Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storyblocks: storyblocks.com/LinusBoman Audio only version: th-cam.com/video/_OxymiZkNqU/w-d-xo.html - research notes and sources: timesnewboman.notion.site/Tactile-pedestrian-crossing-map-with-relief-symbols-research-sources-4ecda61c86e245038f02be00017b92c3
Hey Linus, I’m a huge fan. Love your stuff on TH-cam. Was thinking about suggesting you do a vid on political logos. Given the interest in US politics at the moment it would probably be popular. Also, with the Harris Campaign starting their branding from scratch only four weeks ago there’s plenty of content plus fonts/design choices over the years - Obama, Romney, Clinton etc. Love your work.
Out of curiosity, Linus - your name sounds Swedish, and your pronunciation of Swedish words was really close. Do you have Scandinavian roots, by any chance?
I find this to be the case for engineering as well, which is in many ways often similar to design. I don't need to know (and in fact *cannot* know) everything about a big project, but being able to realize where the blind spots are and which ones deserve investigation is important. Notably, this seems to be a skill that not everyone has, and I find that often the quality of the final product is indeed linked to quality of questioning in the design phase.
@@gjsmo Same with programming; you're never expected to know all the nuances and quirks of a particular programming language, you just need to know how to look up those answers.
@@erickdavid4257 absolutely, that's probably the most important part of the quote. If you ask the wrong questions to the right people, they can still correct your path. Asking the right questions to the wrong people still cannot give you all the important information
I think the fact that I, a fully sighted American who has never been to Sweden, was able to immediately intuitively tell what these tactile maps were generally showing is indicative of how well they're designed.
@@ArvidOlson It is ironic, sometimes if we see something so often in the corner of our eye like that, we tend to understand it less simply because we've learned to not give it much attention. I'd say it happens to the best of us
There is an additional cost per unit, since the maps must be installed by a skilled technician and some material cost. But with no national standard or accessibility law on the issue, it is down to a municipal level whether or not to install them. At least, that's my understanding from my interviews.
I can't speak for visually impaired people, but I bet that accessible design installed by a local council maintenance person who hasnt received the proper training and puts it in wrong/backwards by accident is worse than nothing at all.
@@DanielHarveyDyer i belive ur absolutely right, as a person who studied design, and inclusive design, it astonishing how much bad an improper design there is .. and in many cases situational design can be a complete disaster even for ppl with good hearing and vision.. ..if u havent even tried put urself in a impared persons shoes, thers simply not possible do design that works, some shoes u can not put urself into, but u need knowledge of how a person is affected like say PTSD, panic attacks etc.. in many cased a perfectly normal person will get whats called tunnel vision and sensory depravation for example..
That's awesome, and also very interesting to me. Is there anywhere I can find more information about this? I can't seem to find anything with some quick googling around.
Kinda crazy. I've lived in Oslo for a while so I recognise these blue boxes instantly, but I have never noticed the pattern before, so I decided to check them on my way to work this morning. Sure enough, every box I encountered has a map. Very cool!
I was involved in an online discussion not too long about regarding accessible crosswalks here in Sweden. The ticking sounds are very ubiquitous here, I wish that the tactile aspect would be mandated on a national level. Same goes for tactile pavement in public areas, I wish Boverkets legislation was much more strict and mandating than it currently is. My local train station only had zig-zag paint markings until 2022, and it's still common in a lot of places just to pave sidewalks and pedestrian roads.
As a Swede, I was pleasantly surpriced when finding Swedish styled signal boxes when visiting Bratislava, Slovakia. It was even written ”Prismateknik Sweden” on them.
aside from being indicative of the most common nationalities of tourists to Sweden, it might also be to tell tourists to actually press the button, as in Sweden the button actually does something, whereas in some countries, especially the US, the lights are entirely set on a timer, which the button doesn't actually affect. In Sweden, if you don't press the button, you don't get a green light to cross.
Them being blue wasn't. All påbudskyltar is blue (including the crosswalk signs). So it was the standard color to choose. Yellow is easy to make and stand out against the blue and we also know how to make yellow that wont fade cheaply. But the swedish colors might have played just a small part in choosing yellow and not any other stand out color.
As a sighted person, I don't personally care about the tactility, but the sound makes it so I don't have to look at the light. That makes me more aware of my surroundings, as I can look at the cars and/or shops. I do understand that the tactility is good for blind people, and it isn't harming me, so I'm all for them.
I bet most people do this and never even knew it. I've even absentmindedly stepped out into active traffic when the light changed for the other direction, which could have been avoided if I'd realised that east-west and north-south crosswalks play different tones. In retrospect, this fact is so obvious, but it's not something I'd ever noticed before. I'm in Canada, and north-south plays a cuckoo sound, while east-west plays the Canadian Melody (four notes in descending order) or a short repeating chirp-chirp on older signals.
This is a version of the 'curb cut" effect - when designing to make space more accessible to specifically disabled people also confers a benefit to many populations of people, some perhaps unintended.
Neat video, I've seen and used these countless times, but never paid much attention to the tactile map. What a thoughtful and important design! One thing I can recall about these boxes is that there used to be a discussion some 15 years ago whether the pointing hand symbol on the front was a religious symbol or not. The company making them claimed it was, while the designer, Kenneth, said it wasn't. ☝
@@CopyOfMe That sounds completely insane. There's no path and no Jesus. There's a finger and a human. It could just as well mean "hey look, a dude" or "finger my butthole". EDIT: I looked it up, and the CEO is indeed some pentecostal lunatic who says it's his own interpretation AND that Kenneth shouldn't say that this interpretation is wrong. What a psycho.
I remembered this too, and found a 2008 interview in a Finnish newspaper, HS. They interviewed the CEO and owner at the time, Jan Lund. The interview is titled "Lights go green by the grace of God", lol. At least back then according to the interview all of the employees were christian, they all pray together at work, the company hosts christian events, and over half of the income was used for christian charities. Some muslim countries cover the hand symbol when installing the devices, but the company will not make them without it.
