I love trains, but stations often contain the worst examples of '๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ป ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐ฑ'. Like this stairway to hell.
Not only are passengers being bombarded with a ridiculous number of messages โ I count at least five '๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด' โ but it's being done in a way that actually increases the biggest risk of all, falling while using the stairs. If I'm reading all the nonsense, I'm less able to pay attention!
That's before I get into the question of whether it's appropriate for transport authorities to lecture us on basic etiquette. What does '๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ' actually mean I should do differently? '๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ' might seem like a clever pun, but it's also arguably patronising and not very helpful.
And the most relevant of all instructions โ keep to the left, and the arrows โ are crowded out.
๐ฅ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
It's the perfect example of where the ideas explored in my fellow 'experience hunter' John Sills' new book '๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ', intersect with the ideas explored in my new book '๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฅ๐๐น๐ฒ๐'. Because when rules apply to us, they become an experience.
So, as well as grabbing a copy of my book (https://lnkd.in/eFtbtitU), I'd also highly recommend reading Jon's (https://johnjsills.com/).
๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐๐ป'๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ผ๐ป
And if you're thinking this is unusually bad, sadly, it's very common. Not just at train stations but also in customer and compliance experiences.
As I explain in my book, if we really want to influence human behaviour, we need to think not about how we ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ people to behave but how they are ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ to behave.
The staircase from hell is obviously a bad idea. Yet someone designed and signed off on it. Read our books, so you can avoid being that person!
My thanks to Samuel West (@exitthelemming) on Twitter for sharing this & to Gerald Ashley for bringing it to my attention.