Aaron Schmidt at walking paper has a thoughtful post about signs in the library, in contrast to the usual blog posts from librarians which say “Your signs are UGLY and MEAN,” with examples.
It is not just the SHH-ing librarian signs which create a negative environment. I think having well thought out, intelligent, and pleasing signs project an image of a library which is dynamic and forward thinking. You know, with it.
Or, dare I say it, cool. It is not just that we should have Apple ads marketing us. But we can learn from the simplicity Apple has adopted. A panellist in a recent interview asked me what I thought of the library’s website. I honestly said it was cluttered and busy. People don’t have the patience to read pages of distracting words. What Apple understands is that your message has to hit people instantly and hard: Apple=Beautiful Simplicity=Dancing iPod commercial.
One of Aaron’s students Anna Warns did such a beautiful job illustrating this point that I had to include it here. On the left is the original, and on the right the redesigned sign:
Which sign cultivates an atmosphere and promotes a community where you would like to participate?
Technorati Tags: Library as Place
There was this job interview that I was unfortunate enough to be in about 5 years ago where the principal of the design firm twisted my honest response to a ridiculous question into “Only the privileged deserve good design.” This redesigned poster is exactly what I was trying to communicate before my words were twisted all to hell.
Guelph is full of grassroots hippie folk championing causes which are all worthwhile, but 95% of the time the message is always mucked up through overly complex communications. Do they do this in the face of the effective design principles used by multinational corporations for fear of losing street cred by turning to the dark side? Do their egos get in the way because their interpretation of a message is the gospel to be followed to the word . . . and we need to follow the Sheppard? Hopefully they have just been too busy trying to build a case for their cause and they are ignorant to the power of good design.
To remind all the non-designer types at work about effective communication, a variation of these two quotes pops up once in a while:
“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” – Martin Fischer
and
“Less is more” – Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe