Don’t be creative when it’s urgent

A Service Design principle about the value of clarity

Context

My good friend Patrizia tells me the story of when she was going to the toilets and had an urgent need... but the icons of the toilet weren’t really clear! Which door is the one she should open?

One of these signs that felt unclear during a time of urgency. Thanks Patrizia for the photo.

Watch my early thinking about this story in video

Side notes

This is the first draft of this Service Design Principle. Once adapted and refined multiple time, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"

3 comments

Daniele Catalanotto

Aug 9, 2022

This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle now in writing.

My good friend Patrizia is in a bar. After a few drinks, she feels a little sense of urgency. Time to go to the toilets!

She stands up and arrives in front of the toilet doors. Two doors, two signs. Shit! Which one is the lady toilets (1)? The need to pee is getting stronger and stronger. The signs are beautiful and creative, but she can’t understand them! The need to pee is obviously getting even stronger! It’s pretty stressful. You have an urgent need, and you don’t know if you’ll arrive in the middle of a dozen half-drunk men dick in the air once you open a door. That would be embarrassing!

Patrizia shows us here that when there can be a feeling of urgency, we don’t need to be highly creative with the information we share during that moment.

Yes, it’s lovely to be creative and artistic, but it shouldn’t reduce the quality of the service. It shouldn’t make people stressed. Obviously, going to the toilet is not always an urgent moment, but it can be an, and when it is, it’s a very disturbing thing.

So let me ask: What are the moments in your service where there could be moments of urgency similar to the one Patrizia experienced? Then, look at those urgent moments and reflect.

Is there something here that blocks people from making the right decision quickly? Is there information that isn’t clear just in two seconds? Is there a piece of information that is too long or that you could share at another moment?

When we know what the right and wrong times to be creative are, it makes our life as service creators easier. It frees time as we spend time being creative only where it matters. And the cherry on the cake, we also avoid potential frustrations for the people we serve.

Daniele Catalanotto

Oct 17, 2022

The third draft of this principle

My good friend Patrizia is in a bar. After a few drinks, she feels a little sense of urgency. Time to go to the toilets!

She stands up and arrives in front of the toilet doors. Two doors, two signs. Shit! Which one is the lady's room (1)? The need to pee is getting stronger and stronger. The signs are beautiful and creative, but she can’t understand them! “Where do I enter?!”

It’s super stressful. You don’t know if you’ll see a dozen half-drunk men dick in the air if you open the wrong door.

When there is a feeling of urgency, we don’t need to be highly creative.

Yes, it’s lovely to be creative, but it shouldn’t reduce the quality of the service.

It frees time when we know what the wrong times to be creative are. We then invest time to be creative only where it matters. The cherry on the cake, we also avoid potential frustrations for the people we serve.

So let me ask: What are urgency moments in your service similar to the one Patrizia experienced?

What blocks people from making the right decision quickly? What information should you clarify, reduce or delay for another more suitable time?

Footnotes

(1) In Switzerland toilets are usually seperated between men and women

Daniele’s personal notes

This is the third draft of this principle.
In this new draft the focus was on clarifying the ideas and making the principles shorter.
The length of this draft was reduced by 34%

Daniele Catalanotto

Oct 30, 2022

The fourth draft of this Service Design Principle

My friend Patrizia is in a bar. After a few drinks, she feels a little sense of urgency.

She stands up and arrives in front of the toilet doors. Two doors, two signs. Shit! Which one is the lady’s room? The need to pee is getting stronger and stronger. The signs are very creative, but she can’t understand them! “Where do I enter?!”

It’s stressful. Patrzia doesn’t want to open the door and see a dozen half-drunk men dick in the air.

We don’t need to be highly creative when there is a feeling of urgency. (1)

Knowing when it’s the wrong time to be creative frees time. We also avoid potential frustrations for the people we serve.

So let me ask.

What are stressful moments in your service like Patrizia experienced (2)?

Footnotes

(1) Yes, it’s lovely to be creative, but it shouldn’t reduce the quality of the service.

(2) What blocks people from making the right decision quickly? What information should you clarify, reduce or delay for another more suitable time?

Daniele’s notes

This is the fourth draft of this principle.
I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 34 % compared to the previous draft.