Oooh! We have these where I live in Dublin, Ireland. The exact ones shown being assembled in this video. I never understood what it was about but now next time I go out I'm gonna look at them and point them out to my friends. This is a genius idea on the part of the designer.
@@Koushakur It's not graphic, that's how. As Linus says in the intro, you're not meant to even see the design. You touch it with your fingers. It could be more accurately called accessibility design.
Tactile desing. There's nothing accessible about pretending only sight or only sound is access, any more than placing all store shelves at shoulder level so short people need not learn to fly. Tactility is the human aspect some individuals are more exclusive with than others.
I noticed those a while ago in Uppsala and I thought they were awesome. I was surprised, though, that my Swedish friends did not know about them at all.
kind of awesome when a designer does such a good job that one of his most influencal works becomes visually unnoticeable, because it is just how it is supposed to be.
A thing i would do to improve is to colour the map itself to contrast with the yellow for people who cannot look far away can look at it and know what to expect.
As a Swedish wheelchair user, I have noticed the arrow pointing the direction and obviously the sound, but I honestly have never noticed the map. I need to have a look the next time I go out! This was a very interesting video, thank you for sharing!
Even without visual disability, I love the crosswalk postage with tactile feedback because I have attention problems and hearing the crosswalk sounds can be difficult on busy roads
Accessibility helps everyone! See also: the curb cut effect, “the phenomenon of disability-friendly features being used and appreciated by a larger group than the people they were designed for.”
Ding. Going up. Ding ding going down. Lifts/elevators in case you wondered. Minor things that help everyone. Ok, a bad example for the hard of hearing, but you get the idea. Accessibility is a good thing.
@@georgeprout42 Read somewhere years ago about the difference with a visually impaired person with a stroller passing a crossing compaired with someone with their sight. The visually impaired drag the stroller behind them instead of pushing it in front of traffic. Something to think about.
My favourite thing about Swedish road design is that the chevron signs that indicate a tight bend aren't in black and white (like the UK), or black and yellow, but are blue and yellow and match the flag. It's an unusual choice, but I love its uniqueness.
The high reflective blue and yellow is so they are visible even when partially covered in snow or during heavy snowfall. The flag colours over here is just a happy coincidence I think. Peace
These boxes are ubiquitous in Norway, such a shame they're Swedish 😄 One thing you forgot to mention is that they actually don't have just one button, but two! There's a second button hidden underneath, pressing it lengthens the pedestrian green light for the next cycle. It's an excellent feature for the elderly or anyone who may need extra time to cross.
Wow, it's hard to search for this exact thing. A lot of keywords just points to tactile tile manufacturers if I'm lucky. No wonder it's not more well known. So glad you made this vodeo so that it's now in my zeitgeist! It depresses me a bit seeing that one of the image search results shows 6 car lanes in one go. No traffic island. I can imagine a person reading that tactile sign getting more and more despaired as he reads more and more car lanes.
We have those here in Bratislava! I was always impressed by their design. Another cool feature they sometimes have is a tactile ticker - sometimes you might not be able to hear the ticking over the noise of traffic, or maybe there's multiple tickers on a busy intersection, in which case you can touch the bottom of the box and feel a little vibrating plate, which vibrates in a different pattern based on the crosswalk signal. It often also doubles as an additional direction arrow.
I always love seeing these around Sweden and enjoy looking at the tactile maps and comparing them to the actual layout. I was super surprised when I was in Žilina a couple of weeks ago and there they were again! 😊
Hell yeah more accessible design!!! I fell in love with Atkinson Hyperlegible because of you, so I'm stoked for this video (but I'm always stoked when you upload)
Inclusive design is really where it’s at. It makes me happy to see it improving in little and big ways throughout the world with each passing year. Everything from smartly designed makeup packaging meant to be easy open, anti-roll away caps with code for low vision users built into the aesthetic design of the packaging to NYC finally piloting something like this. If it works well… and it should… hopefully we can get it rolled into part of ADA compliance & it’ll go nation wide.
I paused this video half way through, went outside, looked at the crossing-box thats just 10 m from my window and it had this map. It made me happy :) I have never noticed that before and its such a neat little thing that I probably will see every time i press on these boxes from now on. Cheers
Neat Linus! What a way to expand the focus of the channel. I had not realized that the tactile “rumble” strips at Metro stations (even hear in Southern California) were for the visually impaired. 👍🏼
@@borstenpinselI can’t speak for them, but it could be for visual decoration or even as a subconscious barrier to keep people away from edges when it’s busy. They could have also just never thought about it at all. There are so many things in our world around us that we accept on basic terms and never think into because we don’t have any reason to.
Linus you have outdone yourself on quality and clarity of the mini doco story here and how it's all assembled. And what a topic and inspiring design story too. Such humble impactful statements from Kenneth too. The breadth you are covering lately in videos is even more interesting, though I will never get sick of a good font and type face rant!
Independent mobility is so important. If someone _does_ actually need to be escorted by a carer we shouldn't treat them as lesser, of course. But speaking from experience, being able to decide where and how you go in the ways that you can vastly improves quality of life. I'm disabled and often a pedestrian, and I benefit from some designs clearly intended for B/VI people even though I'm not blind myself. Audio feedback and high contrast are the big ones for me, but it's nice to see complementary approaches as well.
Yes! And accessible design is important and helpful for everyone, because on one hand we all get old or could get a disabilty later on and on the other hand it ads clarity to the surroundings, so small informationsplates with the number of a room for example are also helpful for a person that never visited the building bevore. If you can, it would be wonderful to to a video on digital accessibility!
Thank you for this amazing mini doc. I noticed these by accident and love checking the maps whenever I see them. Super cool that you got the designer too. Top job - was thinking to send this to half as interesting but I think you’ve got it covered!
