This hidden Swedish design is very mindful

Special thanks to:

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00:00 A Scandinavian design classic of street furniture
00:45 Accessible pedestrian signals or crosswalk buttons
02:44 Origin story - Kenneth Österlin gets the brief
04:32 How tactile crossing maps work
06:05 Design principles of wayfinding
08:35 Real life impact for vision impaired pedestrians
10:03 Spread and influence - Sweden to Austria and beyond
11:55 A tactile legacy in public safety
---

[ptinosq]

8:26 "A designer's job is not to have all the right answers, but to know the right questions" WHAT A LINE

[dhmacher]

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.

[naotak]

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.

[andersahrsjo]

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

[PerMortensen]

Kenneth Österlin has an incredibly pleasing voice. Very soothing.

[brickuz]

There's something deeply satisfying in hearing someone switch from perfect English to perfect Swedish mid sentence 👌🇸🇪

[Victor-cuuj]

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.

[mythospj]

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!

[afhdfh]

The blue and yellow colour was definitely NOT a subconscious decision! :D

[finlayjames]

Noticed these when i was in Vienna. They constituted a considerable portion of my post holiday slide show.

[MrEpicLeaf]

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.

[JulianOShea]

Great work, mate. The pedestrian crossing button cinematic universe expands.

[Mojova]

We have these in Finland also. Thanks to Sweden for the innovation. :)

[LaughingOrange]

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.

[victorheijler]

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. ☝

[EC]

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.

[AcrosArchive]

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.

[JhowieNitnek]

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.

[pindebraende]

This is gonna be about the scandinavian pedestrian crossings isn't it. love it.

[magicianstuff]

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