Gregor Vukasinovič
Read Between the Lines
...and you'll know the name of this station. And it works the same at every station on this stretch of the Düsseldorf metro, their original line linking the central station with the old town and then further on across the Rhine or to the North. There's seven or eight stations along this line, and they're all styled exactly the same way. That certainly helps to make maintenance more efficient, but it's also a bit of a blunder in terms of accessibility. What if someone's eyes aren't very good? Sure, there's acoustic announcements, but those can fail or get drowned out in the noise on a crowded train. And what if someone's from abroad and isn't familiar with the language?
If you look at some of the older metro stations of the world - London or New York come to mind, you'll notice that no two stations will have exactly the same tile patterns and mosaics on the walls. And that was not just done for looking prettier or more interesting, not just because they could. When these structures were built, literacy was less widespread than it is today. As was the assumption that everybody in these cities just so happened to speak English. And that's where the design of the stations themselves came in. Memorize your station has a stripe of alternating green and yellow tiles, interrupted by red vertical double lines, and you'll know where to get off to get home.
Apart from orientation, perhaps that also says something about the way people looked at their world back then. They were just more perceptive, I suppose. Maybe that's also the reason nobody puts beautiful ornaments and stucco anymore on buildings. People don't look up from their smartphones anyway, so why bother.
Read Between the Lines
...and you'll know the name of this station. And it works the same at every station on this stretch of the Düsseldorf metro, their original line linking the central station with the old town and then further on across the Rhine or to the North. There's seven or eight stations along this line, and they're all styled exactly the same way. That certainly helps to make maintenance more efficient, but it's also a bit of a blunder in terms of accessibility. What if someone's eyes aren't very good? Sure, there's acoustic announcements, but those can fail or get drowned out in the noise on a crowded train. And what if someone's from abroad and isn't familiar with the language?
If you look at some of the older metro stations of the world - London or New York come to mind, you'll notice that no two stations will have exactly the same tile patterns and mosaics on the walls. And that was not just done for looking prettier or more interesting, not just because they could. When these structures were built, literacy was less widespread than it is today. As was the assumption that everybody in these cities just so happened to speak English. And that's where the design of the stations themselves came in. Memorize your station has a stripe of alternating green and yellow tiles, interrupted by red vertical double lines, and you'll know where to get off to get home.
Apart from orientation, perhaps that also says something about the way people looked at their world back then. They were just more perceptive, I suppose. Maybe that's also the reason nobody puts beautiful ornaments and stucco anymore on buildings. People don't look up from their smartphones anyway, so why bother.