Two improvements in the laundry room
By James Robert Watson, PhD

A better informational sign
The condo in New York has a laundry room to service all the residents. It can sometimes get a bit busy, even thought there are quite a few machines. Some rude people leave their clothes in the machine long after the cycle has completed. Maybe they got caught up in another task, maybe they just forgot they were doing laundry, or maybe they're just inconsiderate. Who knows. But it can be frustrating.
Once, upon entering the laundry room, I noticed a sign - great. Maybe it will encourage people to not leave their clothes in the machine. Nope. It said not to remove clothes from a machine. Poo.

The sign is a piece of graphic design - intended to communicate a specific message to a specific group of people to achieve a specific purpose. Therefore, like any piece of graphic design, it can be made better. Here's how:
• The concept of the message - people apparently were touching other's clothes when they had been left in the machine too long. This is a busy laundry room. Even though there are 10 washing machines and 8 dryers, there are times when people are waiting. It is just rude and inconsiderate to not promptly remove clothes. This sign, however doesn't address that, it says the opposite - leave those clothes alone.
• The tone of the message is too harsh and demanding. There is no explanation or respect shown to the reader.
• The signs are posted above each machine and the text is red. There is no need for the word 'Attention'. In all caps.
• The building has tight security - visitors have to check in with the concierge in the front lobby. There is no need for the sign to state, 'Residents of Cove Club Condo' (again, in all caps). Who else would be doing laundry but a resident or a resident's employee?
• from machines that do not belong to you - I didn't realize these machines belonged to me. Heck, I'll just move one of my washers and one of my dryers up to my apartment and avoid this whole sign issue.
• Cheesy and unnecessary clip art.
• Poor line breaks. 'articles of clothing' is a phrase that should not be disrupted.

Graphic design should respect the intelligence and dignity of the user/reader/viewer - the audience. I rewrote and redesigned the sign to better communicate both messages and to do so in a more considerate manner. As a sign-off to increase credibility and familiarity, I included a logo for the Cove Club condominium that I designed for an earlier project. Here is the proposed suggestion that I sent to the building manager:


The building manager liked the new sign but asked for a version with a Spanish translation. Huh? In Spanish? Then I realized there were nannies and apartment caretakers from many countries. I took the sign copy to a Spanish teacher at OSU in Stillwater and had him translate the sign. I explored different layouts - English & Spanish stacked and side-by-side. I also changed the font to a bold sans serif to be more demonstrative and clear.

The one on the right was submitted. The new signs were posted in the laundry room in early March, 2010.
To my surprise and delight - the signs were larger than what I submitted, 20" x 16", and mounted on a stiff backing.



A better arrangement of tables

Before
For over a year, I tolerated the arrangement of the folding table in the condo laundry room that formed a barrier between the washers (out of view in the foreground of the pictures above) and the dryers. I, like everyone else, just stepped around the awkward placement of the table.


After
In August, 2005, I moved the table to open up access to the dryers. Sometimes, when I rearrange furniture in someone else's place (like in the elevator lobby of this same building), it is put back when I see the room the next time. But this time, when I went back to do laundry a week later, not only was the table still where I moved it, but there was a man in a wheelchair who commented how much easier it was for him to now get to the dryers.



Update
Of course, the table was moved back. Somebody, maybe one of the porters, didn't realize that it was a more efficient and convenient arrangement and just put it back the way he was conditioned to seeing it.
But, I after the management accepted the new signs (above) I tried again and presented the suggestion to the condo board. They agreed and the tables were rearranged as recommended above.

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