https://cabel.com/2023/07/30/fantasy-meets-reality/ cabel.com cabel.com A Blog by Cabel Sasser * Who? [header] July 30, 2023 Fantasy Meets Reality One of my favorite things to notice as a weirdo is when the good intentions of design slam into the hard reality of humans and the real world. It's always interesting. Let's start with an Asgardian example, a theme park design story told in three photos. (Pics via DLPReport) 1 A nice scenic thing is installed. [FY0hXCgXgAAHX8Z] 2 It's suddenly gone (and cloaked with trash cans) [FamAcEgWYAIMRVB] 3 It's back! But: something new has been added! [IMG_6988-1] You can probably guess what happened, right? This element was designed just low enough to look like an (extremely uncomfortable?) seat to a tired guest. [Fg4Dw3iWQAItpc0] [Fg4DweIXgAAKChq] (via @dlp_guests_show) When it comes to design in the real world, there are a few basic rules that seem to always apply: If it looks neat, people will want to take a photo with it. If it looks comfortable, people will want to sit on it. If it looks fun, people will play around on it. Etc. And yet, designers are often still caught by surprise! Ex-Imagineer Jim Shull recalled at least two times when this phenomenon got him: Another view of the Jeep. My operating assumption was that guests standing the queue wouldn't step out to pose with the Jeep. I was wrong. Once many guests posed on the Jeep covering it with human bodies. #Disneylandparis pic.twitter.com/noaetZzgTA -- Jim Shull (@JimShull) July 24, 2023 When Toy Story Play Land opened this toy R C Racer was available for guests to pose around. Unfortunately guests would sit on the fin and hang from the antenna and so the prop was moved to the tram tour route. A second prop was built for Toy Story Land at Hong Kong Disneyland. pic.twitter.com/M16F1paliK -- Jim Shull (@JimShull) July 24, 2023 Here's another recent example: 1 Design a beautiful sloped base for your Quinjet. [19105807-ea1f1b82-31e9-46b9-af01-0cbe69073db8] 2 Soon, rope it off. [FYSVLQLWIAEkcHr] 3 Also, add a sign. (Google "Avengers Font" first) [FYXe7VyWYAMgXhL] 4 Then, something new has been added! [Fpt-0_AXEAAtPip] How does this keep happening? Surely, you're thinking, we know how humans act by now, so we can easily adjust as necessary in our designs? But it's a big, different planet with lots of different people in it, who grew up in lots of different ways. At Tokyo Disneyland, for example, you can create elaborate in-reach prop displays that will never, ever be disturbed or broken by guests -- rules are rules. (By the same token, I once got politely yelled at there for ducking under a chain to shortcut a completely, 100% empty line. I absolutely had to walk through the entire, empty switchback. And that's fair, I was breaking the rules!) Whereas here in America, if your prop is not literally bolted down, it's likely to show up on eBay / Van Eaton within the week. [tokyo] Tokyo Disneyland also has beautiful integrated water features that were totally incomprehensible to my American litigious-society self. Wait, there's no railing here? How is this even possible?! I never would have imagined this was something you could do in a theme park. Design is global. No one person can have all the world's understanding. And that can lead to blind spots. I think there's a good argument to be made that a more diverse team of empowered designers working together could catch a lot more potential real-world design pitfalls. But honestly, a lot of it, I think, is just that some designers are amazing at imagining things, but not as amazing at imagining them surrounded by the universe. That beautiful thing you're working on, it lives in a window on your monitor tucked under a title bar, and that's as tricky as it gets. What if you can't imagine your thing in its final context? What if you aren't great at predicting human behaviors other than your own? What if you push a worst-case scenario out of your mind because you like your idea so much that it's "at least worth trying"? (I've done this!) Maybe you've forgotten how you would goof around with your friends to make them laugh way back when. Or maybe, a little bit sadly, you've forgotten what it's like to experience the world as a kid. Not everyone will, or can, have these skills. It almost seems like there's a real job here for the right type of person. "Real World Engineer"? Unfortunately, the closest thing most companies currently have is "lawyer". Hey, what about the guests? When theme park nerds discuss things like this, it's usually eye-rolled as "this is why we can't have nice things!", and I 100% get that. Yes, it would be very awesome if all of humanity had an innate sense of what would break and what wouldn't, and didn't put themselves in danger, and were more respectful to nice things, just in general. But, between you and me, I can't totally blame humans. I think this flipped for me a little at Disneyland Paris, where we watched an incredible dance play out every day: [dlp] * People would hop the fence and relax on the nice grass. * A cast member would bark and shoo everybody off. * Three minutes later people were back. Repeat infinitely. My first reaction was, naturally, "Geez! Why can't these people just follow the rules?!" But the more I thought about it, the nicer that dang grass started to look. We'd been walking all day. We're exhausted. Benches are hard to find. It's hot and humid. And what could be nicer than a Disneyland nap... the ambient noise... the smells... Suddenly -- for a brief moment -- I got it. Of course I'm going to sit on this beautiful grass lawn because it's hot and I'm exhausted and it looks relaxing! Of course I'm going to try to take a photo in this cool looking toy jeep because that's a really unique memory and heck we're waiting for this dang line to move anyway! Of course I'm going to run up this curved wall and see if I can touch the ceiling because I'm waiting for my dumb sister and it looks like the one from Ninja Warrior! And of course I'm going to try to sit on this ancient, weird stone and/or metal pedestal from Asgard, because I'm tired as hell, and the design is very successful in convincing me that it's an incredibly solid place to sit, so I don't realize it's actually hollow and made of fiberglass and will crack immediately under my weight!! Give me more places to relax! Give me more cool things to take photos with! Give me playgrounds! This was expensive and might be my only time here in my life! Rarrrrrrrr Ok, ok, deep breath. I eventually snapped back to being the good rule-following productive member of our capitalist society that I am on a (mostly) daily basis. But it still stuck with me: good design isn't just beautiful and incredible and boundary-pushing, it also remembers what it means to be human. PS: sometimes they catch it! When Disney's California Adventure first opened, it had these gigantic CALIFORNIA letters out front, to frame the entrance as if a kind of a life-sized picture postcard. [10_09_DL_02755] (via (c)Disney) As a low-key typeface goof, and an overall Futura Condensed fan, I couldn't help but notice one thing... Do you see it? [futura] (via Yesterland) Yes, the bar on the "F" was raised just a little bit higher. The white outline is the actual Futura. I'd bet you $99 this was done for just [S:one:S] two reasons: to prevent people from climbing up and sitting on the F. (And so people don't hit their heads, of course. Thx John.) One point to the designers! Best, Cabel PPS: if you have any 'well, that didn't quite go as we planned' stories, please share them so we can all learn! Like this: Like Loading... - Previous Post Leave a ReplyCancel reply 1. Total July 30, 2023 I'd push in a slightly different direction -- make things are *supposed* to be sat on, climbed on, touched. Honor the desires of the people and you'll be giving them an even better time than putting ropes up around stuff. The example I think of is "desire paths" where designers will wait to see the route people actually take across a landscape and then put the path there, rather than try to force people to adhere to a particular route. Loading... Reply 1. cabel July 30, 2023 I totally agree and mention this in the middle somewhere! Loading... Reply 2. Dan July 31, 2023 I actually rather like their solution to people running up the warped all under the Quinjet for this exact reason... turning it from "a place that people try to climb" into "a place that people are invited to sit" (in the shade, no less!) is actually a really smart adaptation. Loading... Reply 2. Stephen Sasser July 30, 2023 I blame it on the one guy who breaks the rule first. Everyone else is doing it because others are doing it. Park your car in a "no parking zone" and soon there will be many, "It must be OK." Loading... Reply 1. cabel July 30, 2023 Yeah for sure, dad, there is always that first scofflaw. (I still think they could build in less reasons to be a scofflaw!) Thanks for reading my post! Loading... Reply 2. Brian Enigma July 30, 2023 I'd also say the same goes for folks _following_ the law. If a bicyclist or pedestrian wants to cross a busy street, quite a lot of cars will mindlessly zoom by... until just one slows to a stop, and suddenly everyone else falls into line. (I say this from the point of view as both the bicyclist and the first driver to stop when I see a fellow bicyclist.) Loading... Reply 3. Dave Rutledge July 30, 2023 I'd love a collection of "concept art" style illustrations but with a goal of showing worst case scenario of how guests will interact with the rides, buildings, and decor shown Loading... Reply 4. John I. Clark July 30, 2023 That F was also adjusted so that people wouldn't bang their heads on it!! Loading... Reply 1. cabel July 30, 2023 Oh... oh that's also true. Two-for-one Loading... Reply 5. John I. Clark July 30, 2023 [P.S. You just might owe me $99! ] Loading... Reply 6. cabel July 30, 2023 Oh, I forgot to add a note that the re-done ToonTown in Disneyland has an artificial turf picnic area where you can relax! With shade! This is a great thing. [2023-Disneyland-Toontown-Reopening-Daisy-Visiting-Our-Picnic-1] Of course, the merch masters they are, they'll happily sell you a picnic set and blanket... Loading... Reply 7. Claire Hummel July 30, 2023 One of my favorite