Curious by Design
Curious by Design is a podcast about how things get built, and why they end up the way they do.
Every product, city, system, and business is the result of a series of choices. Some intentional. Some accidental. Some brilliant. Some… less so.
Hosted by Jason Hardwick, this show explores the thinking behind the work: the history, the tradeoffs, the constraints, and the invisible decisions that shape the world around us. From design and engineering to culture, technology, and everyday systems we take for granted, each episode pulls on a single thread and follows it deeper than expected.
This isn’t a how-to podcast.
It’s a why-did-they-do-that podcast.
If you’ve ever looked at something and wondered how it came to be—or how it could’ve been designed better, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Curious by Design.
Curious by Design
Why Grocery Stores Are Designed to Confuse You
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You walked in for milk and eggs.
You walked out with more.
Not wildly more.
Just enough.
In this episode of Curious by Design, we explore how grocery stores became some of the most carefully engineered decision environments we encounter every week, and why feeling slightly disoriented inside one is not an accident.
Before self-service stores, customers handed a list to a clerk and left with exactly what they needed. That changed in 1916 with the rise of the modern supermarket. Once customers began walking the aisles themselves, layout became leverage. Movement could be shaped. Attention could be guided. Exposure could be increased.
This episode breaks down the psychology behind store design: why produce is placed up front, why milk and eggs sit at the edges, why carts are oversized, why prices end in .99, why eye-level shelf space is expensive, and why music, lighting, and even scent subtly influence how long you stay.
It’s not about forcing bad decisions.
It’s about creating more of them.
Uncertainty slows you down.
Time increases exposure.
Exposure increases spending.
The next time you find yourself wandering an aisle you didn’t mean to visit, remember: you’re not being careless. You’re moving through an environment built to keep you browsing—just long enough to notice something new.
That’s Curious by Design.
