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“Warning” signs at historical sites tell visitors to relax and enjoy themselves
- jiggy2011 13y agoAs soon as I saw the large "KEEP GRASS" text I would have immediately interpreted it as "keep off the grass", I wouldn't have read the two smaller words in between. Same with "KEEP MOBILE PHONE".
- Sambdala 13y agoEven explicitly knowing I was looking at signs telling me to "relax and enjoy myself," I found myself interpreting the sign as the warning/restriction counterpart message until my second or third (even more careful) reading. It's a lot like the phenomenon where if you include and and twice in a row, you'll likely not realize the typo.
- lutze 13y agoThis is remarkable, I initially thought you'd typo'd your typo and had to do a double take to spot it. Isn't the brain a wonderful and scary thing.
- simba-hiiipower 13y agothat first one took me the longest.. i kept reading it as 'keep off the grass'. really confused me as to why that was there among all the other more pleasant signs..? it was only after going through all the others that i got it. seems my brain is conditioned that in the presence of 'keep' and 'grass' i should remain off.
- easytiger 13y agoi thought it was more of an issue issue when you put them on line breaks.
- klibertp 13y ago"I found myself interpreting the sign as the warning/restriction counterpart message" Couldn't you just read the whole sign properly on the first try? Why did you glance over the rest of it? I think that's your fault - and our society these days - and not the fault of the signs, which were cute and funny.
- darkchasma 13y agoYou think the problem with society is our pattern recognition, and exclusion behaviour? A result of being inundated with perpetual signage which is irrelevant, or inane? Since this is a result of society, why are you getting all blamey?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Sambdala 13y ago"Yeah, that conditioning is probable. And scary. Just think how many more signs/words/images/emotions are hardwired in your brain. Scary."
- klibertp 13y agoI'm sorry, I didn't want to sound that negatively (as other comments on this level indicate I did). The thing is that I understand why someone would glance over something twice before reading it at last. And I'm not going to shoot people who do this. But I still don't think that's a good thing to do, a good behavioral pattern. In this example, seriously, why didn't you read the sign on the first try? Probably because, as you quoted, you were expecting the sign to be boring shit, not worth reading. But hey, you were told that it is not shit beforehand! So, to have trouble with reading it, you must have: a) not believed that the signs are legitimate content; or b) struggled and failed against your reflexive rejection of the signs as garbage. The latter option is more probable, I think. You tried to overcome your conditioning and pattern-matching defaults, and finally you succeeded. But you could succeed earlier, had you exercised! You could try to play with optical illusions or do puzzles, or something like this. And after a while you would have no problem at all with recognising the signs in this article. What I wanted to say in my previous posts is that this lack of ability to ignore reflexes, see and (sometimes try to) understand is a very good thing to develop for yourself, and that unfortunately people are less and less aware that this is the case (scary!), because what they come in contact with is constantly getting larger, cruder and more obvious.
- lnanek2 13y agoFunny, but I don't want bright signs all over the place. If I go to see some place, I want to see the place, not some smart aleck's stupid bright signs all over.
- lukevdp 13y agoWhy hate on light hearted fun? You sound a bit like a guy in his eighties yelling at kids to stop playing on the grass.
- sejje 13y agoI think it's somewhere in-between. He's not really hating on the fun, he's hating that it has to invade a scenic place with unnatural signs. I can't blame him--I like to see things as-intended. No trash in the woods, no modern equipment at historical sites, etc.
- robwgibbons 13y agoI feel the same way. These are certainly funny signs, but they're completely useless and ultimately distracting from the park in which they're placed. I will, by default, sit on a bench (or the grass) unless I am explicitly told not to. I don't need an cutesy sign to tell me I CAN sit.
- muxxa 13y agoThe 'Reserved' sign is the only one I'd object to. It's likely to be read from afar, and never approached close enough to get the joke. Even then, it would be easy to reason that 'fun and games' was an in-joke from whichever party made the reservation.
- amirmc 13y agoTrue but only if it's the first sign you come across. If I'd read any of the other signs beforehand I'd have laughed and made a special effort to inspect the 'reserved' sign.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- adlpz 13y agoThis is a terrible idea. There is this whole thing called familiarity, and most people will interpret this signs negatively because they won't stop to read the small text. I hope this doesn't spread.
