Let me know you updated the rules.

Daniele Catalanotto
Mar 17, 2022

A Service Design principle to make policy changes less frustrating for users.

Parking your car is a thing of habit. Once you know that you can park for free parking in a specific place in the city, you always go back there.

Now imagine the city changes the policy. You are in a hurry, so you park your car quickly. You come back, and... shit! You have a fine.

You didn't notice the change of colour on the stripes on the street floor that shows that it's now a paid area! Or you didn't see that the time limit has changed from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.

Cities like Yverdon-Les-Bains in Switzerland have a nice hack to avoid these frustrations. When they change the policy somewhere, they put out a big sign that says: “New parking rules” with a big danger icon.
A sign spotted in Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland.

This sign makes sure that people know the rules have changed. People can then take a minute to see if the new rules are a deal-breaker for them or if they can adapt easily.

If a new policy or change of rules can break a habit, notify people visibly. Show that the policy has changed to avoid mistakes or frustrations.


Little side notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • I was able to reduce the lengths of this principle by about 12% compared to the first version.
  • Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always comments and feedback to improve this principle are welcome
  • If you have a personal story that goes in that direction it would also help if you share it 

Community feedback

The first version of this article was adapted in a more comprehensible English by the lovely Joanna Bienz. As Joanna is also an expert on Customer Experience and UX she shares additional comments to go further:

Joanna's comment
In addition to signifying a change in rules, it would save a lot of time and headache for the person to have to look up what the changes are by simply adding a little more detail outlining exactly what has changed.

If it's a matter of being able to re-use the signs for different purposes, this could easily be solved by sticking on a clear sleeve in which interchangeable print-outs can be inserted as needed.

Like 1
Patrick Marcelissen
May 9, 2022
It’s clear to read the message from this principle. Be clear on the impact upfront.
Patrick Marcelissen
May 9, 2022
It’s clear to read the message from this principle. Be clear on the impact upfront.
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 31, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

Parking your car is a thing of habit. Once you know that you can park for free parking in a specific place in the city, you always go back there. Now imagine the city changes the policy. You are in a hurry. You park your car quickly. And when you come back. You have a fine! Shit!

You didn’t see that the time limit changed from 40 to 20 minutes.

Cities like Yverdon-Les-Bains in Switzerland have a nice hack to avoid these frustrations. When they change the policy, they put out a big sign that says: “New parking rules” with a big danger icon.

So let me ask.

How can you inform people visibly that there is a new policy that might break their habits?

Daniele’s notes

  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 34 % compared to the previous draft.
  • I’ve added a conclusion question to help the reader turn this principle into action.