invested so much time into it!). That is, until I saw a women walk by wearing my exact purse. It was as if a thick wall of buyer’s remorse mixed with reality came slamming into my face. I have no idea why it hadn’t occurred to me that this bag wasn’t the only one that existed on the face of the planet. I could not believe that I had spent so much money on a purse only to see another one like it fifteen feet from the store. This might sound silly, but I felt cheated. It was like seeing your boyfriend walk by with another woman just seconds after hearing you were the love of his life. I didn’t return the bag that day, but it certainly didn’t mean as much to me after that miserable experience. 

             It was this experience that I’ve just shared with you that made me interested in luxury goods. Not just luxury goods in general, but the human aspect to it. I am simply fascinated by the emotions that these goods create for us, and how companies create the illusion of scarcity. I’m intrigued by the impact of displays and how effective lighting can draw us like a mosquito to a bug zapper. How do these companies create a sense of personal fulfillment for their customers through their products? Which of the four marketing P’s has the biggest impact on the purchase? How long does the emotional high last? What types of feelings do they try to create? How do they remedy situations like the one I described experiencing above?

             I would have to say that the real reason this topic interests me is because I have fallen victim to the allure of these goods several times (OK! I confess! A ridiculous amount of times.). Nobody likes to feel manipulated or tricked and, at times, I have felt that way after the purchase. I want to understand how effective their methods are to, hopefully, better understand my own purchasing trends. I would like to gain a greater understanding of the messages being sent to me subliminally. Ultimately, I want to know whether my purchases are made because I truly want the item, or if someone else is telling me I want the item. 

             At this point, I view luxury goods as the epitome of designing valuable customer experiences. How else could they manage to get you to spend such a ridiculous amount of money on an item that: 1.) you hardly use? 2.) you already own? 3.) you know is not quite worth what you paid? I feel like they have an amazing understanding of the experience they are trying to create.  They are so effective that you can’t help but get caught up in the moment, and then you’re hooked. 

             While researching luxury goods, I came across an interesting article about how companies find a balance between seeking higher market share and product exclusivity. It is called The Great Pretenders: the magic of luxury goods. It gave me some great incite into the business aspect of luxury goods and it alludes to some emotions involved in the process, but not quite as much of an emotional aspect as I would have liked. It was a great start though.