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Previous: Liverpool FC sign | Main | Next: SF parking sign
September 6, 2005 12:03 AM
Broken: Gas station vestibule
Danielle Gobert writes:
This picture was taken at a gas station in Sardis, Mississippi. Of course, any time you see a sign like "this is not a door", you know something is broken.
There is a little vestibule in front, but only one of the three sides (the front) of the vestibule actually has a door. I cracked up picturing customer after customer walking smack into the glass having expected an automatic door to open.
Reminds me of the college campus that didn't put down sidewalks to new buildings for a few months. They just let students wear paths in the grass, and wherever they went they eventually put a sidewalk. THAT is user-centric design.
Having to put up signs like these is a pretty good clue to the designer that his design isn't user-centric.
I wonder if he even has a clue...or if they're still putting up cookie-cutter standard built gas stations of this design all over the country, to frustrate customers everywhere.
The sides of the building do not even remotely look like doors. There's no cross member at the top, handles etc. It's one thing to have a door that doesn't open, but this is stretching it.
>> Insert Missippi average intelligence/high school drop out rate joke here
That being said if they put up a couple ads, like we have the lowest priced cigarettes, and they spanned the two posts, I don't think anyone would still walk into it.
Either that or maybe put some auto trader/home realestate displays in this area so that people could once again visually see that it's not a door.
Finally if all else fails, change the wording on the signs to:
The way is shut
it was made by those who are dead...
and the dead keep it.
The way is shut
If while walking towards the door I'm dodging cars and reaching for my wallet, I'm not going to spend any time comparing the different kinds of doors to see which one looks more door-like, I'm going to rely on the most obvious clues.
The side looks too much like a tall sliding post-and-lintel doorway. Broken.
Vestibule is a fun word!
----
Anyway, i guess you could mistake this as a door, considering it reaches to the ground and is about the right width.
You can call anything broken that is misused when put in front of someone stupid.
I'm sorry, but this is pushing it. Sliding doors are easily distinguished from unmovable panes of glass.
If someone was distracted and walked into the glass it doesn't make it broken, just like if someone was distracted and fell down some stairs it doesn't make the stairs broken.
While we don't call everything broken when misused by someone stupid, the very fact that a sign needed to be put there to indicate that there was no door provides us with some information: A non-trivial number of CUSTOMERS thought there was a door there.
I highlight the word customer because ultimately, when designing, we need to keep the intended audience in mind. If our intended audience includes "stupid" people, then we need to design to accomodate for them, or deliberately choose to exclude them from audience.
I'm not sure if that is broken. I've seen that at lots of gas stations and I've never thought to walk through anything but the actual doors rather than the windows on the side.
On the other hand, if people really are walking into it, then I have to admit it must need to be improved. Perhaps frosting the glass with a pattern or something. Maybe making horizontal bars as panes would help. Testing may be needed.
Carlos, while it may be true that a non trivial number of customer walked into the glass, it's also true that it might have been one guy, a lawyer talking on his cell phone and drinking a hot coffee who walked into the glass. To the original poster, when you were there did it appear that they were all doors, from the picture it looks pretty clear but in person maybe the glass panes are wider and look much more like doors.
Is anyone else tempted to get in and out stickers and put them on the glass and watch what happens?!!
I don't have anything useful to add to this discussion, I just wanted to say that I totally agree with Bob- vestibule IS a fun word!! And Joshua, you're evil... I like it! =D
Yes, I did think you could get in through there. And I don't think putting ads on it would help. Most gas stations DO have ads and stickers and various miscellany on the doors.
/original poster
The problem isn't just that the glass panels look like doors...
In any situation where mental work is required, people will expend the minimum amount effort to arrive at an answer.
In this case, they are only looking for the most obvious distinguishing characteristic to find a door.
Since the building clearly has walls that are not doors (look at the left side of the picture), it's natural to assume that something that isn't "wall-like" must be a door -- especially if it's near what clearly *is* a door.
It would be interesting to see if the same problem happened if *all* the walls in this building were 100% glass. My guess is that it might happen less - faced with an all-glass building, the mental exercise people would use to find a door would change from 'can't look like a wall' to 'must have a handle'.
I think moving the in and out signs would be very evil indeed, but not enough to get your *asterisk* sued off. Besides, the store clerks need some entertainment anyway, something healthier than chainsmoking.
I actually saw an even more frustrating 'vestibule' situation...the door WAS on the side, not in front...because that's where the sidewalk was. So, people would walk up to the 'front' of the vestibule and end up facing glass. You had to know to go around to the side to get in. Now that was really stupid.
What about the double doors on buildings--when one is ALWAYS locked?
The damn building code says they have to have two doors, but then they're allowed to lock one? What the heck?!? And you never know which one is locked (or that one IS locked) until you crash into it or tug on it expecting it to open. And if you have traffic going in and out of the building at the same time, you get an awkward dance as opposing flows of people try to squeeze through one open door while another PERFECTLY GOOD DOOR that was designed in, paid for, provided, and built goes completely UNUSED because it is LOCKED.
Why in the world is this allowed? It ain't just broken, it's stupid and dangerous.
The FedEx/UPS (I forget which) in Clinton, New York City is like this. There's a whole piece along the front of sidewalk-to-ceiling glass, and only the last two open. Then, while inside, there's a really long vestibule with only 1 pane that slides open.
I'll take a picture someday & send it in.
I usually don't trust automatic doors anyway, I've never walked straight INTO one that wasn't working.. It just makes sense to walk up to it, and if it doesn't open... STOP WALKING!
I usually don't trust automatic doors anyway, I've never walked straight INTO one that wasn't working.. It just makes sense to walk up to it, and if it doesn't open... STOP WALKING!
A gas station/store near me is designed that the entire front of building is huge glass panels. The doorway is that two of these humongous(sp.) panels slide back and forth with a rumble, opening a gap to walk through. even just one small person triggers a doorway big enough to drive a truck through. letting large amounts of heat or air conditioning out. when there is a certain flow of traffic the doors don't know whether to close or open, they wiggle and rumble, bumping into people who are not in the center of the doorway, or they jamb up and have to be pushed. (I wish I was able to submit it)
">> Insert Missippi average intelligence/high school drop out rate joke here"
Mr. Wood, if you're going to insult the intelligence of a whole state, you should at least spell the state correctly (M - I - crooked letter - crooked letter - I...).
Erich: Reminds me of the college campus that didn't put down sidewalks to new buildings for a few months. They just let students wear paths in the grass, and wherever they went they eventually put a sidewalk. THAT is user-centric design.
Having to put up signs like these is a pretty good clue to the designer that his design isn't user-centric.
I wonder if he even has a clue...or if they're still putting up cookie-cutter standard built gas stations of this design all over the country, to frustrate customers everywhere
++++++++++++
My old college put in a sidewalk because there was a rut worn in the sod where a sidewalk should have been...
At least they were paying attention.
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: Liverpool FC sign | Main | Next: SF parking sign
is laughing at people walking into glass all that goes on here anymore?
Posted by: gmangw at September 6, 2005 12:38 AM