Warning signs are the first indicator of bad design.
If a designer has had to add a sign, or instructions, to stop people performing a particular action with their product, then the design has failed. I understand not all possible actions can be predicted, humans can be an ingenious species, but an action that can cause death you would think would be an obvious one.
In Australia we have grown up with train stations with no barrier protection, and so has much of the world. And yes, people have fallen onto the tracks, and yes, some people have jumped. For decades we didn’t see the need for 1. barriers, nor 2. warning signs like this one. So why now?
The fact that we now see these types of warning signs means that things have changed. We are more aware of the short comings of our products, in this case, the unsafe train station platform.
So, if we have realised the danger of our product, we should be redesigning it.
This sign is not going to stop someone falling (or jumping) in.
Citizenrod | art | design | think