This is the door to the men’s bathroom at Mexican Radio in New York City (great restaurant, btw). You know its the men’s room because of that cleverly placed “gentlemen” sticker, right? Were that not there, you may have incorrectly believed this to be a door to a room full of mustaches.
I thought this was a good (though somewhat loosely interpreted) example of how overdoing information can ultimately undermining the soul of your design. Within the proper context (in this case, being in the back of the restaurant next to another door with some feminine imagery on it) you don’t need a label or know how to read Spanish in order to find the proper restroom.
The extra ‘Gentlemen’ sign strikes me as an afterthought. Like the sort of thing they put up after too many customers complained they couldn’t tell which bathroom was which because they don’t read Spanish and are not literate in basic masculine/feminine symbology. On the other hand, I certainly know plenty of restaurants that get away away with even subtler indications as to which bathroom is which.
So I would take this more as an example of how much the consumer of the design matters. If the original, ’soulful’ design had been sufficiently effective in it’s context, the ‘Gentlemen’ sign would have been necessary.
i think my favorite example of this kind of thing were the bathrooms at a steakhouse in manila that used action figures of marge and homer in the doors—no words, just simpsons!
p.s. you know i love you, but it’s terribly depressing that the list of superstars on the sidebar is completely male. dude! wtf
ha! lia, i thought the same thing!