Affordances for hanging clothes suggested by the fire prevention sprinklers in this Iowa City hotel led to the creation and posting of “no hanging” signs.

Nicolas Nova discussed

similar tensions between designed intentions and serendipitous affordances in a recent post on design exhibits.

The need to discourage some uses while encouraging others adds an interesting layer to the design problem space, especially in contexts where there are widely varying types of user.

Skateboard deterrent devices are a common “anti-affordance,” usually retrofit after skaters discover alternate uses for a structure (skaters are virtuosos at finding and exploiting all sorts of affordances).

This particular anti-skate hardware is sold by Grind2aHalt.com.

“The GrinderMinder is intended to maintain the integrity of your beautifully planned landscape design, without detracting from the overall effect of the landscape.”

Grind2aHalt’s product is designed not only to thwart unintended use (skating) but also to support the intentions of the original design — in this case, the aesthetic aspects of that design.

It’s a good reminder of how complex the dynamics of objects, context, and usage are. Even this outwardly simple product is actually operating on many levels.

NOTE: This is not an anti-skateboarding post. I offer this picture of myself, circa 1981 …

Related posts:
In November ’07, Nicolas and Steve had another go-round on anti-skating devices.

Books left on floor, Green Apple Books, San Francisco, CA

Notice in school bus window, Pacifica, CA

Sign, Bonny Doon, CA

Sign, San Jose, CA

Sign, San Francisco, CA

Posters, San Francisco, CA

6-panel strip on telephone pole, Chicago, IL

Related Posts:
Framed Framework/Conceptual Art
Words
The End of Things

Yes, more bathroom blogging! Core77 has just posted a quick video I made

In this video for Core77, Steve Portigal takes us into his company bathroom, uncovering examples of bad design and its consequences.

From signage to artifact and back, people are forever mistaking their cues for how to behave, how to use products and systems, and how different, often-conflicting indicators cause our expectations and realities to collide. This 2-minute video is a priceless example. What’s in your bathroom?

We see these in small retail all the time – handwritten signs exhorting the customer to follow some non-natural path of behavior in order to simplify the merchant-centered purchase process. Here’s a fun one, where the experience is pretty cool anyway, and the creativity and ineffectiveness of the signs is something to smile about, rather than grimace.

The setting certainly helps. In the town of Waimea, on Kauai, on your way to getting a sweet and cold treat – shave ice.

The cash register sits underneath the most awesomely diverse and interesting list of flavors. You approach the guy at the cash and of course you want to say how many you want, and what sizes, and (after having gaped open-mouthed at the display for a few minutes) the flavors

.

The signs attempt to warn you off from doing that, but it’s human nature. And with each person that tries to ask for a flavor, the cash guy tells them ‘I don’t care about flavors. I just need to know what size you want.”

They are so dogged with their insistence, but they’ve designed an experience where it’s entirely natural to ask for the flavors right then. Nope.

He’ll go and get the plain shave ice (with ice cream, if you want it) and then at another counter they take your flavor order. It may end up being the same guy working the other counter, or someone else. But they don’t care about flavors, until you get to the flavor counter.

It’s not so terrible that they go through the same thing over and over again, it’s just a great example of design and human nature and the ever-present sign which purports to fix the whole thing by simply warning people what not to do!

This sign is posted behind the cashier.
1. How many Shaved would you like (ice)?
2. What are the sizes you would like?
3. Would you like ice cream on the bottom?
4. Would you like our tasty creams on the top of your ice We have Vannilla Cream And also Haupia cream (which is coconut)
5. We do also sale extras so this would be the time to ask for them
Mahalo (thank you)

The cutaway detail of the Halo Halo Shave Ice is pretty neat. Nice combination of 2D and 3D presentation of the details:
Haupia cream topping
cocohut
Shave Ice
Haupia cream topping
Halo Halo
Ice cream opsional [sic] with Halo Halo

Two interesting signs from Salt Pond Beach on Kauai, Hawaii.


That’s some pretty impressive improvisation from the county. Sure, it looks like hell, and is a little embarrassing (these are “official” County signs?) but it fits right in Hawaii, especially the laid-back culture of Kauai. But mostly what I think about is the non-standard problem solving. What layers of bureaucracy would the park manager have to go through to get a new sign printed up? How long would it take? Meanwhile, they’ve taken some initiative to get their problem solved (including some non-standard mounting solutions).

Here’s an amusing but important official sign.

And an even more official sign that is pretty confusing. Who takes a bath in the restroom? And what is a rubber balloon and why is there a problem?

One more improvised sign, slightly more visually appealing (but with a much simpler message).

These two signs were on adjacent buildings, mere feet apart and somehow the combination amused me; both seemed to have too many words and create a level of officialdom and importance that seemed out of scale for the idea itself, let alone the physical unimposingness of the locations.

I created a flickr tag “autophagia” for any signs of animals preparing to serve and/or eat themselves in the name of cuisine.

I’ve started things off with the Chick -N – Coop Hof Brau sign in Daly City, CA, depicting a chicken in an egg-cup serving up a platter of chicken. Mmm, mmm, tasty!

Haven’t we had 1-hour photo service for a very very long time? How is this a useful name? Or a useful offering? Now, slower than ever!

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Artist Dianne Platner adjusts one of the structures in her miniature homeless encampment made from signs she has collected.