Hi, I’m Donna!

I’ve spent more than 30 years working as a retail and experiential designer, across both consultancy and client-side roles, helping brands create environments that connect with people in meaningful ways.

retailseen began as a way to share interesting retail spaces and simple observations about the environments people encounter every day.

I would document stores, hotels, airports, restaurants, and other branded spaces that stood out—not necessarily because they were beautiful, but because they felt different in some way.

Over time, those observations became a way of exploring a question that has followed me throughout my career:
How does space shape experience?

I’ve always been interested in the psychology of environments and the subtle ways space influences perception, behavior, and memory.

The most memorable places weren’t always the most visually impressive. What stayed with people wasn’t a particular material, fixture, or design detail.
It was the experience.

More specifically, it was the feeling the experience created and the impression it left behind.

As retailseen evolved, the focus became less about documenting spaces and more about understanding how environments shape the experiences people have within them.

Instead of looking at spaces primarily through the lens of design, I became more interested in how physical environments shape feeling.

Because it is feeling — not interpretation — that comes first.

A space is experienced before it is analyzed.