Thanks for showing this. I'm visually impaired, but I only use the sound. It's perfect if the traffic light is in the direct line if sight to the sun. Before these ticking sound, there was different types of sound for walk, or don't walk. Close to my school, the old acoustic signal could have raised dead people. So good design, and a treat for me since I personally know Jan Lund, who started the company Prisma in the town of Tibro in Sweden. Keep up the good work!
There's a couple of these crosswalk buttons around Umeå, basically at every crosswalk with a stoplight (which isn't that many), yet I can't remember if I've ever seen one with a tactile map on it before (as in, where there's space meant for a tactile map, it's just been left blank)... probably because there aren't any complicated crosswalks in Umeå
Fantastic video! After watching I was absolutely amazed to find this design incorporated into the crosswalks in my local neighbourhood all the way in Israel! I had long noticed the arrows atop the crosswalks but the tactile crossing diagrams were just hiding there in plain sight! Hopefully more countries adopt this design (Canada for example is long overdue)
I am actually _shocked_ that I've never noticed this detail! I've always liked these little boxes, and I swear I've _felt_ the patterns on the side, but I never really stopped to look at what exactly they are! That's really cool!
This has been such an informative and enjoyable video to watch! I didn't know anything about tactile maps or even about street furniture as an overarching term and I'm delighted I got introduced to it today. Also, I lived in Sweden for the past year and didn't notice these at all... But I'll be back soon and definitely will pay attention to them!
As always, an absolutely top notch video. Always enjoy when your videos have interview segments and information from the right places, just a really satisfying watch.
finally, a video where i can say this! i adore the way the prisma signalboxes have barely changed, they're absolutely beautiful and they have only slightly changed since i was little.
There are also tactile "paths" at bus stops and at least some stations. The tiny bumps warning for the edge at the tracks but also grooves to follow to find the door on the bus. A good example of a tactile map can be found in the bus station connected to Gothenburg central station.
If I’m not mistaken the same system is in use in Ireland, specifically in Cork. I remember seeing those blue boxes at pedestrian crossings back in 2010s.
I love that you are showcasing and even contributing to designs and projects that help people with disabilities to be part of our society and spread the knowledge about both the need for it and what can be done to a wider audience!
As a Swede, I was very surprised to not know anything about this before watching this video. That said, I am from Stockholm, so I guess that explains it. Anyway, great video, and really cool that you could include Kenneth Österlin himself too! (Also, I'm very impressed by your Swedish pronunciation - Sahlgrenska, Nybro, and so on!)
This is an amazing design, it is not confusing to either side, I never even noticed it yet it's invaluable for people not like me. Best type of design I think. I would be curious to hear what people think of the redesigns.
I didn’t know these existed but I’ll keep my eye out for them from now on! Very cool and you got to feature Kenneth too. Wish I would’ve seen this video yesterday because I just traveled from Stockholm to Gothenburg and I could’ve had two cities to examine 😆
I wondered why there was no two way car symbol but then I realized it was per lane and you could indicate if there were, say, two lanes going in one direction and one on the other. Not having a "cars are going both ways" symbol that someone could slap on and forget about forces standardization. What a brilliantly understated design.
Except I know there used to be a 3 lane road somewhere in the Stockholm region that does change the direction of its center lane depending on the time of day. But I can't remember where it is...
I recall seeing these in Prague 15 or so years back when I lived there, and intuiting their use, but not knowing the story behind them. This video was illuminating!
Another piece of semi-related trivia about Prisma's pedestrian crossing signal box is that according to their old owner Jan Lund, the front of the box with the pedestrian, hand pointing upwards , and button/circle (🚹⬆️⚪, as seen at 4:45), is Christian symbolism meant to be read as "Jesus is the only path". As a devout Christian, he wanted to build the company upon Christian foundations, and early on began cooperating with evangelical organisations who conducted missionary work in Colombian prisons, and even hired a pastor from the Swedish Evangelical Mission full-time worker to take care of the staff of the company. Later designs use the upside down pyramid which is part of the company's logo (as can be seen at 11:19) instead of a circle, which can be read as an even more blatant reference to the Trinity of the Christian Bible - three parts coming together to create one whole. This caused some minor controversy in Sweden in 2008 when a civilian reported institutions that had purchased the signal boxes to the parliamentary ombudsman of the Swedish government (JO) because of the statements of Prisma's owner, however no action was taken from JO's side.
I saw the thumbnail and immediately knew the video would be about the tactile maps. I'm fully sighted, but easily bored, so I usually stave off the boredom by making sure they properly match!
As a swede I often ponder how long ago since the various features of this system has existed. I know the ticking is more than 20 years old, and it ticks instead of "beeping" since the ticking is a more broad band sound that is both easier for hearing impaired people to hear, but also easier to locate in general. (more monotone sounds are harder to locate. And this is why the reversing sound of trucks has started to be changed towards something more white noise-ish sound instead, and one can hear it better at a much lower sound level as well.) Another subtle thing with the tick is that it ticks on each side of the crossing when idling, alternating back and forth. Ie, one can more easily hear where the other side is. When one is free to go the ticking goes a lot faster, and when the time is soon up it goes in shorter bursts to let people know they don't have much time left. And all of that has been a thing for as long as I can remember. The arrow on top is also quite old, at least 10 years by images I have been able to find. But it is nice that they kept that feature even when adding in the tactile map. I have seen this tactile map in the wild here in Stockholm, but they are very rare. However, I might have spotted it in a neighboring city. (considering that "Stockholm" often includes the neighboring cities of Lidingö, Danderyd, Solna, Sollentuna, Ekerö, Huddinge, Haninge, Tyresö and Nacka, that all more or less have grown together into one massive city with little visual evidence of boarders. Other than the sudden change in road quality since they refurbish their roads at different intervals, and the city signs saying you are entering another city.) As far as other crossings I have seen out in the world, even the fact that these tick is revolutionary, considering how some countries haven't yet learned to put buttons on their refuge islands... And they have been ticking for decades to the point it is somewhat part of Swedish culture, the slow ticking of cross walks is just part of our cityscape. (and no, the ticking ain't loud, so indoors it is usually far from easy to hear unless one lives right next to one.) Another thing with our buttons is that we have 2. A standard one, and a long one. And unlike Singapore you don't need a special disability card to use the longer one, since abusing the longer time isn't really a thing... Since it doesn't add a huge amount of time. Crossings are made such that one can reach the other side on the normal time as a normal person, and longer crossings have at least 1 refuge island to wait on with another set of buttons, and as stated, one do get informed of when the time is soon up. And vehicles also must wait until people have finished crossing and generally do wait when needed. So in the end, if one needs a lot of time, one can take it in steps.
