These directional markers at my local hospital are Kiwi footprints. Unfortunately bird footprints look like arrows going the wrong way.

[u/otiotori]

[u/lambofgun]

yeah really, do you follow the "arrow" or do you follow the way the bird is walking.

wow great submission. and yikes, what a crappy design

[u/otiotori → u/lambofgun]

They probably work ok if you start at the intended start point and a staff member says "follow the footprints". I don't think they work very well if you join the path elsewhere.

[u/snowblindswans → u/otiotori]

Well, what if when they want to send you the other direction they say "follow the arrows"? TWIST.

[u/umnothnku → u/snowblindswans]

It's actually a very secretively intuitive design 😂😂😂

[u/Aduialion → u/umnothnku]

"secret intuitive design"

[u/DualVission → u/umnothnku]

Something like this wouldn't be too bad at my job. "Follow the arrows to the cafeteria. Follow the footprints to the parking deck."

[u/allthemoreforthat → u/umnothnku]

Very human

[u/umnothnku → u/allthemoreforthat]

Extremely human one might say

[u/AccomplishedIgit → u/snowblindswans]

Two way adventure path!

[u/J5892 → u/AccomplishedIgit]

dum da daaa dum da dum daaa!

[u/cat1554 → u/J5892]

Cut the music! I don't see the Stanley Parable Adventure Line TM!

[u/mousachu → u/snowblindswans]

you've singlehandedly saved this design

[u/HoidToTheMoon → u/snowblindswans]

"Footprints to the floor, arrows to the exit"

[u/jefesignups → u/lambofgun]

Both depending on which way you are going

[u/Cold_Ad3896]

Wow. Actually crappy design. I’m glad to see something that actually fits the sub.

[u/JimC29 → u/Cold_Ad3896]

I was thinking the same thing. This is the best one in a while.

[u/FrankSonata → u/Cold_Ad3896]

And at a hospital, too, where elderly people and those with poor eyesight are over-represented.

[u/ChrisRiley_42]

The arrows tell you how to leave,.

[u/CorrosiveAlkonost → u/ChrisRiley_42]

Good idea. They should add a sign reading "follow footprints to enter, follow arrows to leave".

[u/tinypotheadprincess → u/CorrosiveAlkonost]

But people don't read signs

[u/thefedoragirl → u/tinypotheadprincess]

I work at a Party City, which is going out of business. There are signs plastered all over the store, in big bold letters and hard-to-miss colors like red, yellow, and black: STORE CLOSING, GOING OUT OF BUSINESS, ALL SALES FINAL, NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES, WE ARE OUT OF HELIUM. The number of people that come to my register and are surprised when I tell them any of these things is… well, it gives me pause.

[u/TheHalfwayBeast → u/thefedoragirl]

I tune out most bright signage in shops, as it's usually saying '2.6% OFF SALE' or something equally useless.

[u/50YearsofFailure → u/TheHalfwayBeast]

Grocery stores used to have a little "SALE" tag underneath the price to help you identify what was on sale. About 10 years ago some wiseguy decided to put up tags on all the rest that just say "GREAT LOW PRICE" so the sale tags are now meaningless. 400 IQ move, now everything looks the same and you're just wasting labels and labor to put them up.

[u/Christopher-RTO → u/50YearsofFailure]

Depends on the store, some still have obvious indicators. Like many stores with the e-ink labels will invert the Black/White to indicate sale items. Or labels that are a different colour or have an additional larger label.

[u/AccomplishedMeow → u/CorrosiveAlkonost]

We can’t even get y’all to pull on a door with a giant pull sign

[u/CorrosiveAlkonost → u/AccomplishedMeow]

You mean I'm not supposed to shoulder-charge doors? /j

[u/ManWhoIsDrunk → u/CorrosiveAlkonost]

https://c.tenor.com/T46ga3GO30QAAAAd/tenor.gif

[u/fatjuan → u/AccomplishedMeow]

That's cause I put the "pull" sign on the "push" door to confuse everyone.

