IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2011 - 40

tate Farm’s next Door space also uses location and cultural touchpoints to reach a key demographic: 18- to 35-year-olds, who face major life junctures yet tend to be hesitant financial planners. Developed collaboratively with IDEo over a four-year research process, next Door offers a public café, free classes and events hosted by “local experts” (such as byo-mat yoga classes, a running club, and bears’s games screenings catered by Trader Joe’s ), a community center available for use at no charge, and, not least, financial coaching. brett myers, program director of next Door, says its Lincoln Park location was selected for both its relevant population and its “hyper-local neighborhood with many small businesses, restaurants, and cafés” that would enable them to integrate with the community. IDEo’s 3,500-square-foot design fastidiously observes and reflects its surroundings with a modern yet rough-hewn look. Tall oak-framed glass doors span the storefront in the style of nearby establishments. The exposed wood-truss ceiling is authentically local, as is the newly uncovered brick wall behind the café bar. seating options from long tables and benches of wood reclaimed from Chicago buildings, casual couches, and café seating all speak the neighborhood vernacular. Even the magazine selection and local coffee provider are studiously representative of the environs. To inform the design, the IDEo and state Farm research included consumer testing at a full-size prototype. since this reluctant population preferred one-on-one conversations

to classes for financial coaching, IDEo conceived of the “coaching pods,” open boxes on wheels that offer both privacy and informality.” IPads tended to win out over laptops as a coaching tool since they tested as a more neutral, mutual territory. In fact, according to myers, feedback led to the reduction of technology, with consumers reporting, “I carry my own technology now.” but myers also notes that consumer input was used to weigh design decisions not eliminate them. For example, testing resulted in an old-fashioned low-tech chalkboard as a community calendar, yet to sign-up for the events there’s a computer kiosk. “Analog sort of won out in the physical design, but we still have that virtual complement,” says myers. What’s the value of this one storefront space in a lowdensity neighborhood to a huge corporation such as state Farm? For myers, most notably, it’s the enduring impact of a permanent place “with long interactions allowing you to treat people in a way that’s consistent with your brand, whereas online is so quick to change.” He adds, “As much as your information is always out there, it’s also 10th on the list in a matter of seconds.”

IDEo’s locally-focused design for next Door includes exposing and restoring original structural elements and using reclaimed wood for furnishings.
Photography: Courtesy of state Farm

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2011