Category Archives: What Caught My Eye

What Caught My Eye: A Spindle

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I chanced upon this spindle in the house of one of of my hosts in Europe.

Do you know what a spindle is? Does it sound familiar? If you’ve heard or read the story of Rumpelstiltskin, then you should be familiar of how he made gold thread from straw.

A spindle is a simple machine which aids the user in making spools of thread. In the past, thread was made by twisting pieces of cotton. The spindle aided in that.

Seeing an actual spindle was really cool and makes me wonder how many people can spin thread in the modern world (actual thread!)

What Caught My Eye: Leave A Message

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Last summer I was in Graz, Austria with the Ateneo Glee Club, at that time it was spring. During our walking tour of the city we passed by this store with blank colored papers taped to the store’s windows… on the paper people-passers-by would write stuff… messages, X heart Y, Z was here… etc. It  was a simple marketing gimmick that made people stop take a look at what was written or leave a message and look through the window into the store and it was interactive.

What Caught My Eye: Dead-end Ped Xing

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On the way to a meeting, I was walking from Legazpi st. to Amorsolo st. in Makati when just as I was going to cross V.A. Rufino I noticed this odd pedestrian crossing. Railings were placed on the corners of V.A. Rufino and Amorsolo – on one side there is a break in the railing…on the other it’s completely blocked off!?! Seriously what kind of non-sense is this!

What Caught My Eye: Korean Sign

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At Glorietta the other day, in the section that’s been newly renovated (the corridor that leads to SM Department Store), I noticed this store with a sign in Korean! So here’s what I thought: this sign proves that the number of Koreans in the Metro (or even in the Philippines) is such a significant number that local businesses should consider marketing their products specifically to them as this store has.

What Caught My Eye: Priority Seating

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While in Vienna earlier this year, I was riding the UBahn (underground train) when I noticed this decal on the glass signifying that those seats were priority seating for the pregnant, those with young children, differently-abled and the elderly. I was amazed and delighted at how powerful these images were as opposed to text that read "These seats are designated…please give way." That and since Austria is German speaking, then they’d have to translate this to English for the tourists. So an image just works better over-all. After seeing that I wished they’d apply the same in the Philippines…

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Within a few weeks of coming back, I rode a bus, and lo and behold, I saw this decal on the glass beside the first row of seats behind the driver, indicating that this section is priority seating for women with infants, the elderly and the differently-abled/injured.  I just had to take a photo! Maybe this is progress!

What Caught My Eye: How to Sign

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After disembarking the LRT2 (purple line) Train at the Katipunan station, I noticed this billboard on the platform, detailing what the different LRT2 Tickets are and how to purchase them….

Question for the management of the LRT2 – don’t you think this would be better placed where tickets are actually sold? If the target audience is already on the train then doesn’t that mean that they were able to successfully buy a ticket.

What Caught My Eye: Volvo Only

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I chanced upon a Volvo Only designated parking in Eastwood… apparently it’s been there for quite a while. Here are my thoughts

1. (insert expletive here) how could this be fair?

2. this is a good customer retention and marketing ploy by whoever distributes Volvo here… a) Volvo owners get ‘some’ special treatment and b) non-Volvo owners are subtly sold the Volvo brand first because of the associational prestige and second because if you pass through the Volvo only section, you’d probably see only Volvo cars like an informal showroom.