- Peroni 13y agoIt's the UK. It's a tongue-in-cheek play on the familiarity. Considering how popular the campaign has been online, I'd say it's an outstanding idea.
- adlpz 13y agoOf course the campaign has been popular online. It's all about demographics; the kind of people that find this online are those that will usually like it. Now think of a not-so-educated 60 year old tourist going to see a nice park on his vacation.
- Peroni 13y agoIt's not a campaign to convince elderly tourists to return to the park. It's a campaign to convince people like me, a National Trust member who's half the age of the person in your example, that the National Trust attractions aren't all stuffy and boring and the NT wants you to actually explore and enjoy them.
- adlpz 13y agoGood then, they are catering to a specific demographic while it's clear it may mislead and be unclear to other. I still think it's not a good idea, and the fact that it's a likable idea doesn't fix that for me.
- deathcakes 13y agoI think you do the elderly citizens of Britain a disservice by assuming they will be confused and helpless in the face of some light hearted signage.
- shurcooL 13y agoI don't know why, but reading those signs made me feel all warm and fuzzy. :)
- arethuza 13y agoOn the subject of historical sites... We did a tour of an ancient monument on Orkney last week only to discover that thugs had broken in and scrawled graffiti over the inside of a 5,000 year old building: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeshowe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeshowe :-)
- jumblesale 13y agoThis is a really cool idea. I like how it plays on the idea of NT properties being boring fusty places where you go for rubbish school trips. I don't know if it's a function of age but I'm actually quite excited about visiting a National Trust property on the weekend if the weather stays nice. I encourage others to do the same and support a really worthwhile charity.
- dave1010uk 13y agoOriginal source: http://theclickdesign.com/projects/national-trust-natures-playground/ http://theclickdesign.com/projects/national-trust-natures-pl...
- vog 13y agoThanks for pointing this out! I didn't find the original source when I submitted it to HN. Unfortunately, it is too late now to edit my submission for the improved link.
- curiousdannii 13y agoSeeing the signs in context is much better than the designs by themselves.
- vog 13y agoThe latter pictures (scroll right) also show the signs in context.
- curiousdannii 13y ago:/ Why does it scroll sideways?
- thoughtcriminal 13y agoLooks 'shopped.
- epo 13y agoYou should give up on 'thought' and try and steal better cliches.
- thoughtcriminal 13y ago"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking." Dorothy L. Sayers
- sanoli 13y agoThe problem for me is I would think it was a spoof by some (forgive the apparently hated word) hipster designer. I'd think something like "this was made to 'subvert' the whatever, but we're actually supposed to stay off the grass".
- hawkharris 13y agoSigns say something interesting about the herd mentality in people. For example, psychologist Robert Cialdini did an experiment a few years ago to get people to be more respectful of public parks. He found that negative messages actually made people more likely to take items from the park (which they weren't supposed to do). [1] Interestingly, the most effective way to change people's behavior was to leverage peer pressure, making them feel like everyone around them was already performing the desired action. E.g. "98% of hikers don't remove rocks; please don't be the 2%" I'm not saying these two cases are identical, but to me what makes the U.K. signs so effective is that they suggest, in a subtle way, "Hey, you should have a good time because everyone else is enjoying themselves." [1] http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/06/21/riding-the-herd-mentality-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/06/21/riding-the-herd-menta...
- jiggy2011 13y agoWhen I was a kid I remember the older kids used to drop litter on purpose, not because it was too much effort to put it in the bin but to show how rebellious they were. If you put up something that looks like an authority that will try and punish you if you disobey then you look brave and smart by disobeying it and getting away with it.
- corresation 13y agoEach week my municipality sends out an email the night before garbage collection stating which items are to be picked up the next day (e.g. blue box, garbage, bulk items, garden bags). Historically it was a friendly, we're-all-in-this-together sort of email sharing information about what helps the recycling process go most smoothly, maximizes taxpayer return, etc. Recently they had a change of responsible parties, and now the new emails are full of stark, accusatory statements of absolutes and rules -- the classic underlined/bold/italic "DO NOT" type list of exclusions. It is absolutely remarkable the effect this has. Suddenly we're not all in this together, but it's factions working against each other. I and my fellow taxpayers are now suddenly trouble in someone's life. I've always been against hostile communications where they aren't necessary, but this has absolutely opened my eyes to how much of an impact this sort of adversarial approach can have. It's purely an anecdotal datapoint, but it really struck me.
