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Subject:Re: Interesting visuals on control panel From:Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com, Jan Axelson <jan -at- lvr -dot- com> Date:Wed, 17 Nov 2010 07:50:33 -0800 (PST)
I doubt the designer was thinking of the fable and any of its connotations. The sight of those animals causes *immediate* assumptions about speeds. I think it's much more likely the designer was aiming for that immediacy, rather than any thoughts about a fable that the operator may not have read.
I've worked in construction and plumbing and other rough trades, and from that experience I believe a thought like 'get going but take it slow' is too subtle for most employees in fields where cherry pickers are used. They're more likely to fit what Mark Twain wrote about sailors - they can't understand orders that are not illuminated by blasphemy. :-)
--- On Wed, 11/17/10, Jan Axelson <jan -at- lvr -dot- com> wrote:
From: Jan Axelson <jan -at- lvr -dot- com>
Subject: Interesting visuals on control panel
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 10:04 AM
Yesterday I happened to see the control panel on a cherry
picker/aerial lift. The speed control had no text. Instead there were
two images - a hare at the top and a tortoise at the bottom. In
between was a bar that tapered from top to bottom.
Since the tortoise in the fable wins the race, maybe the images send
a subtle message to get going but take it slow?
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