fantasy-vs-reality moments at Disneyland was when I went to Galaxy's Edge about a week after it opened, when all the bathroom were still called "refreshers" (and labeled as such). I asked a cast member where the nearest restroom was, they wearily said "ahhh you're coming from off-world, you must mean a refresher," and pointed me down an alley, and I thought MAN, that must be a pain to correct every guest and to literally not have any signs that say restrooms!! What a weird choice!!! LO AND BEHOLD the next time I went to Galaxy's Edge: bathroom signs. Loading... Reply 8. dusoft July 30, 2023 Thanks for sharing these stories and examples! Function before design and design that respects function. As mentioned above, desire paths are good example. Also designers should really think about "worst" things that could happen (somebody might sit on it!) and design accordingly (add benches under...). Loading... Reply 9. Julian July 30, 2023 My ideal is that things/systems/places are built under the assumption that they will get something wrong. If not at the beginning, then eventually, when time passes and context changes. Make a process that can react, respond, and change. Remove the pressure from having to get it 100% correct at the beginning and instead focus on adapting swiftly and gracefully. Use that same system to keep everything fresh as the world around it changes too. Loading... Reply 10. Mike July 30, 2023 My favorite story like this is when most of my cousins and I went to Disneyland one year, for some reason we were waiting between the restrooms & gift shop across from Soarin' & the youngest kids turned it into a water play area because there was a drinking fountain Loading... Reply 11. David July 30, 2023 The "California" letters are now at the California Expo & State Fair in Sacramento. Disney donated them, I guess when they redesigned that part of the park. Incidentally, today is the last day of the state fair this year. Loading... Reply 12. Jan Martinek July 30, 2023 I read this through a lens of accessibility of public spaces -- for a few years I worked with a municipal board that gathers people across the various offices (transportation, greenery, accommodation, various ngos etc.) and now I'll be forever blinded by the amount of what's wrong not only with pieces built as art or for display, but with the "primary citizens" of the public space: buildings, roads, pavements, etc. Not only due to the carelessness (or intentional disregard) of the people who manage the spaces but also their users -- especially when they have a "thing" to use there: from cars to cafe's outside seating to shared scooters... It feels like a very similar problem (a thing vs the universe) but on a different scale -- and it's really hard to systematically make it better, despite its effect on everybody who's using the space. Loading... Reply 13. Robert Currie July 30, 2023 The new municipal library in the city where I live (an amazing and popular building) included some 3-d signage that extended out from the wall, like a small shelf - a nice detail. Also, perfect for a 5-year-old grasp and hang from, leading to the signs quickly being broken off from the wall. I've personally spent a fair bit of time figuring out what type sizes need to be be avoided when designing water-jet cut metal signage to keep, say, a cut-out 'k" from turning into a trap for the fingers of the curious. Designing signage and exhibits means climb-ability, and other creative misuses, have to be taken into consideration (although you're always going to be out-smarted by users.) Loading... Reply 14. Aadi July 30, 2023 What an enjoyable writeup! My name starts with an A, so if I saw an huge A, I would definitely sit in it for the time it takes to take a picture! Loading... Reply 15. Rudi July 31, 2023 That's why I love the Oslo opera house so much-it's explicitly built to be walked on. The outside and roof are always full of happy tourists and locals just hanging out! https://www.snohetta.com/projects/ norwegian-national-opera-and-ballet Loading... Reply 16. Matt July 31, 2023 The grass example Disney in Paris seems like the biggest miss...........French culture loves to picnic/lounge on a lawn so how did the designer(s) miss this as a possibility?!?!?!? Loading... Reply 17. Morgan July 31, 2023 In Halifax they built a large, eminently climbable wave sculpture on the waterfront, and then spent the next 25 years shoo-ing kids off of it. About 10 years ago they caved, but instead of a fence they put down a perimeter of that rubberized playground surfacing and encouraged the kids to go at it. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ halifaxs-new-wave-to-ease-three-decade-long-climbing-conflict Loading... Reply 18. Chris Koerner July 31, 2023 What is that first Asgardian thing even suppose to be? Hammer storage? Loading... Reply Cabel Updates Who knows how often I'll update this. But you can get emailed when I do!! Type your email... [ ] Subscribe (c) 2023 Cabel Sasser * Mastodon * Twitter Loading Comments... Write a Comment... [ ] Email (Required) [ ] Name (Required) [ ] Website [ ] [Post Comment] %d bloggers like this: