Hi-
The Recyclery is almost finished moving into our new storefront and making some nice signs to help people understand who we are and what we do (among other things). I know we have all figured out much of this on our separate owns, but what kind of community shop-specific signs do we all have? is there a collection of them somewhere? I know the wiki is down... But specifically I'm thinking about the many "we will not fix your bike for you..." type signs. does anyone have any lists?
first,
you must teach people to read.
On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 2:08 PM, Erik Stockmeiereriks@therecyclery.org wrote:
In terms of shop rules, we've posted:
- be nice
- be chill
- clean up after yourself
- don't take tools out of anyone's hands
- keep it rated "g"
That covers most of the issues that come up, and it makes it easy for anyone to point to a rule when one gets broken. We've referred people to certain rules in the moment, and it's worked pretty well. People get the point quickly without feeling bad about it, and we all go back to fixing bikes.
It's true though... there's a point when there's information overload, and some people don't even see signs that are right in front of them. Not sure what to do about that other than to keep things as concise as possible.
-rachael
On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 5:42 PM, reno bikes renobikeproject@gmail.comwrote:
I've been fascinated by wordless novelshttp://oz.plymouth.edu/%7Edaberona/lately, and their power to bring ideas to those who don't read letters or words, those who may read/speak another language, and even those who *do*read.
I've also been thinking of way was can bring this into our shop, to reach out to those visitors who can't read at all--this includes kids as well as adults--and those who speak other languages than our primary one.
Ikea (and other manufacturers of) furniture often include instructions for assembly with their products with wordless diagrams for sets of often pretty complex steps. The well done ones (Ikea comes to mind) work very well. Sometimes better than a bunch of text.
While I think the motivations behind mass production furniture manufacturers using wordless diagrams may not be as altruistic ("the fewer languages we have to print these instructions in, the lower our printing cost, etc") as our goals for our community bike shops, I do think there's some value we can find and use to our advantage, and to that of our clients and visitors, to make our spaces more welcoming.
I'm very interested in collaborating on a series of flyers or a zine or something which explains/diagrams the steps of the bike maintenance or assembly/disassembly that we most often find ourselves teaching in our shop, to allow for more self guided exploration of bike mechanics.
I didn't mean to hijack the thread about rules, but if there were a way to express the rules you're after with pictures instead of words, you would include even the folks who can't read, or can't read English, if that is the primary spoken/written language in your space. Wordless art has been in my brain a lot in the last few days, and reno's comment struck a chord.
josh.
Josh, I think you're on to something. It could be tremendous. Good luck!
Doug Franz Coatesville Community Bike Works
From: "veganboyjosh@gmail.com" veganboyjosh@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 8:13:30 PM Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Shop Signage
On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 3:42 PM, reno bikes renobikeproject@gmail.com wrote:
first,
you must teach people to read.
I've been fascinated by wordless novels lately, and their power to bring ideas to those who don't read letters or words, those who may read/speak another language, and even those who do read.
I've also been thinking of way was can bring this into our shop, to reach out to those visitors who can't read at all--this includes kids as well as adults--and those who speak other languages than our primary one.
Ikea (and other manufacturers of) furniture often include instructions for assembly with their products with wordless diagrams for sets of often pretty complex steps. The well done ones (Ikea comes to mind) work very well. Sometimes better than a bunch of text.
While I think the motivations behind mass production furniture manufacturers using wordless diagrams may not be as altruistic ("the fewer languages we have to print these instructions in, the lower our printing cost, etc") as our goals for our community bike shops, I do think there's some value we can find and use to our advantage, and to that of our clients and visitors, to make our spaces more welcoming.
I'm very interested in collaborating on a series of flyers or a zine or something which explains/diagrams the steps of the bike maintenance or assembly/disassembly that we most often find ourselves teaching in our shop, to allow for more self guided exploration of bike mechanics.
I didn't mean to hijack the thread about rules, but if there were a way to express the rules you're after with pictures instead of words, you would include even the folks who can't read, or can't read English, if that is the primary spoken/written language in your space. Wordless art has been in my brain a lot in the last few days, and reno's comment struck a chord.
josh.
We keep it "G" as well,
but thats for "stone cold gangster"
its Reno, what what!
On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 6:49 PM, Doug Franzhitrim@yahoo.com wrote:
I agree, pictures transend language. This would be an amazing project.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org
Get Addicted to Crank! http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 7:49 PM, Doug Franz hitrim@yahoo.com wrote:
participants (6)
-
Doug Franz -
Erik Stockmeier -
Jonathan Morrison -
rachael spiewak -
reno bikes -
veganboyjosh＠gmail.com