sunday, august 08, 2004
Skating constraints
The Eagle Rock Branch Public Library had a problem with skateboarders. Kids from the neighborhood and nearby elementary and high schools loved the stairs and railings and curbs. A boy got hurt.
So they added a big square planter in the middle of the stairs. That didn’t stop the skaters. Soon, they glued little speedbumps onto the curbs and bought new, bumpy railings. They added some awkward fences. And now, the front of the library is permanently empty and ugly.
They could have just removed the curbs (so what if the grass spills over a little?) and turned the stairs into a slope (there’s enough room). No railings, no planter, no fences, and nothing for skateboarders to play on.
With the proper use of physical constraints there should be only a limited number of possible actions — or, at least, desired actions can be made obvious, usually by being especially salient.
(From The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman, p. 83.)
This is what happens when you make the undesired actions obvious instead.
comments (1)
tell those library ppl to suck it! tell them that they r ugly and skaters havn't done n e thing to harm them. the skaters chase off the drug dealers in my neighborhood!
– skater man123 on 5/13/2007 18:57:24
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