Signal Failure?

At first glance I love these.

Picture taken from Laughing In The Face, usual rules apply.

It seems like a good idea and the graphic designer in me loves the arrows on the floor. Arrows on every floor I reckon. But anyway, this is the new attempt by TfL to get people to stand nicely to one side and let the passengers off. The Creative Review Blog has a good post and some great pictures here.

What I like most is that they're trying out four different designs and seeing which one works. This is a great idea. It's very rare for graphic design to measured and even rarer for it to be measured properly. But it's not just that, isn't trying out four designs just a good idea? A focus group would have been terrible, complicated and expensive. Someone at the top could have just made a decision but then you'd be relying on one person's opinion. Trying out four solutions is cheap, quick, practical and sensible.

I'm all for sensible design solutions.

Picture taken from the Creative Review Blog, usual rules apply. I can't seem to find out who took the picture. Sorry.

The CR Blog raised some interesting points in the comments. Our own Alex said, "I think this is a great idea and well needed here in London". But then Alistair pointed out, "Since people seem unable to use even the most basic levels of common sense (and manners) to realise that standing clear of the doors and letting the passengers off first is the best way to do things, are they really going to pay any attention at all to some floor graphics?" Which is a very valid point. Maybe us designers are just getting carried away?

Patrick then pointed out, "Myself, Mark and Eliza from CR got on the Jubilee Line at Waterloo last night. Most people were obediently standing outside the white lines."

Which made me wonder just how they're going to be measured? Surely the only way to do it is with an old fashioned human being. And that's got to be more than a bit subjectve? "Only one person was standing on the yellow lines, so I considered this to be a success". And how long do you measure it for? And how often do you measure?

When I did some measurement earlier today at Waterloo, it didn't seem to be working. Not at all.

Maybe we should all measure it? Every time you use the Jubilee line take a picture and then we can start to see if we can see any patterns? Would anyone be up for that?

Comments

[Anne]

I remember seeing something like this in Japan years ago only it was more detailed, like there was one of those snaky barriers you get in shops only drawn on the floor. It was clear that you should queue to the left of the door. I haven't had the benefit of seeing the London ones in action, but looking at the photos I wouldn't know where to stand, only where not to. Still, better than nothing. Mustn't grumble, etc.

[Amy]

I think the idea is that they are measured by analysis of the CCTV footage; certainly casual observation of the ones at Canary Wharf doesn't give much hope that they're being observed, but they may well be having an unconscious effect.

[Mark Hadfield]

Is there a cultural thing to this? When abroad I usually live by similar rules of society as I do here. I don't crowd near train doors, I don't stand in doorways, and I don't gather in big groups on a narrow street corner.

Yet it seems that when classes of schoolchildren/ college kids visit London, those rules go out of the window? How often have you tried to cross the road and they've been gathered around a zebra crossing? How often have they been congregating around a streetcorner which means you have to walk on the road to avoid them? Surely the common sense of the teachers/ chaperones would dictate that they'd pick a slightly better spot and they would realise that people use doorways to get from the outside into the inside?

When I go on holiday I always fear that I will turn into a tourist and stand in stupid places.

[Rob Mortimer]

The Jubilee line is full of suited bankers who have to get the tube everyday though, I can't imagine they are the most responsive people to try it on.

[Mark McGuinness]

This has got Flickr group written all over it.

[Steve O]

As someone on the CR post says, it will just let people know where the doors will be and they'll stand right on it! I can't see it working in the short term at least.
Nice graphics though - awaiting the grafitti

[claire gates]

I have already got another photo of the arrows, just haven't had chance to blog about it!

[Kieren Messenger]

This is what I can perhaps see happening at rush hour on the tube:

Group 1 - Come down onto the platform, notice the signs on a perhaps empty platform and stand outside the boxes, being mindful that they can let people off that way.
Group 2 - Follow group 1 onto the platform to find the platform almost full. Struggling to find a place to stand they move down along the station and find these convenient hatched areas to stand in that are right in front of the doors. Train arrives and group 2 boards first. Train gets full, closes doors and group 1 has to wait for the next train.

[Mayo]

Maybe it's just me, but this is just asking to have a couple of extra arrows and lines stuck down next to the ones already there....
Still, I like the idea; it'll be interesting to see how it changes waiting/standing/positioning behaviour. For better or worse, or if at all.

[Kev Mears]

Lets go even further, and have a cross between Simon says and the illuminted floor in Saturday Night Fever. It could light up in sequence to get people to follow it all over the place...

no?.... I'll get my coat.

btw Like the idea of just trying things in the real world

[tim]

the sign that's up at canary wharf says that the reason they're doing the arrows is to speed up the time it takes to get ppl on + off the trains so i guess they'll just manage it that way?