robert hempsall - information designer » Instructions

Lego goes all legal

Robert — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 22:13:19 +0000

In this time of health and safety madness, I noticed that Lego have added these little warning icons to avoid your little darlings causing bodily damage to other little darlings.

Bearing in mind that Lego have become the masters of non-wordy instructions (something that IKEA do rather less successfully) by sticking to their point-of-view instructions, this addition seems odd – and confusing, especially if you're 6 and just finished building this bit and then get told to fling it across the room.

Real time road safety advice

Robert — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 12:56:15 +0000

I've driven past a sign just like this one hundreds of times, but it took me in one of my thinking moments to appreciate how effective it is at communicating a message that is usually explained in terms of metres and car lengths (like this one from the Merseyside Road Safety Partnership).

It's not the most attractive thing you'll ever see, but its simplicity is what makes it effective. The message is very simple, what you see on the sign is what you should see ahead of you.

In case any members of the police are reading, I should point out that this picture is not one that I took!

Recycling bin advice label

Robert — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:17:06 +0000

Design for a label which is placed on recycling bins containing non-recyclable materials.

Baby talk

Robert — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:09:51 +0000

I have a young daughter and I’ve discovered that teaching her the important lessons in life (such as how to put her own dvds on) has very direct comparisons with the kind of work I do. It’s all a question of how much she needs to know without providing distracting information. “First press the big [...]

Information design for breakfast

Robert — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:21:20 +0000

Many years ago I used to work at a McDonalds. In fact I even got refused a job at a McDonalds because I wasn’t considering it as a career. Still, I haven’t held either of these facts against them and still occasionally eat their breakfasts. On my latest trip I noticed a neat solution in [...]

Simply lazy…

Robert — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:33:57 +0000

I like Orange, they do cool adverts and their customer service seems pretty good (but that might be because they take so much money off me each month). But when I opened my last (oops, latest) bill I found myself getting very angry. Now this normally happens when I can’t understand the information I’m given – [...]