发现日常设计的“超能力”
作为一名设计师，我的“超能力”是观察。我始终关注人们如何在被设计过的世界中导航。在过去二十多年里，我拍摄了成百上千张照片，记录了那些在我们日常生活中帮助我们跨越障碍的指示标识。
有些标识出现在我们需要额外引导的地方，比如推拉门的提示，或是那些技术上功能完备但用户却无法直接使用的设备。在这种情况下，标识的制作者成为了真正的“第二设计师”。他们是在原始设计团队工作之后介入的，其目的是为了让你能够真正实现你的意图——比如解锁一扇门。
Original English Source
My name is Kate. I am a designer. And my design superpower is noticing. I am pretty much always watching how people navigate the designed world. And one of the things that I notice a lot is stuff like this. [Use other door] For over 20 years, I have been taking photographs of signs that help us get around everyday situations. Places where, for whatever reason, we just need a little extra coaching. Signs like this. [Push then pull] And like this. [Broken] I really love this kind of sign a lot, where something is technically fully functioning the way it was designed, like this keypad, but it's not really usable without this extra layer of instruction. And I've come to see the makers of the signs as designers. They're coming in after the work of the original design team, to make it so that you can actually do the thing that you're trying to do, in this case, unlock a door.指示的心理学：从困惑到顿悟
有时标识很含蓄，你自然知道该怎么做。但有时标识甚至在帮助我们进行“逻辑重构”。例如，我们大脑中已经形成了一种条件反射，看到红色就会联想到危险，因此当一个红色的开关被标注为“这只是一个灯光开关”时，它实际上是在协助我们修正错误的认知。
我把自己想象成日常说明世界中的一名人类学家。我拍摄过大量诸如“请用手指完成交易”的POS机指引，或者针对公共厕所的复杂说明。这些我们每天都在使用的公共空间，却仍然需要如此多细致的指引。当机器被过度设计，以至于其功能在没有人性化的标识辅助前完全无法被辨识时，这种困惑感既令人费解，又显得荒诞而有趣。
Original English Source
Sometimes these signs are kind of subtle. You just know what to do. Other times ... [This is a light switch] This sign is actually helping us think. We have been so trained to see red as danger. Thankfully, here, someone is letting us know it is just a light switch. I think of myself as almost like an anthropologist in the world of everyday instructions. I am obsessed. I have hundreds and hundreds of photographs like this. [Please use your finger to complete the transaction] You've all seen signs like this. You've probably seen them already today. Especially if you have paid for something. [Do not remove. Please insert or tap above] We have a very consistent issue -- [No chip] with point of sale machines. [Tap: hold card over screen] [Insert chip face down] [Flush this toilet twice. Srsly, at least twice.] We also, as a group ... Seem to really be struggling in the public bathroom. [Gently pull] An inexplicably large proportion of my photos were taken in a public bathroom. I could have done the entire talk using only public bathroom photos. [Close the lid before you flush Do not sit on the sink] And I find this bewildering. [Notice: Toilets and urinals flushed with reclaimed water] [Do not drink] But also weirdly delightful. [Women] A place that we all use, every day, still requires so much guidance. [Please flush toilet after using it] [Hover hand here. Set cup here.] This machine fills cups with water. That's all it does. You would be forgiven for thinking it could do more, like send a fax or analyze a blood sample. It has been so overdesigned, so slicked out. Its function is not legible to us until someone made these signs.从设计批判到人类智慧的沉淀
起初，我拍摄这些照片是出于记录“糟糕设计”的使命，试图展现设计如何挫败用户。但随着时间的推移，我变得更加热衷于将这些标识视为人类天才解决问题的范例。
每当我们到达一个现场时，那个指示标识往往已经在了。我喜欢想象在标识出现之前发生了什么：在电梯口汇聚却找不到楼层的人群、因为距离比预想更近而撞上的障碍。这些临时标识不是设计的败笔，而是人类在无法完美预见所有场景时，对现状进行的弥补。
Original English Source
When I started taking these photographs, I really was on a mission to document examples of bad design, the way it frustrates and interferes. But I've become much more interested in preserving the signs as examples of ingenious human problem solving. [This is not a restroom. It is that other way] Not. Is not. When we arrive on the scene, the sign is already here. But I love to imagine what was happening before there was a sign. Visualize with me this scene before there was a sign. People are starting to congregate outside of this fourth-floor elevator that does not stop on the fourth floor. Until someone fixed it with a sign. [Pole is closer than you think. Caution!] Who hasn't? Who hasn't backed into something that was closer than they thought it was? A sign would have been helpful. [Sorry closed until we reopen!!]人类同理心：设计的最终体现
现在，当你亲自为他人解决问题时，你会发现这其实很难。即使是简单的上下楼标识也可能“脱靶”。这表明，无论技术如何进步，我们需要在现实世界中相互照顾这一事实是永恒的。
这些带着透明胶条边界的“推”字标识，哪怕只是简单地贴了两张，对我来说都极其动人。这非常人性化。无论你如何看待我们日常生活中技术的进步，这些标识都是证据：在这个真实的世界中，我们仍然需要彼此，来完成一些极其基础的事情。前一个人花费时间留下指引，是为了确保我们的体验比他们当时更好。这就是我总是乐于发现的一种人文主义的标志。