Daniel H. Pink is the author of four provocative bestselling books about the changing world of work. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and their three children.
More about Dan...
Get the irregular and irreverent Pink Newsletter—full of ideas, excerpts, and freebies on working smarter and living better.
Here’s a collection of signage, emotionally intelligent and otherwise, that readers have sent in recently. (Warning: One sign has language that probably isn’t safe for work or for kids.) From Oskar Pearson: From Rick Carek: From Adam Clayman:
Steve Akers of Louisville writes: “I know from your blog that you like signs, so I’m attaching the photo of a sign I saw at our local zoo this past weekend. It is not emotionally intelligent, but it certainly illustrates extreme extrinsic motivation. It seems this construction company feels that company swag is exactly the [...]
Yesterday’s post about signage on asphalt sparked an interesting response. We got some smart (and not entirely positive) contributions in the Comments section. And several readers offered their own contributions. For instance, Eileen Boswell sent this one, which originated here and which carries a tart political message. And a bunch of folks pointed out the [...]
Andrei Ristea, a reader in Romania, sends this example of emotionally intelligent signage on asphalt.
Terry Brock sends this example from Harbour Coffee in Williamsburg, Virginia:
Where to put your clothing in a department store dressing room might not be the most pressing problem that civilization faces right now. But Eileen Boswell sends this solution-through-signage. As you see below, one peg says “POSSIBLY,” the other “DEFINITELY.” Not bad. It’s simple, clever, and no doubt effective. The only thing missing is a [...]
Jennifer Caleshu of the Bay Area Discovery Museum send this “copyright caution” (interesting that it’s not a “warning”) from a course reader in her Haas MBA program: COPYRIGHT CAUTION: As you know, copyright protection of original intellectual property is a big deal, particularly to the content authors and publishers. Therefore, it should come as no [...]
Last year, the folks at Volkswagen and Fun Theory devised an engaging (and musical!) way for people to exit a subway station. Now they’ve come up with a equally engaging way for people to enter a subway station. (Someone should do a story about subterranean behavior modification. There are lots and lots of examples – [...]
Most of the time around here we highlight signage that we consider emotionally intelligent — that is, signage that either encourages empathy on the part of the viewer or demonstrates empathy for his or her situation. But sometimes signage can be simply emotional. It can shock and awe us into thinking — and occasionally into [...]
From Singapore comes something new: Emotionally intelligent drain covers. To discourage people from littering and to beautify shared space, the Asian city-state is turning its drain covers into small works of art. “On average 14 tonnes of rubbish enter Singapore’s reservoirs daily,” reports ChannelNewsAsia.com. Much of it comes from stray bits that people think are [...]
