Why Do Everyday Designs Need Makeshift Signs?

TL;DR

Makeshift signs appear when everyday objects and spaces do not clearly communicate how people should use them. Kate Canales argues that these handwritten instructions are more than evidence of flawed design: they are ingenious, compassionate repairs created by people who noticed a problem and left guidance so the next person could have an easier experience.

Transcript

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] (Laughter) For over 20 years, I have been taking photographs of signs that help us get around everyday situations. Places wher... Read More

Key Insights

• Makeshift signs are practical responses to designs that do not clearly communicate their function, location, or method of use. They supply an extra layer of instruction that helps people complete ordinary tasks such as opening doors, operating payment terminals, finding facilities, or using bathroom equipment.
• The makers of improvised signs are designers because they identify a usability problem and create an intervention that helps others accomplish a goal. Their work follows the original design process, correcting gaps that only become obvious when real people encounter an object or space.
• A functioning object is not necessarily a usable object. A keypad, water dispenser, light switch, or elevator may technically operate as designed while remaining confusing enough that users need labels, arrows, warnings, or step-by-step instructions to understand what to do.
• Public bathrooms generate many makeshift instructions because even familiar shared spaces can require extensive guidance. Canales documents signs about flushing, closing lids, avoiding sinks, activating dispensers, and recognizing reclaimed water, showing how routine environments can still create uncertainty or misuse.
• Point-of-sale machines create recurring confusion because users may need to tap in a specific place, insert a chip in a particular direction, or avoid removing a card. The repeated appearance of corrective signs indicates that the machines often fail to make the required action sufficiently legible.
• Overdesigned products can conceal simple functions. Canales describes a machine that only fills cups with water but looks capable of far more, leaving users dependent on added signs that identify where to place a cup and where to move a hand.
• The meaning of makeshift signs changes when they are viewed as evidence of human ingenuity instead of merely evidence of bad design. Each sign records a local problem, an attempted solution, and someone’s willingness to prevent later users from repeating the same frustrating experience.
• Improvised instructions are signs of interpersonal care because their creators take time to help strangers who will arrive later. Their tape, repetition, and imperfect wording preserve a distinctly human effort to make shared environments safer, clearer, or simply easier to navigate.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why do people create makeshift signs for everyday objects?

People create makeshift signs when an object or space does not clearly show how it should be used. The added instruction may explain which door to use, whether to push or pull, where to tap a payment card, how to insert a chip, or where to find a facility. It fills a usability gap left by the original design and helps later users avoid the same confusion.

Q: What do improvised signs reveal about bad design?

Improvised signs reveal where an original design has failed to make an action, function, or destination understandable. An object can be fully functional yet still require written guidance before people can use it successfully. Canales initially photographed such signs as examples of frustrating design, but later recognized that they also preserve the ingenious solutions people create after discovering those failures.

Q: Why does Kate Canales consider sign makers to be designers?

Kate Canales considers sign makers to be designers because they observe a real usability problem and create something that enables people to complete a task. They effectively enter the process after the original design team, adding instructions that make a keypad, door, elevator, payment terminal, or other system usable. Their work is informal, but it responds directly to human behavior and practical needs.

Q: How can a product work correctly but still be difficult to use?

A product can perform its intended mechanical or technical function while failing to communicate what users must do. Canales gives examples such as a keypad that needs extra instructions and a water machine whose highly polished appearance obscures its simple purpose. When controls, signals, or actions are not legible, people must add signs even though nothing is technically broken.

Q: Why are doors a common source of makeshift instructions?

Doors are a common source of instructions because an apparently basic action can still be ambiguous. Canales presents signs telling people to use another door, push, pull, or follow complicated locking directions. Walking through a door should feel intuitive, yet repeated taped labels show that the physical design often fails to communicate the correct action, requiring users to support one another with added guidance.

Q: What problems do point-of-sale machines create for users?

Point-of-sale machines create uncertainty about where and how a card should be used. The photographed signs tell users to tap over a screen, insert a chip face down, avoid using the chip, or refrain from removing the card. These repeated corrections show a consistent usability problem: the machines do not always make the required sequence or location obvious without additional written instructions.

Q: How did Kate Canales's interpretation of makeshift signs change?

Canales began photographing makeshift signs to document bad design and the frustration it causes. Over time, she became more interested in preserving the signs as examples of ingenious human problem solving. Rather than focusing only on the failure of the original object or environment, she began emphasizing the person who noticed the problem, devised a repair, and helped future users.

Q: What makes improvised signs evidence of human care?

Improvised signs show human care because someone who experienced confusion took time to leave useful instructions for people arriving later. The signs may be handwritten, taped in place, repetitive, or imperfect, but they make another person’s experience easier. Canales finds this reassuring because it demonstrates that, despite technological advancement, people still rely on one another for guidance in the physical world.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Kate Canales has photographed makeshift signs for more than 20 years, initially treating them as evidence of bad design. Her collection includes instructions attached to doors, payment terminals, elevators, bathrooms, switches, and water machines whose intended functions or required actions were not sufficiently clear to the people using them.

• Canales reframes the makers of improvised signs as designers who arrive after the original design team. Their added instructions make confusing objects usable by explaining actions such as pushing, pulling, tapping, inserting, flushing, or navigating. Even simple assignments can miss their mark and require another person to supply a practical repair.

• Makeshift signs reveal a humane form of everyday problem solving. Someone encounters difficulty, notices that others may face the same problem, and leaves instructions to improve their experience. For Canales, these taped and handwritten interventions show that technology has not eliminated people’s need to guide and care for one another in shared spaces.