Observations in a Coffee Shop

Activities

• Majority of users on laptops/reading books
• Stirring drinks 
• Children jumping to follow parent's actions (Such as stirring drinks and pouring sugar)
• dishes washing
• cups spilling coffee off of edge

Basic methods of holding cups (seriously these cups either need to be redesigned or people need to stop planning the death of their coffee. How do they not expect coffee to fall when they hold it like this...)

(The cup on the right is beautiful, huh?)

• People struggling to answer phone and balance coffee
• Most individuals in coffee shop commandeer a whole table in the form of a temporary office
• Chairs hit each other constantly due to the cozy/close environment

These chairs form to the body and have a bar for a footrest.  Why would anyone want to get coffee and LEAVE with fantastic chairs like these?!

• Most feet positioned in a cross position or propped on table legs/wall edges
• People immediately move towards most private/isolated areas
• Individuals having trouble closing bathroom doors while carrying all of their stuff (they go in with all of their belongings for protection?)
• Papers tend to fly about in temporary work spaces of coffee shop

Environment

• Warm inviting colors and walls surround area
• Furniture is generally modern plastic/wood 
• Overhead lights consist of a minimalist style with a warm yellow tone
• Flies flock by food and coffee
• Walls generally covered with mirrors to open space
• Strange.... modern paintings placed on walls
• Paint on structures is scratched and worn (adding a more lived in feel)
• Cabinets behind the order-counter resemble home kitchen counters
• Chairs crowded close together to (add a more community feel?)

Basic chair layout

• Music is at a low volume, mellow, either soft pop/soft rock or classical
• Shelves on the side covered in coffee supplies and book

Coffee lids stacked in an inconvenient manner

 They always stick to each other.....and it's hard to separate them when you're in a rush and trying to grab one and go (with a coffee cup in the other hand)

Not sure why I drew these coffee machine sketches, but they were intriguing. There was also a steam machine which easily burned the baristas.... it could benefit from a little safety padding.

• One fan running in the whole building (the shop probably prefers a warm atmosphere)
• Welcoming red paint and door
• Homey/non formal chalkboard menu 
• Low tables - make it hard to cross legs
• Tables lack coasters
• Coffee shop manages to stay warm despite the walls being 50% windows (Opens up the environment while still keeping the area cozy)

+Coffee cups made of clear material possibly give the impression of more liquid because of the same reasoning? I'm probably ....stretching this reasoning a little too much.

Interactions

• Fast working clerks, quick orders
• baristas split cleaning duties
• everyone keeps to themselves , they go out of their way to maintain privacy

+Strangely enough...even though they're private they all look up to stare at everyone else..

• Shuffling in pockets to look for change
• People only look for what they want once they reach the register
• No one notices me staring at them...YESS
• People only require of one other acquaintance to open up
• Individuals partaking in casual conversations use their coffee as a method to end their sentences
• Credit card purchases consist of a 5$ minimum, forcing more hand cash interactions... (Yes I know the interactions are not the main reason for the minimum.)
• Best seller for most coffee is emphasis on the community and warmth of the atmosphere. Keeping everything calm forces most of the customers to maintain a mature and contained composure.

User

• Majority of ages range from 17-50
• Both male and female adults
• lots of college students cover the environment (possibly because of the two colleges nearby..)
• usually wearing some form of travel shoes, lots of the individuals here seem to be suited to outdoors environments. ...probably why they're in a coffee shop instead of their houses.
• Individuals dressed in masses of layers, seem to prefer warm atmospheres (go figure)
• young baristas, very active and keen to keeping up with fast orders