The ticking sound is used in Sweden but the box have many different selectable sounds. The installer select the sound that is used in their country/region. I worked at Prisma Teknik 15 years ago and had to test every sound in the box. Luckily that was not my main task. I was mainly responsible for the optional vibrating lid. If the box is ordered with that lid you can feel when the light turns green.
@@SPY6000 I do have to say that most of the other sounds available are atrocious in comparison. The tick sound is generally better than the alternatives Prisma has on offer, since it is far more broad band than the rest. Hearing deficits can vary wildly from person to person, even if it is most common to lose the higher frequency part first. But people also lose other parts of the spectrum for various reasons. Not that I blame Prisma for this, some countries just have their own standards and wants companies to comply. Even if some standards are honestly rather bad...
I really love hearing stories about how accessible design is life changing for the people who need it. I think we should all be motivated to make the world a kinder place for the people around us.
(This is also basically every crossing button in Ireland; they're even using the exact same post-mechanical-button version from Sweden. They've been here for 25 years.)
Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storyblocks: storyblocks.com/LinusBoman
Audio only version: th-cam.com/video/_OxymiZkNqU/w-d-xo.html - research notes and sources: timesnewboman.notion.site/Tactile-pedestrian-crossing-map-with-relief-symbols-research-sources-4ecda61c86e245038f02be00017b92c3
Hey Linus,
I’m a huge fan. Love your stuff on TH-cam. Was thinking about suggesting you do a vid on political logos. Given the interest in US politics at the moment it would probably be popular. Also, with the Harris Campaign starting their branding from scratch only four weeks ago there’s plenty of content plus fonts/design choices over the years - Obama, Romney, Clinton etc.
Love your work.
Out of curiosity, Linus - your name sounds Swedish, and your pronunciation of Swedish words was really close. Do you have Scandinavian roots, by any chance?
fyi, the closed captions still have the markdown for the storyblocks link in the adsection, instead of just a legible link :)
8:26 "A designer's job is not to have all the right answers, but to know the right questions" WHAT A LINE
I find this to be the case for engineering as well, which is in many ways often similar to design. I don't need to know (and in fact *cannot* know) everything about a big project, but being able to realize where the blind spots are and which ones deserve investigation is important. Notably, this seems to be a skill that not everyone has, and I find that often the quality of the final product is indeed linked to quality of questioning in the design phase.
I feel like this goes for product management as well!
@@gjsmo Same with programming; you're never expected to know all the nuances and quirks of a particular programming language, you just need to know how to look up those answers.
AND who to ask
@@erickdavid4257 absolutely, that's probably the most important part of the quote. If you ask the wrong questions to the right people, they can still correct your path. Asking the right questions to the wrong people still cannot give you all the important information
I think the fact that I, a fully sighted American who has never been to Sweden, was able to immediately intuitively tell what these tactile maps were generally showing is indicative of how well they're designed.
The fact that I, a fully sighted Swedish person, have seen these thousands of times, and just thought it was a funky pattern, is now embarrassing.
@@ArvidOlson
Lol
@@ArvidOlson It is ironic, sometimes if we see something so often in the corner of our eye like that, we tend to understand it less simply because we've learned to not give it much attention. I'd say it happens to the best of us
As a visually, impaired person myself, we spend too much on this and not enough on just building more sidewalks…
@@ArvidOlson Hey, at least you saw them; I'd never even noticed them! 😄
These exact blue boxes are absolutely everywhere here in Stockholm, so why the city hasn't bothered to add the map tiles is just beyond me.
There is an additional cost per unit, since the maps must be installed by a skilled technician and some material cost. But with no national standard or accessibility law on the issue, it is down to a municipal level whether or not to install them. At least, that's my understanding from my interviews.
@@LinusBoman yeah, figures. Awesome video nevertheless. Thanks!
They're also all the way up here in Iceland and also Norway on every crossing :3
I can't speak for visually impaired people, but I bet that accessible design installed by a local council maintenance person who hasnt received the proper training and puts it in wrong/backwards by accident is worse than nothing at all.
@@DanielHarveyDyer i belive ur absolutely right, as a person who studied design, and inclusive design, it astonishing how much bad an improper design there is .. and in many cases situational design can be a complete disaster even for ppl with good hearing and vision..
..if u havent even tried put urself in a impared persons shoes, thers simply not possible do design that works, some shoes u can not put urself into, but u need knowledge of how a person is affected like say PTSD, panic attacks etc.. in many cased a perfectly normal person will get whats called tunnel vision and sensory depravation for example..
In Stockholm day care personell have a smartcard. Showing it to the box makes the green crossing period longer to enable all kids to cross
Ofta? Aldrig hört talas om detta innan. Fasen va smart ändå.
That's awesome, and also very interesting to me. Is there anywhere I can find more information about this? I can't seem to find anything with some quick googling around.
Kenneth Österlin has an incredibly pleasing voice. Very soothing.
Is it his real voice? The lips don't seem to sync, and the vibe that comes across is that it's somehow been autotranslated?!
@@sssdddkkksss It's just because he's speaking through a slightly laggy webcam connection.
