The Elements Mall is divided into five zones, loosely associated with Feng Shui’s Five Elements.

So,

• The Metal Zone includes super-luxury shops and gorgeous metallic sculptures,
• The Water Zone contains great restaurants (not sure why?) and water features,
• The Wood Zone features wood decor and brands that focus on health, beauty and lifestyle,
• The Fire Zone lives up to its name with a huge movie complex — and an ice skating rink (!),
• and the Earth Zone features world fashion in a lush garden environment.

Here’s what the Metal Zone looks like:

Shiny!

I would LOVE to go to Hong Kong to explore the city and check out this mall. this mall.  It would be such fun to experience all the ways they’ve brought the Five Elements to life.

Want to come with me?

(photos from Elements mall)

There are lots of contributing factors to this — it’s located on a lovely gentle slope (surprise ), the streets are lined with healthy trees and century-old brownstones, and the main shopping street keeps (mostly) thriving despite the economic conditions of the past few years.

In fact it seems that the neighborhood was designed so that the anchoring stores have their entries in the ideal Feng Shui location:

Customers are invited in from two directions at once when the entry is positioned diagonal to the corner: ideal retail Feng Shui.

This pharmacy sits on the opposite corner to the stationery shop above, so when shoppers stand at this intersection they’re beckoned by both inviting shops.

This real-estate location adds a customer-friendly touch with a wonderful clock that helps busy shoppers keep track of their time.

Don’t you love how this grocer has spread his colorful wares all the way around the corner? You just can’t miss it!

This shop has closed since I took this photo, to be replaced by a super-popular burger restaurant that takes full advantage of the corner location.

Coincidence? Or good Feng Shui? What do you think?

She sent me several photos to work from that became “Before” shots for the dramatic improvements that she made to her cube, based on my Feng Shui advice.

Chaya's cubicle: Before...

Check out my Feng Shui For Office Cubicles article here for Chaya’s “After” photos and her thoughts about the Feng Shui process.

Do the tips give you some ideas for your office cubicle?  Let me know — or better yet send your own Before & After shots!

P.S., be sure to check out my previous Networx.com articles, Clearing Your Home’s Energy For The New Year, and Feng Shui for Bathrooms.

You may also be interested in my recent post about Choose The Best Colors For Your Feng Shui Office for even more help with the space where you spend so much of your time.

My design team and I worked together to design the site with as much good Feng Shui as possible, which in turn communicates as quickly as possible what the site is all about, attracting high-quality visitors (like you!) and investing the site with the power of Intention. 

Here are five Feng Shui factors I took into consideration as my design team and I built the site. 

If you’re considering building a site yourself, keep these design aspects in mind to give it the best Feng Shui.

1. Give your site good Chi Energy flow

• Click-through buttons and clear links to relevant pages contribute vitality and positive energy to a website.
• Take a look around my new website and let me know how “involved” you feel as you explore it

2. Make your Intention clear.

• What is your website all about?  What is its Primary Purpose? Just as you define every room in your home,  it needs to be very obvious what action you wish people to take when they’re on your site. 
• One of the new features on the Open Spaces Feng Shui website is a set of “widgets” on the right-hand side of every page that give visitors an easy opportunity to find what they are looking for.

3. Integrate the Five Elements

• Feng Shui’s Five Elements can be integrated through color, shape and visuals on your site.  Each visitor responds to their own special element, so you want to make sure you provide a bit of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water on every page to spark interest and involvement!
• One of the first things we created for my new site was a new business logo, which appears on every page.  It integrates all of the Five Elements and much, much more.  Here’s an article about the creation of the new Open Spaces Feng Shui logo.

4. Impart a sense of openness 

• Have you ever felt nervous or anxious on websites that are crowded and busy? Open space reduces stress while communicating a sense of relaxed energy to your website.
• On the new site we made a special effort to give it an open and airy feel, to help visitors feel relaxed, as if they’re already in a space that has good Feng Shui. (btw, perhaps now you’ve figured out how I came to call my business Open Spaces Feng Shui )

5. Create “ease of use” for visitors to your site

• Intuition is key to a successful website. Is there a clear path for visitors to follow, that helps them find what they need?  Like a clear path for Chi energy in your home, give your site an easy, natural feeling of flow.
• The design team for my new site created “widgets” for the right hand column of every page, making it as easy as one click to find the links visitors check in with most frequently. You’ll find examples of the widgets on the Home Feng Shui Consultations page, for example.

Do you agree with these points?  What other Feng Shui factors contribute to a successful website? 

(PS, if you’re looking for a wonderful website design team, get in touch with JPD Studio, right here in NYC.)

Working with the fabulous team at JPDStudio, we came up with a look that packs a lot of symbolism into a tiny space.

Here’s some of the thinking that went into it:

• Feng Shui situates humanity between Heaven and Earth, which are represented by the circle and square respectively in Chinese cosmology, so we made it a point to use these two powerfully symbolic shapes.
• We also allude to the symbol for Yin & Yang, the ever-changing flow of Chi that connects Feng Shui with universal feminine and masculine energies.
• The Five Elements come through via color and shape: green for Wood, red for Fire, the square shape for Earth, the circle for Metal, and the sinuous movement of Yin & Yang for Water.

Overall the logo also evokes ancient Chinese coins, wonderful symbolism for a profitable business, don’t you think?

I hope you’ll let me know what you think of the new logo in the Comments!

And — watch this space.  

Over the next few months the look and feel of the Open Spaces Feng Shui website and blog will be evolving to serve you better than ever.

Now’s the time to review the parts of your life that most need your devoted Intention and Attention.

Feng Shui’s Bagua Map is the perfect tool to make your 2011 Intentions into reality. Select one or two areas from its nine sections, and start changing your personal Chi today.

The questions below will make it easier to figure out which areas speak to you and inspire you to take action, right now.

1. Is your life flowing smoothly, or do you feel stuck, as if you’re swimming against the flow?
If the latter, it’s time to focus on the Life Journey area.

2. How’s your love life? Are things working well with a significant other and close friends, or do you feel as if you’re going it alone?
To remedy this area, focus on the Relationship area.

3. Do you feel good about relationships with your family and team members at work? If not, turn your attention to the Bagua’s Family/New Beginnings area.

4. Are you feeling in Abundance, with material blessings flowing in your direction, or do feel like Scarcity is more your speed right now? Tune up this part of your life by attending to the Wealth area.

5. Your general sense of Health and Balance may be your main concern. If so, focus on the central Tai Chi area of the map.

6. How involved are you as a helpful friend or volunteer? Do you have people around you who are ready to help and mentor you when you need it? If not, it’s time to attend to the Travel/Helpful People area of the map.

7. Do you have trouble completing projects, or harvesting the fruits of your labors? Have you had any trouble conceiving a child? The Children/Projects area needs your attention if either of these are lacking for you.

8. Do you have the skills you need to achieve your goals? Have you been making time for stillness in your life, to develop the best possible understanding of yourself? When this part of your life is lacking, attend to the Knowledge/Self-Cultivation area.

9. How do you like the way you’re perceived in the world? Do you like the reputation you’ve cultivated in your personal or work life? Remedy any weakness here by devoting your Intention to the Fame/Reputation area of the Bagua.

For best results, choose just one or two areas to focus on during the beginning of the year. Later on, as you start to see good results, it will be time to shift your attention to other concerns.

Welcome to the new year — make the most of it!