Buttons and bells

08 March 2004. Inspired by .


Like everyone else, I’ve trusted those instructions, pressed the buttons and waited dutifully, fearing – and, indeed, this is the literal interpretation of the sign – that the light would not change, ever, unless one pushed the button. Now I learn that I’ve been the dupe of what Times reporter Michael Luo calls mechanical placebos.

Michael at Design Observer muses on the buttons that do nothing on the world's streets. The essence of functional design is generally assumed to be the principle of the user getting what s/he wants without noticing the design at all. Mechanical placebos have neatly turned that on its head. Or maybe the buttons actually do something else in a world hidden beneath the city streets. Hmm. Paging Neil Gaiman...