@@sssdddkkksss ur so right omg
@@sssdddkkksss Now why would you design an auto-translator with a thick Swedish accent?
@@BeeTriggerBee because it's incredibly pleasing and very soothing.
There's something deeply satisfying in hearing someone switch from perfect English to perfect Swedish mid sentence 👌🇸🇪
Kinda crazy. I've lived in Oslo for a while so I recognise these blue boxes instantly, but I have never noticed the pattern before, so I decided to check them on my way to work this morning. Sure enough, every box I encountered has a map. Very cool!
Try the button concealed on the bottom - it should trigger "I want to walk across now" ;)
I clocked them too, but I don't live in Oslo any more so wasn't sure it was memory failing. Checked, and there they are at Majorstua.
Same
@@roysigurdkarlsbakk3842 Those buttons won't summon the green person any faster. It just gives you an audio signal while you wait.
@@panzerveps They certainly do summon the green man. A lot of streetlights won't even show it unless someone presses the button. Beleive me on this ;)
I was involved in an online discussion not too long about regarding accessible crosswalks here in Sweden. The ticking sounds are very ubiquitous here, I wish that the tactile aspect would be mandated on a national level. Same goes for tactile pavement in public areas, I wish Boverkets legislation was much more strict and mandating than it currently is. My local train station only had zig-zag paint markings until 2022, and it's still common in a lot of places just to pave sidewalks and pedestrian roads.
To be honest, it shouldn't even be mandated at a national level, but minimally at an EU level.
As a Swede, I was pleasantly surpriced when finding Swedish styled signal boxes when visiting Bratislava, Slovakia. It was even written ”Prismateknik Sweden” on them.
As an Austrian, I was so confused seing signal boxes with "bitte drücken"(Please press button) on it in Stockholm 😂😂😂
@@DasLoryokay lol, maybe it is because many tourists come from German speaking countries?
aside from being indicative of the most common nationalities of tourists to Sweden, it might also be to tell tourists to actually press the button, as in Sweden the button actually does something, whereas in some countries, especially the US, the lights are entirely set on a timer, which the button doesn't actually affect. In Sweden, if you don't press the button, you don't get a green light to cross.
@@fisk0they have installed sensors I think now though, but sometimes you still press the button for fun 🙃
@@MrEpicLeaf ja, it's more outside of Stockholm ^^
We have these in Finland also. Thanks to Sweden for the innovation. :)
Great work, mate. The pedestrian crossing button cinematic universe expands.
Thanks Julian! It might not be as lucrative as Marvel, but I reckon the PCBCU could at least be getting close to the DC numbers. 😂
The blue and yellow colour was definitely NOT a subconscious decision! :D
Them being blue wasn't. All påbudskyltar is blue (including the crosswalk signs). So it was the standard color to choose.
Yellow is easy to make and stand out against the blue and we also know how to make yellow that wont fade cheaply. But the swedish colors might have played just a small part in choosing yellow and not any other stand out color.
Noticed these when i was in Vienna. They constituted a considerable portion of my post holiday slide show.
As a sighted person, I don't personally care about the tactility, but the sound makes it so I don't have to look at the light. That makes me more aware of my surroundings, as I can look at the cars and/or shops. I do understand that the tactility is good for blind people, and it isn't harming me, so I'm all for them.
I bet most people do this and never even knew it. I've even absentmindedly stepped out into active traffic when the light changed for the other direction, which could have been avoided if I'd realised that east-west and north-south crosswalks play different tones.
In retrospect, this fact is so obvious, but it's not something I'd ever noticed before. I'm in Canada, and north-south plays a cuckoo sound, while east-west plays the Canadian Melody (four notes in descending order) or a short repeating chirp-chirp on older signals.
Accessibility measures (also digital) are usually also helpful for the non-impaired.
This is a version of the 'curb cut" effect - when designing to make space more accessible to specifically disabled people also confers a benefit to many populations of people, some perhaps unintended.
@@lmeeken I wasn't aware of that term, thanks!
The absence of sound hints at pedestrian crossings is what I miss when being abroad. (away from Sweden)
Neat video, I've seen and used these countless times, but never paid much attention to the tactile map. What a thoughtful and important design!
One thing I can recall about these boxes is that there used to be a discussion some 15 years ago whether the pointing hand symbol on the front was a religious symbol or not. The company making them claimed it was, while the designer, Kenneth, said it wasn't. ☝
I remember that discussion! The company said the symbols 🧍☝️🔆 meant "the path to light goes through Jesus" or something of that nature.
Im so glad you bring this up! It was apparently part of the first design brief, but, who knows after all this time.
@@CopyOfMe That sounds completely insane. There's no path and no Jesus. There's a finger and a human. It could just as well mean "hey look, a dude" or "finger my butthole". EDIT: I looked it up, and the CEO is indeed some pentecostal lunatic who says it's his own interpretation AND that Kenneth shouldn't say that this interpretation is wrong. What a psycho.
I remembered this too, and found a 2008 interview in a Finnish newspaper, HS. They interviewed the CEO and owner at the time, Jan Lund. The interview is titled "Lights go green by the grace of God", lol. At least back then according to the interview all of the employees were christian, they all pray together at work, the company hosts christian events, and over half of the income was used for christian charities. Some muslim countries cover the hand symbol when installing the devices, but the company will not make them without it.
@@cabbelos Yes I worked there 15 years ago and we read the bible and pray for 15 minutes after breakfast. It was not mandatory but most people joined.
Oooh! We have these where I live in Dublin, Ireland. The exact ones shown being assembled in this video. I never understood what it was about but now next time I go out I'm gonna look at them and point them out to my friends. This is a genius idea on the part of the designer.
It's cool you're branching out into other types of design other than graphic, although there is quite some overlap. Great video as always.
...in what way is this _not_ graphic design??
@@Koushakur It's not graphic, that's how. As Linus says in the intro, you're not meant to even see the design. You touch it with your fingers.
