Show me for who this is made

Daniele Catalanotto
Apr 8, 2022
A Service Design principle to better inform families

I'm walking in the city of Lausanne with our newborn.

I notice a little Pacman figure on a poster for the Vidy Theatre. As a curious little bastard, I want to know what Pacman is doing on this fancy poster.

The poster shows a list of events that the theatre offers, and the Pacman icon was next to one of these events. Next to it, you can read "For everyone from 10 years old".


The poster of the Vidy Theatre in Lausanne, Switzerland.


The little Pacman icon.

The theatre steals something mandatory in other industries (1) and then uses it in an industry where almost nobody does it.

When you check out a theatre listing, you usually never know if a particular piece will be full of naked people or if it will be violent. But here the theatre says in a way:

"If you want to come with your kids, that's the right event for you".

So, show for what age your product or service is suitable. And if you want to go further, tell me what type of content there will be that might hurt certain sensibilities.

(1) For example, movies and electronic games have to show by law for which age they are made.

Alternative titles

As often, I'm not yet happy with the title of this principle. So let's explore a few variations.
  1. "Show me if I can bring my kid": the original title. I feel this is too narrow and limited only to family members. 
  2. "Show me for which age this is made": better, but I think we can do better.
  3. "Show me for who this is made": pretty interesting, with this we could go even further and think about other informations that could be shown so that people understand what is the intended audience

Little side notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • I was able to reduce the lengths by 13.02% compared to the first version.
  • Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.
Like
Patrick Marcelissen
May 3, 2022
Clear for me to read. Show me for who this is made covers it the best I would say. Or Show for who your services is intended for
Daniele Catalanotto
May 3, 2022
Thanks for the feedback Patrick :) 
Jörn Kohlschmidt
May 11, 2022
I really like the storys. Always surprisingly and easy readable. „Show me for who this is made“ is the best version. I was wondering if you can formulate it a bit more concrete. It was Pacman who made you courious. So it „awaken the little child in you“. I propose this cause this is the first step of your journey you discribed. Pacman maybe motivates as well not so „sophisticated“ people to visit the exhibition. :-) 
Daniele Catalanotto
Jun 4, 2022
Interesting take Jörn ;) Indeed the "awaken the little child in me" principle could be another very inspiring principle :) 
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 22, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

I’m walking in the city of Lausanne with our newborn.

I notice a little Pacman figure on a poster listing the events of the Vidy Theatre. What the fuck does Pacman do on a fancy theatre poster?

Next to an event where the Pacman icon is shown, I read, “For everyone from 10 years old”.

The theatre steals the mandatory age limit information from other industries (1). As a result, it now differentiates itself from most theatres that don’t do this.

Theatre listings usually don’t show you if a particular piece will be full of naked people or will be violent. But here, the theatre makes it clear:

“If you want to come with your kids, come to this event, not the others”.

So let me ask you.

How and where can you make clear for people for what age or public your product or service is suitable?

What practices from another industry could you steal and put in place in your industry?

Footnotes
(1) For example, movies and electronic games have to show by law for which age they are made.

Daniele’s notes
  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 7% compared to its previous draft.
  • I’ve added a conclusion question to help the reader turn this principle into action.