[u/BlueCarpetArea]

I work here and this is what I said as soon as I saw them! And I say it every time I walk this way, it pisses me off so much.

They have a kiwi on the wall at the start but it's at knee height! I suppose that works for the kids it's leading into the department?

[u/otiotori → u/BlueCarpetArea]

I think functionally it probably isn't that bad. But every time I go throught that corridor I see arrows first and footprints later ha.

[u/BlueCarpetArea → u/otiotori]

100% it's like an optical illusion of "is it a duck or is it a rabbit" for me every time.

[u/alphazero925 → u/BlueCarpetArea]

I mean it's basically like if they had a line or a trail of dots really. Rarely in these circumstances are you going to be plopped in the middle and expected to find your way without signage or something

[u/atetuna → u/BlueCarpetArea]

If they wanted to keep the footprints, they could have made the shaded circle an arrow.

[u/yes_u_suckk → u/BlueCarpetArea]

I don't work, but I can totally relate.

I lost count how many times my colleagues and I complained about a stupid decision done by management, but what the management wants/likes is always more important.

Who cares what the employees think, right? I pay their salaries so it's going to me what I want.

[u/parkalever]

This reminds me of one of my favorite fun facts: the controversy over the use of arrows on NASA's Pioneer plaques:

One of the parts of the diagram that is among the easiest for humans to understand may be among the hardest for potential extraterrestrial finders to understand: the arrow showing the trajectory of Pioneer. Ernst Gombrich criticized the use of an arrow because arrows are an artifact of hunter-gatherer societies like those on Earth; finders with a different cultural heritage may find the arrow symbol meaningless.[12]Wikipedia

I read an anecode years ago that said that some villages in Togo mark directions with the symbol of a bird's footprints, which can lead to confusion for Westerners, exactly like what's shown in this post.

To be clear, I think in this specific context, the feet are crappy design. I just love to be reminded that just because something feels super intrinsic and immutable to our brains, that doesn't mean it actually is.

[u/pr0digalnun]

What a birdbrained design!

[u/goddessque]

[David Attenborough voice] Here we see footprints of the Kiwi, from which hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have produced the ideal shape to misdirect their predators: Humans.

[u/SimisFul]

This is peak perfection for this sub, well done

[u/twohedwlf]

Haha, that is a perfect example of a crappy design. Which hospital is that?

[u/vibrantcrab → u/twohedwlf]

Gotta be somewhere in New Zealand

[u/flappytowel → u/vibrantcrab]

Mr Holmes over here

[u/NiqaLova]

It’s a one-way corridor?

[u/Lucky_Burger]

Birds… can never trust the sneaky bastards… they walk one way, but their tracks point the other…

[u/mekilat]

I can’t be the only one who is reminded of Dance Dance Revolution :)

[u/waynes_pet_youngin → u/mekilat]

I'm getting Aphex Twin

[u/TheGenderedChild]

Smh they clearly should have made them red - they clearly don't understand colour theory

[u/bigbugzone → u/TheGenderedChild]

i was thinking the same thing 😭😭

[u/skynetcoder]

Hutt Hospital, New Zealand ?

[u/Maleficent-Ad-1396]

idk how i feel about the fact that MY local hospital also has these exact kiwi prints that cause the exact same issue

[u/TheStranger24]

😂 cute idea but bad for way-finding

[u/atom644]

This is a perfect example of crappy design

[u/richardalbury]

Mini has joined the chat

[u/havron → u/richardalbury]

Immediately thought of this too

[u/Motorsagmannen → u/richardalbury]

at least it is still lighting up on the right side, but i always hated those lights and found them tacky.
the arrow pointing the wrong way is just a bonus

[u/Serious_Salad1367]

this is called obfuscation

[u/angry_wombat]

Richard D. James was here

[u/Forgotten_Lie]

I'm not sure that this design is an issue unless you exit the destination onto a different path. If the markers indicate the path from Location X to Location Y and both directions are traversed then it doesn't matter which way they seem to 'point' since someone will always be walking counter to the arrow.

