The blogs DVICE et Swiss Miss point us towards the prototype for an all-new extinguisher : the Act Fire Extinguisher.
Sigrun Vik, design student at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design is of the opinion (which is wrong, if you ask me) that we do not know how to use the fire extinguishers that are found everywhere.
Below is a picture of said fire-extinguisher. Take a good look at it and close your eyes. If you were at a friend’s place and a fire broke out, and you were sent to fetch the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, would you think to take this thing?
All around us, there are certain conventions. A doorknob should look like a doorknob… and a fire extinguisher should look like a fire extinguisher. It’s a safety issue.
I am not against design progress, far from it, but in some cases, progress should be taken slowly, in phases. You can’t stray so quickly from existing conventions.
This is why there are some generally accepted ways of posting the technical information on a product or placing navigation elements on a website.
Design should be a tool to help solve problems, find solutions. We must accept and work with conventions; they are not barriers, rather they help your design be accepted.
(via DVICE - Swiss Miss)