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Comment by bostonpete | Hacker News Reader

These two phrases from the brief article seem like they're at odds with each other, no?

  "surrounded by an intentionally confusing layout"

  "providing a sense of safety and calm through exceptional familiarity"

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Imagine a house, where every room is familiar, but you have to get to the master bedroom through the hall closet and the front door leads you right into the bathroom.

Wow, even that sentence confused me.

Doesn't sound contradictory to me. When I go through a hedge maze I feel both safe and confused.

I wasn't commenting on confusing vs. safe so much as confusing vs. familiar.

I think you often have both.

Ask anyone who's ever had a job with a bunch of corporate bureaucracy but also felt familiar and comfortable enough with their ability to navigate it that they were hesitant to leave.

You don't feel safe "through exceptional familiarity" though.

I don't think so. You can have something where every part/the immediate surroundings are familiar, but the overall layout is confusing.

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