Male and female restroom signs at a hotel I visited recently.
I stopped and looked twice to make sure I was entering the right door. Why make it so darn complex? There are times when innovation is simply unwelcome. Let’s go back to why they were created and make sure we don’t let some artsy design get in the way of it’s original purpose.
Another such example was an attempt at innovation on a restaurant’s lunch menu. It had all sorts of interesting names for it’s savoury crepes and one of them was called “Calamari.” I promptly ordered Calamari and was looking forward to my dose of seafood. Calamari turned out to be a ham and cheese crepe.
And, finally, a positive shout out to Auckland airport. This is brilliant emotionally intelligent signage – we don’t really want to know if a flight is “scheduled,” we just want to know what we must do. “Relax,” “New Time,” etc., fixes that.
Well done Kiwis!
A Learning a Day 