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Comment by pquki4 | Hacker News Reader

I never understand why people think the following "fire extinguisher inside" sticker is a good idea:

https://www.firesupplydepot.com/fire-extinguisher-inside-lab...

To me it is the same thing as the La La Land fiasco.

When a fire breaks out and you begin to panic the stickers help reduce cognitive load by instinctually guiding people to cabinets containing fire fighting equipment. What is the problem?

Perhaps the point is the text? The European version of that sticker has a picture of an extinguisher, sometimes with text in the local language underneath.

Is picture better though? This actually looks like a bottle of soda next to a Christmas tree: https://www.brady.eu/signs/iso-7010-sign-fire-extinguisher-c...

Even panicked people can still read and a big "FIRE" word is actually quite easy to recognize, unlike the picture above.

We learn that symbol and others before we learn to read.

You get exposed to the symbol for a fire extinguisher that much as a child? I would expect encountering it at some point not before reading.

I took it to be a joke, but the symbol will be shown in several places around a nursery/kindergarten. It's also designed to be noticed, and printed on a reflective (often glow-in-the-dark) material.

https://www.holytrinity.herts.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020... (primary school corridor).

https://www.building-blocks-nurseries.co.uk/uploads/rucV7eaP... (nursery corridor).

There is some truth to this. I can distinctly remember attempting to memorise the classes of fire extinguisher listed next to this symbol (some types are suitable for electrical fires, others are not etc.) not long after learning to read.

Yes. It's in grocery stores, on buses, in kindergarten, in hospitals and health centres, pretty much everywhere. There's roughly two years of chatting between 2 and 4 years old, and it would be kind of weird to not talk about fire, fire fighters, extinguishers, during those years.

Even if you can't read, the meaning of the symbol is clear as it's always seen next to a fire extinguisher.

The fire part is also on the emergency exit sign.

I don't know the word for fire in Hungarian, but I will recognise these symbols next time I'm in Budapest.

How on earth is this related to the article?

Those stickers seem like an example of good and obvious design.

Am I missing something?

> To me it is the same thing as the La La Land fiasco.

You mean the movie? What was the fiasco? I haven’t seen the movie but hear good things.

A reference to the mishap at the Oscars I assume.

I guess I still don’t understand OP then, as the presumptive cause of that mishap was the design of the envelopes text being hard to read; if anything, having a sign that clearly says “fire extinguisher inside” alongside iconography is better than simply having vague icons.

In fact, I’m further confused by the La La Land reference, as the Academy redesigned the envelopes specifically to avoid this issue arising again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/89th_Academy_Awards#Best_Pictu...

> The design of the envelopes could have been a factor. The envelopes were redesigned this year to feature red paper with gold lettering that specified the award enclosed, rather than gold paper with dark lettering. That could have made the lettering harder to read. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not PwC, is responsible for the design and procurement of the envelopes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/business/media/pwc-oscars...

https://web.archive.org/web/20170228032107/https://www.nytim...

What could make them a bad idea? Seems like a piece of information people only need very rarely but when they DO need it they need it to be as instantly obvious as possible.

>What could make them a bad idea?

An arsonist can get rid of all the fire extinguishers before setting their fire!

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