Signs
After the completion of Atlas I hoped that our campus would finally look less like a construction site. Unfortunately, we seem to be digging holes everywhere.
Since this is not very representative and MomenTUm was the moment for the TU/e to present itself to the outside world, we apparently decided to block the view of our construction sites with large banners. And entirely in the style of TU/e, the first signs were completely gender-balanced.
The banners of Hurkmans Groep featuring Ilse and Stefan were a particular delight. Ilse was clearly in a gender crisis and Stefan would have liked to be Ilse. I thought this was on purpose, but two weeks later the banners were replaced.
TU/e is not good at making signs. Whereas Schiphol (our national airport) is best in class for signposting routes from everything to everywhere, TU/e (in the national Brainport) is often unable to explain even the most basic things. Sometimes, because people refuse to use the correct names of buildings, meetings are scheduled in STZ or STN. Good luck finding these rooms if you have not been here for more than fifteen years. And sometimes simply because arrows point in the wrong direction, or numbering systems defy all forms of logic.
Other signs are often too confusing to understand. Like the one you find in every bathroom in MetaForum, clearly stating that the round green button is “not a light switch”. This is rather obvious, as all lights in the building are either controlled by motion or through the thermostat, but the sign does not explain what the button is. I’ve been told it’s an alarm switch, but often I’ve been tempted to try pushing it.
Another category of signs are the ones that are consistently ignored. The “non-smoking” signs in the market hall of MetaForum fall into that category. However, there is one category of signs that we apparently do not place, even though they should be placed.
I recently learned that the playground of our daycare center has been closed for months (and children are therefore stuck inside all day) because residents of Luna throw cigarettes out of their window on the playing kids. Really? Do we really need a sign for that? I propose we make one measuring 2 by 4 meters and put it in every room looking out over the daycare center.
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