Designing Unattractively
A thought after visiting Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, on a long weekend during
schools’ spring break, in a perfect spring weather. This is the day
when no family can stay at home. And it is also a perfect day, unfortunately, to lose a child in a crowd.
The
situation is not new to this zoo, however, and preventive measures are
taken. As soon as you enter the zoo, you will find people, voluntary
staffs organized by Japan Red Cross, handing over Maigo-Fuda, a
lost child tag. On the small temporary table placed right after,
parents can write down the child’s name, gender, and the phone numbers
to contact, if they wish to do so. Then, the card is to be kept in a
pocket of the child.
A website
run by one of the volunteers mentions that there are two different card
designs: one, comes in a plain form, just like the one in the image
above. Alternative design comes in a panda illustration. According to
her, the latter obviously appeals to children more.
It made me think, that perhaps in this context, it is best that the card does not appeal to children.
Kids, when they like something, they tend to hold on to them. To be
precise, they tend to hold on, until they find something that attracts
them more, like a lion or an elephant. And when that transition of
interest happens, the object in hand is often at a risk of loss.
So
in this particular context, the plain practical card without any pandas
or lions drawn seems like a better idea. That way, kids will not be
attracted to the card from the beginning and they will be safely stored
in a pocket.
Sometimes, we need design that does not attract.
