Design Failures: Exploring the Defeat and Bad Design in Public Facilities

Are you familiar with the term “design failure”?

“Design failure” is one of the so-called Internet slangs. This term is used to refer to failures in public facilities where the emphasis is on design when it comes to information displays, etc., but the information that should have been conveyed is difficult to convey to users, or leads to unintended use.

There is also a lot of interest in “design failure” on X (Twitter), and similar examples are often posted with images, attracting attention. Tweet aggregation service Togetter explains “Weekly X (Twitter) trends that you can understand in about 3 minutes[J-CAST business trip version]”, and this time we will delve into “Design failure”.

The image is an image

Lawson private brand that caused controversy as “fashionable” and “difficult to understand” (from Lawson’s official website)

Revised Lawson PB (Photographed by J-CAST News Editorial Department in April 2021)

Are the restroom guide signs a “defeat of design”?

One of the most frequently talked about “design failures” is the “restroom sign”.

One such facility is Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, a complex that opened in 2018. In an image of the facility that one user tweeted with the comment, “This is truly a failure of design,” a piece of paper with the words “Restrooms” printed in large letters was printed near the area where pictograms showing directions to restrooms were posted. You can see a standing signboard being placed.

Looking at the images, the size of the pictograms posted was much smaller than those found in general facilities, and due to their poor visibility, the facility installed a separate signboard for users looking for restrooms. It seems that.

[Design failure]Tokyo Midtown Hibiya’s idea of “making the design as simple and beautiful as possible” made the toilet icon too small and a signboard was installed.

Other users made a series of harsh comments such as, “It’s fashionable, but this kind of thing is not practical,” and “This is arrogance on the part of the designer. I think a design that doesn’t consider the users is not a design at all.” I did.

In the design of interiors, techniques have been adopted in various places to make them less noticeable by reducing their size to blend in with the surroundings, but guide maps for facilities used by an unspecified number of people are limited to restrooms. Many people seem to place importance on “ease of understanding”.

As a result of prioritizing good appearance, the guide was unable to fully fulfill its original role, and in the end it became necessary to add extra guides to compensate for the deficiency.This is a typical situation. You could call it a “defeat of design.”

Other “defeats in design” that were talked about in And so on.

Rather than a “defeat of design”, is it “bad design”?

Slang terms like “design failure” are catchy and easy to use, but they are vague in definition. The spread of examples of “design failure” has sparked debate, with opinions questioning its usage and definition.

The starting point for this post was also an example of information marks for restrooms. The story goes that the pictograms of the restrooms at one facility were designed so that it was difficult to tell the gender at first glance, and an additional piece of paper was pasted below the pictograms with the words “Men’s Restroom” written on them.

This post also received a number of reactions that included the words “defeat of design.”

On the other hand, in response to this post, one user pointed out, “This is not a “defeat of design,” but “a result of a bad/low-quality design.” This drew attention.

“If it’s a ‘design failure’, it can be interpreted as ‘the design isn’t bad (or good), but it was defeated by other elements,’ but in this case, the original purpose of the design, which was ‘to be a men’s restroom’, was not fulfilled. We should say, “The design is not good.”

Net slang “defeat of design” is the result of a bad design, so it is pointed out that it is incorrect Japanese. Some say “defeat design” fits well – Togetter

Regarding this post, in the context of the fundamental viewpoint of “How should we understand the word design in the first place” and the failure to present a design that goes beyond the general toilet mark, “If anything, it’s a defeated design.” There was a lively discussion with people saying,

On the contrary, the phrase “defeat of design” seems to give us an opportunity to think about the meaning of design itself.

On the other hand, is a “really good design” less likely to be noticed?

So far, we have talked about “defeats of design,” but conversely, what does “victory of design” or good design look like? At X, a post that mentioned this point attracted attention.

One X user posted a post that said, “Items with good design often integrate into everyday life, so examples of ‘design victory’ are hard to notice from users,” which attracted attention.

Using books as an example, the user wrote, “If you can easily read the book you’re holding, you’re witnessing a design victory, but no one says it out loud.”

“The victory of design is hard to notice because it blends into daily life” The wonder of being able to use it as intended and without any discomfort, and the nature of work that is “natural”

In response to this post, other users said, “The more well-designed the UI (user interface) and real-space design, the less attention is paid to it,” and “Good design means that it is designed so skillfully that you don’t notice it.” There were voices of agreement.

Other comments overlapped with other examples, such as, “It’s like infrastructure (in that everyone uses it without being aware of it)” and “It’s similar to work that prevents troubles before they occur”, and “Existence is conscious. I think the best compliment is “I think the best compliment is that it wasn’t done.” “I want to notice and praise as much as possible.” Some people said they were trying to focus on good design.

“Design failures” tend to be talked about because they attract attention, but there are probably many designs out there that are just as good. Sometimes it might be a good idea to look around and think about various designs.

That’s all for the “Weekly X (Twitter) trends you can understand in about 3 minutes[J-CAST business trip version]” brought to you by Togetter. If you would like to look back at the Togetter summary introduced this time, please click here. Next time we look forward to.