- mseebach 13y agoIf you need to tell people to relax and have fun ("Mandatory fun day"), it's an indication that you have a more fundamental problem. It's probably better to address that instead of making playful signs.
- mistercow 13y agoI think you're missing the point. This is not about "mandatory fun", it's about recognizing the runaway restrictiveness of public parks and historical sites that has resulted in people expecting that common activities will be prohibited. It's poking fun at the uptight reputation that such places have, and attempting to reverse the trend by loosening those irrational restrictions.
- jdmichal 13y agoExactly. If I went to a place such as the one with the "Keep on the grass" sign, and didn't see any signs, I would actually pretty much assume that anyway. Because it's just so common that I expect it to be the default stance at such locations.
- RivieraKid 13y agoThe graphics design is lovely. Has anyone an idea what typeface is it?
- timthorn 13y agoIt's in line with the National Trust's (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/) corporate identity, and the font is custom for the Trust http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6416447/National-Trust-rebranded-by-Olympics-firm.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6416447/National-...
- RyanMcGreal 13y agoLast time I was in Paris, I noticed new signs on the lawns of the Luxembourg Gardens advising people that they are now permitted to walk on the grass. They were not nearly as playful as these signs.
- adnam 13y agoPaternalism goes full-circle
- Sealy 13y agoThat is so refreshing.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- yoster 13y agoGreat signs! This is a better way to invoke the "feel good" attitude for visitors. When people see signs that say no loitering, no littering, and the like, it actually does put the idea in the back of that persons head. No one actually likes to be told what to do and that is why these signs get ignored.
- LanceH 13y agoUnauthorized personnel only.
- salmonellaeater 13y agoSTRICTLY speaking you should stay on the path, however, we also encourage a spot of exploring too! Have a wonderful day. The grammar nerd in me is grinding his teeth.
- nijk 13y agoNaturesPlayground made me throw my phone.
- minimax 13y agoWhat part of the sentence do you think is ungrammatical?
- sltkr 13y ago1. It's a run-on sentence. There should be a period, or at least semicolon, before “however”. Using a proper conjunction like “but” is possible too, but then the comma following it needs to go. 2. Putting both “also” and “too” in the second clause is redundant.
- wavefunction 13y agoIt was all good until I got to the one about keeping your mobile on for Twitter. Take a break from the dull monotony of 140 characters, please!
- Naga 13y agoI think this is a fantastic idea. Historical sites, and history in general, are the collective property of everyone, held in trust by the historical community, be it historians in universities or tour guides at museums. We preserve history to keep it alive for subsequent generations, so everyone experience where we came from and who we are. What's the point of preserving history if it is going to be locked up in a stuffy old archive? Public engagement in history is such an important part of keeping history alive, since if no one cares about it, why should it be preserved?
- timthorn 13y agoIt should be noted that the National Trust is also concerned with the natural environment as well as historic sites. For example, their Enterprise/Project Neptune campaign is focussed on securing the British coastline. What's nice about the NT is that they're not an in-you-face political campaign group, they just go about conservation on a daily basis.
- drivers99 13y agoIt's a cute idea but I would hope they'd remove the signs once they get the point across, because it's visual clutter. It'd be better to have no signs at all, eventually.
- sixothree 13y agoI live in a tourist destination city and see people taking pictures from boring spots. I've considered placing or lobbying to place small signs or markings for spots that make extraordinary photo opportunities.
- raldi 13y agoNot very friendly to visitors who have a less-than-firm grasp of English.
- marshray 13y agoArguably no signs with words are.
- raldi 13y agoI disagree; a "RESERVED for a private party" sign is effective even if you only understand the first word, and it's certainly not misleading. Whereas a "RESERVED for fun and games" sign can easily confuse someone who understands the first word (perhaps they've seen it on other English signs before) but not "fun" nor "games", and they'll be misled into thinking they're not allowed to go into that area.
- marshray 13y agoSo if you were in a foreign land and knowing only a few words I saw a sign that said: CMWOHGHSJE! mvw pxx MVORUW the DUCKS What would you think?
- robwgibbons 13y agoSure, these signs are cute, even original. But without any honest purpose beyond being witty, they're frankly not adding value to the public. Yes, I would prefer to see traditional signs executed this way when needed in parks (where a posted sign is actually warranted) but I would ultimately prefer not to see any signs at all.