Emotionally intelligent signage

Emotionally intelligent signage in the subway

(Via Arts Journal and Jason Shelowitz)


Emotionally intelligent seatbelt ad

(Via Alexander Commercials. HT: Craig Safir)


Stairway to motivational heaven

My pal Scott Underwood directed me to a fascinating study that stands at the intersection of two of my obsessions: motivation and signs. Say you need to go from the ground floor of a building to the fourth floor. Climbing stairs is obviously better for your health than standing in an elevator. But how can […]


Beyond Stop and Yield

Gary Lauder has a brilliant proposal to make traffic signs more emotionally intelligent — and to reduce energy costs and accidents in the process.  Just watch his four-and-a-half-minute TED Talk, which I’ve embedded below.


Emotionally intelligent dashboard signage?

Would having this odometer make you drive more safely? (Note: If it’s not obvious, the scale is in kilometers rather than miles.) (HT: Adam Shepard)


An emotionally intelligent . . . unsubscribe link?

Here’s a new one, courtesy of Eddie Garcia. Take a look at this unsubscribe link from Groupon. Pretty clever. I have a feeling it could actually get people to reconsider ending their subscription. (Note: Because Groupon is apparently overwhelmed with visitors today, I had to link to a Screenr video of the unsubscribe page rather […]


Emotionally intelligent signage . . . in an airport?

Herking and jerking through airport security these days is nobody’s idea of fun. Jackets end up in tangled balls. Shoes and belts enter the X-ray, then don’t reappear. Gray bins collide, knocking laptops to the floor. The whole experience can be discombobulating. Enter the good people at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport. As I discovered last […]


Emotionally intelligent subway signage

Rodney Martin send this example of emotionally intelligent signage from — of all places — the New York City subway. Instead of simply issuing an edict about block doors, the sign tries to explain the reason for the rule and maybe stir a few molecules of empathy.I’m not convinced, this will be effective in the […]


Signs that make you look twice — Part 2

My old friend and college classmate Sharon Roth sends this tangle of a sign, which she snapped on the mean streets of Park Ridge, Illinois. The “Stop Means Stop” addendum at the bottom could be effective, she says. But there’s so much clutter and noise surrounding it that many drivers tune out rather than slow down.  (In other […]


Signs that make you look twice — Part 1

Jason Soll — a sprinter, a TEDster, and a central Ohio homeboy — sends this sign from his dorm at Claremont McKenna College. It’s clever. And by getting us to look twice, the sign might prod us into following its instructions.

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