It could be more accurately called accessibility design.
Tactile desing. There's nothing accessible about pretending only sight or only sound is access, any more than placing all store shelves at shoulder level so short people need not learn to fly.
Tactility is the human aspect some individuals are more exclusive with than others.
I noticed those a while ago in Uppsala and I thought they were awesome. I was surprised, though, that my Swedish friends did not know about them at all.
kind of awesome when a designer does such a good job that one of his most influencal works becomes visually unnoticeable, because it is just how it is supposed to be.
Born and raised in Uppsala 1979. And I have never actually noticed that it was a map. I just thought it was some company logo or whatever.
A thing i would do to improve is to colour the map itself to contrast with the yellow for people who cannot look far away can look at it and know what to expect.
Exactly what I was thinking
I agree, and it looks like there was one model, shown at 7:41, that had painted or colored the raised part of the map to be dark.
That's not a bad idea but they're supposed to be touched anyway so the color isn't super important
@@Greksallad yeah I know feeling is the most important aspect but this would help another group of people
But it will increase the cost of the production
As a Swedish wheelchair user, I have noticed the arrow pointing the direction and obviously the sound, but I honestly have never noticed the map. I need to have a look the next time I go out! This was a very interesting video, thank you for sharing!
Even without visual disability, I love the crosswalk postage with tactile feedback because I have attention problems and hearing the crosswalk sounds can be difficult on busy roads
Accessibility helps everyone!
See also: the curb cut effect, “the phenomenon of disability-friendly features being used and appreciated by a larger group than the people they were designed for.”
Ding. Going up. Ding ding going down. Lifts/elevators in case you wondered. Minor things that help everyone. Ok, a bad example for the hard of hearing, but you get the idea. Accessibility is a good thing.
@@georgeprout42 Read somewhere years ago about the difference with a visually impaired person with a stroller passing a crossing compaired with someone with their sight. The visually impaired drag the stroller behind them instead of pushing it in front of traffic. Something to think about.
This is gonna be about the scandinavian pedestrian crossings isn't it. love it.
My favourite thing about Swedish road design is that the chevron signs that indicate a tight bend aren't in black and white (like the UK), or black and yellow, but are blue and yellow and match the flag. It's an unusual choice, but I love its uniqueness.
The high reflective blue and yellow is so they are visible even when partially covered in snow or during heavy snowfall. The flag colours over here is just a happy coincidence I think.
Peace
I really like how you emphasize on this channel that accessibility is just as if not more so important than aesthetics as part of design
These boxes are ubiquitous in Norway, such a shame they're Swedish 😄
One thing you forgot to mention is that they actually don't have just one button, but two! There's a second button hidden underneath, pressing it lengthens the pedestrian green light for the next cycle. It's an excellent feature for the elderly or anyone who may need extra time to cross.
"1990? but you said 35 years ago... oh..."
Been living in Finland for 20 years. These are everywhere and never noticed the map! Have to go and check.
Beautifully made little documentary here. I enjoyed seeing how the tiles come printed and are slid into the box slot especially.
Nice to see someone covering this. Thank you from a former employee at Prisma Teknik
Wow, it's hard to search for this exact thing. A lot of keywords just points to tactile tile manufacturers if I'm lucky. No wonder it's not more well known. So glad you made this vodeo so that it's now in my zeitgeist!
It depresses me a bit seeing that one of the image search results shows 6 car lanes in one go. No traffic island. I can imagine a person reading that tactile sign getting more and more despaired as he reads more and more car lanes.
We have those here in Bratislava! I was always impressed by their design. Another cool feature they sometimes have is a tactile ticker - sometimes you might not be able to hear the ticking over the noise of traffic, or maybe there's multiple tickers on a busy intersection, in which case you can touch the bottom of the box and feel a little vibrating plate, which vibrates in a different pattern based on the crosswalk signal. It often also doubles as an additional direction arrow.
I always love seeing these around Sweden and enjoy looking at the tactile maps and comparing them to the actual layout. I was super surprised when I was in Žilina a couple of weeks ago and there they were again! 😊
I assembled those vibrating lids 15 years ago. Was my main responsibility to keep them in stock for when we got orders with that option.
Hell yeah more accessible design!!!
I fell in love with Atkinson Hyperlegible because of you, so I'm stoked for this video (but I'm always stoked when you upload)
Inclusive design is really where it’s at. It makes me happy to see it improving in little and big ways throughout the world with each passing year. Everything from smartly designed makeup packaging meant to be easy open, anti-roll away caps with code for low vision users built into the aesthetic design of the packaging to NYC finally piloting something like this. If it works well… and it should… hopefully we can get it rolled into part of ADA compliance & it’ll go nation wide.
I paused this video half way through, went outside, looked at the crossing-box thats just 10 m from my window and it had this map. It made me happy :) I have never noticed that before and its such a neat little thing that I probably will see every time i press on these boxes from now on. Cheers
Neat Linus! What a way to expand the focus of the channel. I had not realized that the tactile “rumble” strips at Metro stations (even hear in Southern California) were for the visually impaired. 👍🏼
I'm genuinely curious what you thought they were for?
@@borstenpinselI can’t speak for them, but it could be for visual decoration or even as a subconscious barrier to keep people away from edges when it’s busy. They could have also just never thought about it at all. There are so many things in our world around us that we accept on basic terms and never think into because we don’t have any reason to.
god the way those pieces slide in and are easily customizable is so cool!
Linus you have outdone yourself on quality and clarity of the mini doco story here and how it's all assembled. And what a topic and inspiring design story too. Such humble impactful statements from Kenneth too.
The breadth you are covering lately in videos is even more interesting, though I will never get sick of a good font and type face rant!
