Color-coding and Babies-R-Us

I’ve only entered the doors of a Toys-R-Us once, several years ago. I remember it as a hellish experience – completely unorganized, kids throwing fits and dragging around harried mothers, and tons of little flashing lights, beeps and electronic melodies. It was an assault to the quietness of my soul. Naturally, I expected Babies-R-Us to be similar. Right?

I walked into Babies-R-Us with a clear plan, as I normally enter most retail establishments. I needed to find the registry kiosk, print off the list, find an item within my price range, and get the heck out of there. I expected to be barraged with crying babies and flashing lights, or at least to see disorganized clothing racks. Instead, the store was quiet, clean and marvelously color-coded. Next to the registry kiosk was a large map of the store, each section color-coded according to its contents – furniture, bedding, etc. And the racks of tiny clothes! No rack was overstuffed with too many hangers, and every size was exactly in its place – the NB behind the 3M, behind the 6M and so on. It was amazing! I found exactly what I was looking for and didn’t want to leave… I’m pretty sure every store should be color-coded.

I used to color-code my work projects with different colors of Post-Its… but my Post-It pads kept disappearing so I’d have to keep changing my color scheme and eventually I gave up. But my Google calendar is completely color-coded!

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