insights, ironies and idiosyncrasies in communication and design

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Sunday 29 November 2009

Downside up.



Thailand has long demonstrated true creative innovation in the fields of graphic, interior and product design but has, quite understandably, never been famed for its inventive use of English copy – not for want of trying – though the corner now might have been turned.


Either error has played the mother of invention and a poor parking lot signage order (double the amount of 'up' signs needed and no 'downs') forced Bumrungrad hospital into a resourceful rethink, or the signs are part of a deliberate design choice with an intentional economy of words. Either way it's a playful inversion and a sign that the craft of copywriting is on the, er, up.

Photography by Asit Prueangwet.

3 comments:

Tom said...

This is damn cool. Very smart indeed.

Rupert James said...

Thanks, Tom. Glad to hear that this Thai work translates.

Rikker said...

Heh, I blogged about those exact signs a while back. The title of my post summed up my thoughts: Trying too hard to be clever.

And clever it is, but not maximally helpful. Like an all Flash website.

It also doesn't help that Bamrungrad reversed the direction of ramps in the larger of their their parking structures a while back -- so that every arrow is painted over a still-visible arrow pointing the opposite direction. (You can actually see it quite clearly in the second of the pictures you posted.)