I loved this video through and through, nice research and presentation
Independent mobility is so important. If someone _does_ actually need to be escorted by a carer we shouldn't treat them as lesser, of course. But speaking from experience, being able to decide where and how you go in the ways that you can vastly improves quality of life. I'm disabled and often a pedestrian, and I benefit from some designs clearly intended for B/VI people even though I'm not blind myself. Audio feedback and high contrast are the big ones for me, but it's nice to see complementary approaches as well.
Yes! And accessible design is important and helpful for everyone, because on one hand we all get old or could get a disabilty later on and on the other hand it ads clarity to the surroundings, so small informationsplates with the number of a room for example are also helpful for a person that never visited the building bevore. If you can, it would be wonderful to to a video on digital accessibility!
we have these in Finland as well. Always wondered what the alien symbols on the side mean hahah now I know;)
It's so nice to see a video essay with, you know, research and interviews
This is such a wonderful example of how design can make lives better
You can really tell that you deeply care about what you do. Cheers from Germany.
Thanks, Linus, just joined after Robs Words recommended me to. Video one and already spectacularly impressed. Thank you.
I love that from the get-go you mentioned Tom Scott's and Julian's previous videos on this (just to stop me jumping in ;) )
Thank you for this amazing mini doc. I noticed these by accident and love checking the maps whenever I see them. Super cool that you got the designer too. Top job - was thinking to send this to half as interesting but I think you’ve got it covered!
Saw your video on TT about this a while ago and have been waiting for the full video ever since!
Thanks for showing this. I'm visually impaired, but I only use the sound. It's perfect if the traffic light is in the direct line if sight to the sun.
Before these ticking sound, there was different types of sound for walk, or don't walk.
Close to my school, the old acoustic signal could have raised dead people.
So good design, and a treat for me since I personally know Jan Lund, who started the company Prisma in the town of Tibro in Sweden.
Keep up the good work!
the most impressive part is that you pronounced Sahlgrenska flawlessly o:
Good design doesn't have to be replaced! Well done Kenneth!
There's a couple of these crosswalk buttons around Umeå, basically at every crosswalk with a stoplight (which isn't that many), yet I can't remember if I've ever seen one with a tactile map on it before (as in, where there's space meant for a tactile map, it's just been left blank)... probably because there aren't any complicated crosswalks in Umeå
6:59 so beautifully done.
Nice to see design having a genuinely positive impact on people's lives
Fantastic video! After watching I was absolutely amazed to find this design incorporated into the crosswalks in my local neighbourhood all the way in Israel! I had long noticed the arrows atop the crosswalks but the tactile crossing diagrams were just hiding there in plain sight! Hopefully more countries adopt this design (Canada for example is long overdue)
Very well made video! As a kid i used to think these things were decorative patterns. It was not until recently I became aware of their purpose.
I have been seeing these my entire life and never had any idea those shapes actually had a purpose
I am actually _shocked_ that I've never noticed this detail! I've always liked these little boxes, and I swear I've _felt_ the patterns on the side, but I never really stopped to look at what exactly they are!
That's really cool!
This has been such an informative and enjoyable video to watch!
I didn't know anything about tactile maps or even about street furniture as an overarching term and I'm delighted I got introduced to it today.
Also, I lived in Sweden for the past year and didn't notice these at all... But I'll be back soon and definitely will pay attention to them!
So glad you're talking about this
Funny, it was on that one crosswalk button in the thumbnail that I noticed the pattern for the first time
Well described with interesting content. Thank you forn not using distracting music
As always, an absolutely top notch video. Always enjoy when your videos have interview segments and information from the right places, just a really satisfying watch.
This is great design. I’d love to see something similar introduced to UK crossings.
These are made in the town I grew up in. Always fun to look for the Tibro and Prisma labels when crossing streets abroad.
finally, a video where i can say this! i adore the way the prisma signalboxes have barely changed, they're absolutely beautiful and they have only slightly changed since i was little.
I've got these in my city! Nice to know more about it!
There are also tactile "paths" at bus stops and at least some stations. The tiny bumps warning for the edge at the tracks but also grooves to follow to find the door on the bus. A good example of a tactile map can be found in the bus station connected to Gothenburg central station.
I see these everywhere in my city (Bratislava), I always wondered what the yellow sides mean, nice to find a video explaining it!
The box with the huge arrow button is the one we have in New Zealand too. Complete with the "Chyoom-do-do-do-do..." sound.
If I’m not mistaken the same system is in use in Ireland, specifically in Cork. I remember seeing those blue boxes at pedestrian crossings back in 2010s.
Yes I think we got orders from Ireland when I worked at Prisma Teknik 15 years ago. We shipped those boxes to many countries.
Absolutely brills video! I love street furniture and industrial design, so it was super interesting :) Would love to see more stuff like this.
I love that you are showcasing and even contributing to designs and projects that help people with disabilities to be part of our society and spread the knowledge about both the need for it and what can be done to a wider audience!
These are in my city in Ghent too, but not on newer poles.
As a Swede, I was very surprised to not know anything about this before watching this video. That said, I am from Stockholm, so I guess that explains it.
Anyway, great video, and really cool that you could include Kenneth Österlin himself too! (Also, I'm very impressed by your Swedish pronunciation - Sahlgrenska, Nybro, and so on!)
One of the absolutely most genious designs in traffic!
This is an amazing design, it is not confusing to either side, I never even noticed it yet it's invaluable for people not like me. Best type of design I think. I would be curious to hear what people think of the redesigns.
I didn’t know these existed but I’ll keep my eye out for them from now on! Very cool and you got to feature Kenneth too. Wish I would’ve seen this video yesterday because I just traveled from Stockholm to Gothenburg and I could’ve had two cities to examine 😆
I wondered why there was no two way car symbol but then I realized it was per lane and you could indicate if there were, say, two lanes going in one direction and one on the other. Not having a "cars are going both ways" symbol that someone could slap on and forget about forces standardization.
What a brilliantly understated design.
Except I know there used to be a 3 lane road somewhere in the Stockholm region that does change the direction of its center lane depending on the time of day. But I can't remember where it is...
