Concept+Map+-+Shopping+Mall

Shopping Mall
Yingzhuo Wang


 * Rationale**

Everyone has been to a shopping mall before. It's a place where a variety of retail stores are connected by walkways to allow shoppers to walk from unit to unit more easily. I chose to focus on the relationships between the different people who go to the mall and the effects that visual communication has on them. I decided to present this topic in the form of a mall map. As people are naturally more attracted to images than words, I chose to use icons to represent the elements that were included in the topic. These elements are connected with black lines along with very few words to explain the interactions or the relationships between them. In addition, arrows are added on the connection lines to guide the views in the correct direction in which they should be reading. I have positioned some elements in specific areas on the map to not only make it look more realistic but also to create proximity. Some elements such as the 'consumer', 'employee' and 'visual communication' are repeated on the map. Although some elements are repeated on the concept map, the interactions between them are not identical. As there are many different kind of consumers and employees, I believe it is better to show various human interactions in different areas in the mal.

I started brainstorming before I began my research. I tried to draw out concept maps without the help from the internet, just to see how much I can come up with the topic. Then I started researching online by going to websites of different malls (i.e., Yorkdale Mall, Eaton Centre, Fairview Mall,etc.) to find out what kind of things are posted on there. I also went on visualcomplexity and other websites to see different kinds of concept maps that were created on other subjects. As I started working on my concept map, I constantly did research during my process.
 * Research Summary**

First concept map done in first class (without research)
 * Brainstorm**

Second concept map with potential topics

Initially wanted to do the map in a form of credit card, >.<
 * Visual Concepts**

Then my other idea was to do a mall map

Made-up stories from classmates for some of my potential topics

More Ideas for the mall map

I tried to organize my information into categories

Last words-only concept map

mall maps that i used as references:
 * Resources**

GTA MAP

First computer generated concept map

Then changed my idea...

Tried to tile the pages but the margins cut off parts of the map = ="


 * Final Concept Map**

File download: [|2005n_pro1_08_ywang.pdf]

Yorkdale Shlopping Centre. 15 Jan. 2008.  Toronto Eaton Centre. 15 Jan. 2008.  Fairview Mall. 15 Jan. 208.  __Shopping Mall.__June 2007. Wikipedia. 20 Jan. 2008 __Shopping Mall Studies.__October 2006. American Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University. 20 Jan. 2008 
 * Bibliography**