Tokyo Stories

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.