Very cutesy
Very demure
What a marvelous video about a beautifully simple yet impeccably designed safety device. 😁👍
Thanks mate! I found it a fun coincidence when you released a video about crosswalk buttons at Defcon just a few weeks ago!
@@LinusBoman Yes, I do love moments of kismet like that in the universe and smiled when I saw your topic today! 🚸
I recall seeing these in Prague 15 or so years back when I lived there, and intuiting their use, but not knowing the story behind them. This video was illuminating!
Didn’t realize how amazing swedens traffic/roads/pedestrian crossings were until i visited the UK. Sweden truly is amazing
We have these in Dublin! I always love pointing these out to people
Linus of Design, Linus of Linux, the two linus' i pay my gratitude to.
Another piece of semi-related trivia about Prisma's pedestrian crossing signal box is that according to their old owner Jan Lund, the front of the box with the pedestrian, hand pointing upwards , and button/circle (🚹⬆️⚪, as seen at 4:45), is Christian symbolism meant to be read as "Jesus is the only path". As a devout Christian, he wanted to build the company upon Christian foundations, and early on began cooperating with evangelical organisations who conducted missionary work in Colombian prisons, and even hired a pastor from the Swedish Evangelical Mission full-time worker to take care of the staff of the company.
Later designs use the upside down pyramid which is part of the company's logo (as can be seen at 11:19) instead of a circle, which can be read as an even more blatant reference to the Trinity of the Christian Bible - three parts coming together to create one whole.
This caused some minor controversy in Sweden in 2008 when a civilian reported institutions that had purchased the signal boxes to the parliamentary ombudsman of the Swedish government (JO) because of the statements of Prisma's owner, however no action was taken from JO's side.
I saw the thumbnail and immediately knew the video would be about the tactile maps. I'm fully sighted, but easily bored, so I usually stave off the boredom by making sure they properly match!
As a swede I often ponder how long ago since the various features of this system has existed.
I know the ticking is more than 20 years old, and it ticks instead of "beeping" since the ticking is a more broad band sound that is both easier for hearing impaired people to hear, but also easier to locate in general. (more monotone sounds are harder to locate. And this is why the reversing sound of trucks has started to be changed towards something more white noise-ish sound instead, and one can hear it better at a much lower sound level as well.)
Another subtle thing with the tick is that it ticks on each side of the crossing when idling, alternating back and forth. Ie, one can more easily hear where the other side is.
When one is free to go the ticking goes a lot faster, and when the time is soon up it goes in shorter bursts to let people know they don't have much time left. And all of that has been a thing for as long as I can remember.
The arrow on top is also quite old, at least 10 years by images I have been able to find. But it is nice that they kept that feature even when adding in the tactile map.
I have seen this tactile map in the wild here in Stockholm, but they are very rare. However, I might have spotted it in a neighboring city. (considering that "Stockholm" often includes the neighboring cities of Lidingö, Danderyd, Solna, Sollentuna, Ekerö, Huddinge, Haninge, Tyresö and Nacka, that all more or less have grown together into one massive city with little visual evidence of boarders. Other than the sudden change in road quality since they refurbish their roads at different intervals, and the city signs saying you are entering another city.)
As far as other crossings I have seen out in the world, even the fact that these tick is revolutionary, considering how some countries haven't yet learned to put buttons on their refuge islands... And they have been ticking for decades to the point it is somewhat part of Swedish culture, the slow ticking of cross walks is just part of our cityscape. (and no, the ticking ain't loud, so indoors it is usually far from easy to hear unless one lives right next to one.)
Another thing with our buttons is that we have 2. A standard one, and a long one. And unlike Singapore you don't need a special disability card to use the longer one, since abusing the longer time isn't really a thing... Since it doesn't add a huge amount of time. Crossings are made such that one can reach the other side on the normal time as a normal person, and longer crossings have at least 1 refuge island to wait on with another set of buttons, and as stated, one do get informed of when the time is soon up. And vehicles also must wait until people have finished crossing and generally do wait when needed. So in the end, if one needs a lot of time, one can take it in steps.
The ticking sound is used in Sweden but the box have many different selectable sounds. The installer select the sound that is used in their country/region. I worked at Prisma Teknik 15 years ago and had to test every sound in the box. Luckily that was not my main task. I was mainly responsible for the optional vibrating lid. If the box is ordered with that lid you can feel when the light turns green.
@@SPY6000 I do have to say that most of the other sounds available are atrocious in comparison.
The tick sound is generally better than the alternatives Prisma has on offer, since it is far more broad band than the rest. Hearing deficits can vary wildly from person to person, even if it is most common to lose the higher frequency part first. But people also lose other parts of the spectrum for various reasons.
Not that I blame Prisma for this, some countries just have their own standards and wants companies to comply. Even if some standards are honestly rather bad...
@@todayonthebench Yes, the default setting is ticking as it is the best one but other sounds are available to comply with different standards.
@@SPY6000 The wonderful joy of standards enforcing worse solutions.
We also have those here in Finland
what a clever design! very mindful, very accessible
yes very demure, also very cutesy.
@@overthecounterbeaniei was looking for this exact comment
been living in sweden for 8 years and i never even noticed the maps. i even walk over one of the exact crossings showed in the video often
This is so cool. I'll have to pay attention to my local pedestrian crossings to see if I spot one of these.
I really love hearing stories about how accessible design is life changing for the people who need it. I think we should all be motivated to make the world a kinder place for the people around us.
Linus, thank you for this.
The TH-cam algorithm recommended this, and I'm so glad that I watched.
what a great feature, seems mad that something like this isn't universal all over
i see you with the video title, very timely
I used to use the crosswalk in the thumbnail every day and had no idea of this.
Very neat!
this gives me 99% invisible vibes and I love it 😊
(This is also basically every crossing button in Ireland; they're even using the exact same post-mechanical-button version from Sweden. They've been here for 25 years.)