A Designer’s Vacation Photos

First an apology for the lack of article for August. It was vacation time. One glorious month of Europe. 6 different countries, over 15 different cities, towns and even a principality.

For those of you who have never traveled with a designer, your photos must be, well, so normal. However, my poor camera frequently finds itself shooting odd subjects. From garbage cans, street signs or zooming in on random billboards. The world around us is highly designed. Everything we use, every object that helps us live our lives was designed by someone. Visiting a foreign country makes the designer in me work over-time. I want to capture the genius and the obtuse. As a tourist I am left staring at things I would ignore in my own city. I pay attention to what is probably mundane to the locals.

Here are 5 of the top photos that capture some interesting design solutions (4 good, 1 questionable)

London Tube.

Harry Beck created the London Underground map. By doing so he created a mapping system, now used around the world, to help people get from point A to point B. He ignored geographical accuracy and instead used color, lines and the circuit diagram metaphor to communicate clearly. The London Underground’s map and in-station signage are synced so even if you forget the name of the route, you can still find your way by finding the color of the line. Cognitive brilliance.

Antonio Gaudi.

If you are not familiar with Gaudi , you will be if you ever make a trip to Barcelona. Gaudi’s brilliant architecture dots the city and is now part of every tourist’s have-to-see list. Gaudi was very interested in blending what he learnt from nature into his work. So every building, every piece of furniture that Gaudi designed, ignores symmetry and instead focuses on the organic softness of curves or working with gravity and mathematics to create buildings that almost resemble living things. Gaudi didn’t just create beauty, he created work that was usable , livable and entirely experiential .

The Folding Pet Stores on the Las Rambla

Probably not as celebrated as the Gaudi buildings but still ingenious! On the busy Las Rambla you can stroll past tens of mini pet stores that sell everything from hamsters and snakes to various exotic birds. First of all, who would have thought that a row of pet stores on a busy pedestrian throughfare was necessary. Not sure. But what makes them so brilliant is that when the day is done, the store owner has to just pull in the walls of their store like the doors on a closet, put one lock, and viola their precious inventory is safe and concealed. The magic folding pet store doors function as part of the display during the day and secure the critters in a safe dark ventilated haven at night. Nifty!

Bicycling in Paris

Paris is dealing with the environmental and congestion issues posed by traffic by introducing the Velib bicycle system . Besides the kudos they deserve for the enviro-friendly bike program, I love their design solution to make it easy for people to tap into the system. Sign up using a well-designed interactive kiosk located at every bike parking station. Parking stations are located just about everywhere in Paris. Walk over to the bike stand, take out a bike and ride to your heart’s content (or till your time runs out). When it’s time to return the bike, simply find another bike stand (again, they are everywhere!) and put the bike in and boom you are done. Next day pick up another bike, and repeat. Simple, clean, elegant. (We saw Barcelona had it’s own smaller Bicing system).

Multi-Functional Garbage cans.

The last one, is in the "what were they thinking" category of design. Barcelona has recycling containers that replace old garbage cans in train stations. Awesome. Only problem, the labels to indicate what to put into which bin are uncolored, unlabelled, embossed icons on the container. I bet the contents have to sorted at the end of the day to account for laziness and mistakes, given the hard to see signage. The raised edges get dirty and scuffed as well. Paris has it’s own really big recycling solutions.