Sunday, November 2, 2008

Sense, Sensibility and Simplicity


I wonder, why simple language or sensible symbols are not used for displaying directions, markers, roadsigns. One such roadsign that I cannot erase from my memory is the one that you see above. What?!? "Hump Ahead" with a double hump sign, which, unfortunately for me, looked like a view of a lady baring her breasts.

This is a roadsign in the parking lot of a shoping mall in Gurgaon. Given a chance, I would have used "Speed Breaker" instead of "Hump Ahead". I knew as a child what a Speed Breaker meant, and also knew what "Hump" meant. Maybe, I was a "spoilt" child who was aware of a few bad things.

Give me a break, come on. For me this sign is obscene and complex.


3 comments:

Raaga said...

I think that sometimes people put a lot of thought into simple stuff and make them complex. Like a receptionist being given the title of Director of First Impression.

Sachin said...

:=-)

Paul Nixon said...

They call speed breakers, "sleeping policemen" in the UK; a nice notion which somehow takes the pain away when you drive over one. But at least in your example you have a sign to warn you that there are humps ahead. So often in India the humps are unmarked and unheralded - and often on dark roads to boot.