I was crossing a main boulevard in Berlin a few nights ago, in order to pick up a DVD for my wife and I to watch that evening. It is a busy street, with a grassy island in the center and two sets of tracks for the streetcars that travel each way on that island. At various intervals, there are paved pedestrian crossings across the tracks.
At a break in the traffic, I strolled to one of those crossings, lost in my thoughts as the city air turned cool in the early evening. After making it across one track, however, I was jolted out of my daydream by the sight of a streetcar coming towards me from the opposite direction on the other track. I saw it in plenty of time to stop and wait, however, because of the way the path across the island was designed: the civil engineers did not simply pave a straight path across, but, instead, made it jog a few meters so that the pedestrian would be forced to turn in the direction of the oncoming street car, no matter which way he would cross. There was no need for me to even turn my head to make sure the way was clear, and metal fences also prevented teenage cyclists from darting across carelessly while plugged into their iPods.
It may seem funny, but I was inspired by the thought that went into such a simple, utilitarian design. And I was impressed that--although it was purely functional and not at all an aesthetic work--it's design was successful in actually reducing human error and accidents. I began to ponder other areas of design in which the functional aspect can be so well thought-out that it limits human error, and, naturally, I thought of boardgame design as well.
