I’ve been needing to rant for some time now, but this isn’t the time. Besides, being an altogether irregular blog, this hasn’t really felt like the right outlet. Several experiences over the last few months have left me feeling unfairly treated, be it by companies or official bodies, but I think I’ll save ranting for later.
What’s this got to do with design? Well, in the fight back against these stubborn bastards, I’m becoming more familiar with certain organisations’ stationary or their approaches to design. In some cases, I’m starting to find that design is playing more of a role in how I perceive things.
I’ve never considered myself to be very visually creative (or not as much as I’d like to be), but I’m working on it. Anyway, I’m starting to find that design is affecting my perception of everyday things. Let me explain a little.
Example 1: Car Park Sign
Problem: I’ve been given a parking ticket, seemly the result of my inability to observe a sign at the entrance to a car park I have used all my life.
Aside from any of the other factors involved (I find the whole thing bloody unfair and will probably write more in a separate post/rant), the sole purpose of this sign is to warn visitors that evening charges have recently been imposed. With that in mind, does anyone else think that the following sign is fit for purpose?
Looking at that photo, how quickly did you figure out which sign I was talking about? It’s fairly small, at ground level, inadequately lit and has black text on a white background. The sign is placed on the bend that you drive around to enter the car park. You are hardly going to notice it.
My problems aside, black text on white is not an attention-grabbing combination. If you’re going to use it and want it to stand out, you’re probably going to have to make it quite big. Black text on white is found too often in everyday life to be effective in drawing attention. For this reason, there are actually requirements for such signs to be of a minimum size and fluorescent.
If I didn’t have an interest in design, I’m not sure whether I would have picked up on such a factor when making a case to the local council. Whether it is at all valid for me to make such a design consideration a factor here is probably irrelevant. I think I’m going to have to end up paying the f**king1 fine anyway.
Example 2: TV Licensing
Problem: TV Licensing are never happy with people who say that they don’t watch television. Alas, without a television, our DVD player and video recorder are rendered somewhat useless. Having previously explained our situation to TV Licensing, we find ourselves getting increasingly annoyed at the small tree’s-worth of correspondence we get through our door, bullying us with threats of being fined for not having a license.
Again, putting the problem aside, I’ll pick up on the use of the word “bullying” in my last sentence. Of all the correspondence we have received from TV Licensing, there have only been one or two letters that have not looked like a bill reminder or a demand for final payment.
The TV Licensing logo is blue. Everywhere you see the logo – on their website, vans, adverts (yes, we have seen adverts before) – it is blue. Except, when you get something through the post from them and the logo becomes red.
“Danger, Will Robinson. You don’t have a TV License and one of their officers will soon be visiting your neighbourhood.”
Overall, I think TV Licensing need to rethink their strategy. Red logos and red borders on everything doesn’t really help, especially when your reader is already in a pissed off frame of mind.
Update: I thought I’d share this interesting page about TV Licensing that recently linked to this post. It led me to find a post with some interesting statistics based on one person’s letters from TV Licensing. There’s even stats for the colour of the logo and border of the letters, which made my day!
Er, so?
Am I too conscious of colour in design? Do you think I’m being a complete pedant, or does this make sense to you? Have you found yourself thinking similar things, where a design just hasn’t seemed to lend itself to its purpose?
Note: my first f-bomb on a blog – perhaps unnecessary, but it made me feel a bit better and shows how pissed off I am. I’m normally a really clean-mouthed guy – honest – so I’ve at least added an asterisk. back from footnote 1.
9 Responses to “Too Conscious of Colour?”
That parking lot sign reminds me of a passage from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” where Arthur Dent is looking for the council’s plans for a new bypass. He eventually finds it in the basement (with no lights and a missing stairway), in a locked lavatory with a “Beware of the leopard!” sign on the door. 🙂
In Sweden, the laws are very strict about that sort of signs. They must be clearly visible, well positioned, etc.
Regarding the TV license, our laws are quite ridiculous. You have to pay a TV license if you own a TV, period. It doesn’t matter if it is broken or if you never watch it. If you own a television set, you must pay the license. “License” in Swedish is new-speak for “tax”, BTW.
The law here is pretty similar – you have to buy a TV license if you own “equipment capable of receiving a TV signal”; so it’s not enough to just say “but I just use it for watching DVDs”, you have to physically disable the receiving bit if you want to get out of buying a license.
The pointless, crummy sign isn’t the major thing to get pissed over here. It’s the fact they also charge disabled drivers/blue badge holders. How sick are these money grabbing bar-stewards?
@ Tommy: I wonder if a situation like this inspired Douglas Adams on that bit of the book.
@ Matthew Pennell: We’ve been told by TV Licensing that as long as the TV is detuned and not plugged into an aerial (duh!), that’s enough. As we have done both, they can’t really complain. Funny though, because how are you meant to detune the TV without an aerial?
@ vigo: Yeah, my thoughts on that are the same. I’m actually writing to the local paper about the crappy sign and am mentioning the charges for disabled badge holders as well. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case all over the country. I think York’s central car parks are the same – not sure though.
Regarding the parking fine, I’m a tad miffed overall. I could just let it go and pay the fine, but it’s the principle that pisses me off. Their reply says it’s the driver’s responsibility to check the signs. I agree, but only if they’ve fulfilled their responsibility to make the signs visible enough. I’m happy to give them their bloody 50p, but I’m not paying a £50 fine without a fight. I need the money.
As for the TV License, I don’t mind having the License, but I don’t see why we should be treated as if we’re guilty from the outset just because we don’t watch broadcasts. It’s the tone (and design) of the letters they send.
That’s why when I was a student I used to use a Portable handheld TV since it was cheaper than paying the licence plus because it wasn’t (natively) mains powered they couldn’t do anything so I was exempt.
As for your last issue was the poster securely attached by metal straps if it weren’t then you may have a case.
“As for your last issue was the poster securely attached by metal straps if it weren’t then you may have a case.”
It was attached with a few plastic zip-ties. I managed to catch them in one of the photos I took. But the council said it was a temporary sign anyway, so I don’t suppose that’ll matter.
Having said that, York’s evening charges were introduced back in Spring 2004 and there are still signs up informing people. And, of course, those signs (or the ones I’ve seen anyway) have been black on yellow ones at least a couple of feet off the ground.
I can understand why is Sweden they make you pay licences even if the set it broke; makes sense since I’ve heard the native shows over there aren’t too great.
As for the position of the sign perhaps it were designed for Smurfs?
Have you ever read ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ – Donald Normal, now that’s a book that gets you noticing the design of the simplest of objects! (Highly Recommended, Emotional Design is damn good too)
Design is everywhere, noticing it everywhere can certainly make you something of an obsessive, but can also be truly inspiring!
@ Robert Wellock: If you read my update on the car park fine fiasco you’ll see that the council think I’m complaining about the larger sign and not the “smurf” sign.
@ Steven: Well, those two books now feature on my Amazon wish list. Thanks. =)
I’m not sure if I’m obsessed or inspired, but I certainly notice the design of things more than I used to. I’d be interested to see what Donald Norman says about how everyday design affects people without their realising it.