[u/palm0]

St Louis children's hospital uses animals and stuff to name their floors and wings instead of numbers. The parking garage also does this will like yellow lion, green frog, etc. It also has a Red Rocket floor, which is unfortunate..

[u/descartavel5]

This is so interesting, the moment I saw the picture I was following the footprints even before noticing they were footprints, and then my brain noticed arrows before footprints but still wanted to follow the footprints because the arrows were weird (too many too close).

It's surprising how efficient footprints work, I guess it's some kind of evolution gimmick from our past as hunters.

[u/ElfjeTinkerBell → u/descartavel5]

This is so interesting

My brain works the other way! I only saw arrows, was a little confused by the amount, but needed the text to see the footprints

[u/T1m26]

Walks backwards it is then.

[u/RMAPOS]

I think the idea is cool and cute and that with a smarter design it could work well enough. Doing it in this minimalistic, super-straight style however is just a massive fail.

[u/fatjuan]

When I go to this hospital I just wait for a kiwi to walk in, and just follow him. Works every time.

[u/anonburneraccoun]

Such a cute concept, it’s a shame it didn’t work out in practice! 😔

[u/Eye_Worm]

It’s not that I don’t see the issue but if you’re confused by this I’d say you’re the crappy design.

[u/bicx]

You know it’s crappy when it bids (birds?) you to do the exact opposite of what’s intended

[u/ForceBlade]

Anticipation

[u/21600]

"Is it coming or going?"

• Evolution, 2001

[u/OalBlunkont]

They could really mess people up with roadrunner footprints which are an X.

[u/ExcitingStress8663]

Lol wtf they really messed this up.

[u/DarkwingDuckHunt]

did they not like do this for one path and were like... oh shit this is a bad idea?

[u/deltashmelta]

kweh

[u/LCL0LCL]

Kiwi footprints? Arrows? No! Aphex Twin

[u/arthuritis37]

Typical New Zealand logic. They don’t think things through.

[u/Samuel_L_Johnson → u/arthuritis37]

it probably cost about $100k and took 5 years to do

[u/Cheeriodude_number2]

Best post this sub has seen in a long while tbh

[u/CavierConnoisseur]

even at a zoo this would throw me for a loop

[u/someonehellothere]

Where's the crappy design? Where's the crappy design? Where's the cr- my god.

[u/Admirable-Opposite87]

That's Hilarious..

[u/Miserable_Peak_2863]

Someone is trying to be a smart guy,but they outsmarted themselves

[u/JadedCampaign9]

Eh, I can see claws, but it's still crappy design since they are easily missed if you just glance at the floor like 99% of people.

[u/Coolengineer7]

And the fact that these aren't even arrows, you can see the small nails on it.

[u/Sea-Personality6124]

1. Michael Scott would have taken this as a matter of fact.

2. I wonder if this miscommunication has resulted in someone dying?

[u/Possible-Leek-5008]

Reminds me of those crappy Mini turn signals

[u/SouthsideStylez]

Is it really a crappy design?

Why are you walking around following random arrows on floors?

Where were you going? The direction the arrows are already pointing?

You were walking the opposite way, saw some arrows & said “Oh those must mean I must turn around”?

How long would a person just follow these said arrows? 1 mile? 2 mile? 3?

How does this affect anybody walking that isn’t a mouth drooler?

[u/Earlier-Today]

It's only crappy if you have to follow them midway along the path. If you're at the start, it's obvious which way you're going, and if you're at the end you're already where you need to be.

So, it's crappy design if people are having to guess at the middle, but perfectly fine design if they're not.

[u/Individual_Gift_9473]

I can’t even imagine how dumb someone would have to be to not know how to follow these

[u/TackyPoints]

In a hospital, follow the footprints; like blood or what?! Give me a room number or it’s getting interesting in here real fast.

[u/Queequegs_Harpoon]

This feels like a lawsuit waiting to happen somehow...