Design Errands

Design Errands - a series of observations of design in the wild by a philosopher in Paris and a designer in Abu Dhabi.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

REPORT YOUR ERRANDS!
https://t.co/BIinsJfFbL

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

It looked as if it was a good idea at the time: digital façades.

#DesignErrands #DigitalDesign

Image: Paris, April 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Design for six-handed people.

#DesignErrands #WaterWaste #Sustainability

Image: Versailles, March 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Life changing quantitative information.

Image: University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Jan 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Gone are those tedious mnemonic techniques to retrieve your clothes at the lockers.

Image: MAC VAL Museum, March 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Should I look left, where the arrow suggests, or should I look right, where traffic comes from?

#DesignErrands #Arrows #ConfusedDirections

Image: Las Ramblas, Barcelona, February 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

White Nights. Of course they had those Summer ice skating courts in St. Petersburg back then. Reading past the title before designing the cover is a luxury no designer can afford any longer.

#DesignErrands #Anachronisms #judgebythecover

Image: Italy, January 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Why. Why. Why?!

Architecture should be justifiable, and wear justification on its face.

#DesignErrands #DesignJustification #JustifiableArchitecture

Image: Maison-Blanche, Paris, Jan 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

North-up and South-up try to coexist.

#DesignErrands #BadSignage #Maps

Image: Paris, Métro line 14, January 2025. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Welcome, Martians!

Note: an attempt was unsuccessfully made to use G. Translate.

#DesignErrands #BadSignage #DigitalDisplayGoneWrong

Image: Monza, December 2024. Credit RC

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Maybe the led green button will open the faucet. Maybe it will open the door behind. Try, experiment!

#DesignErrands #instructionsUnclear

Image: Train Rennes-Lorient, France, déc 2024. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Why use m dash ( - ), when you can effectively disorient using the immediately salient right ➡ arrow, against the useless bottom arrow ⬇ (supposedly delivering relevant info, i.e. turn back)?

#DesignErrands

Image: Aix-en-Provence, hôtel The Originals, Nov 2024. Credit RC

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

If your direction about directions is printed on the same sticker as the directions , expect it to land next to it, and stick.

#DesignErrands #BadDirections

Image: Caremar Boat to Naples, Nov. 2024. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Take your time.

#DesignErrands #Maps #ParisOrly

Image: Paris Orly Airport, Oct 2024. Credit RC

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Reckless drivers won't care about the life of cyclists. But they would definitely try to avoid scratching the paint of their beloved cars.

#DesignErrands #Cyclist #AgainstRecklessDriving #RoadSafety

Image: France, Oct. 2024. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

What goes where? Did people learn the color codes, after all these years? The case for the maintenance of verbal communication.

#DesignErrands #Signs

Image: Monza, Railway Station, October 2024. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Where, on which floor? What holds for book tables of contents may not hold for hospitals.

Image: Monza, Italy, October 2024. Credit RC.

#DesignErrands #BadSignage

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Traffic light for drone takeoff? Go/no go?

If your streetlamp is heavily inspired by traffic light design, it will inevitably be processed as some kind of traffic light, and trigger interpretive challenges.

#DesignErrands

Image: Paris, Avenue d'Italie, October 2024. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Home made solutions against AI based plate recognition. Illegal, of course.

#DesignErrands #AdHoc #AI #LicensePlate

Image: Paris, September 2004. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

Very sensible arrangement: many surprising encounters ahead!

#DesignErrands #Doors #Interiors #Wayfinding

Image: ISEL, Le Havre, France, Septembre 2022. Credit RC.

[Design Errands @DesignErrands]

How big is the item?

The solution:

#DesignErrands #BadSignage