After the end of my recent trip to the Twin Cities, my lovely wife and I headed back to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport for our flight back to the Windy City. Being the adventurous souls we are and supporters of public transportation, we decided to take the light rail train from downtown Minneapolis to the airport. After boarding the train and checking out the uniqueness of it over other cities’ service, we saw signs that the train would not take us directly to our terminal, rather we would have to get off at the first terminal and take a bus. Little did we know that in the name of honoring local patriots, we would get lost and have a lesson in usability presented to us.

Recently the airport code-named MSP added a new terminal and named it after former US senator from Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey. The other and original terminal is named for aviator Charles Lindbergh. Our flight was out of Humphrey, but the light rail only stopped at Lindbergh. When we got off at Lindbergh and headed to the bus to Humphrey, the signs did not completely connect the dots and we were left wandering.

When I asked people for directions, I kept saying Lindbergh instead of Humphrey, and people would tell me that I was there already. Why the confusion? Usually airport terminals are named things like A, B and C. Sometimes letters skip, like in Atlanta, Boston and Chicago O’Hare, but they are simple letters. As L comes after H, but Lindbergh was the original terminal, this did not help. It wasn’t until I recalled the chronological order of fame by each namesake (Lindbergh before Humphrey, or at least that's how I recall learning history) I realized the new terminal was Humphrey. We finally found the signs, and made the connection in time to fly home.

To add insult to injury, the recorded announcements coming over the PA system were in a British accent. In Minnesota? Now this is not a dig on Midwesterners who are still sore over the accents in the movie Fargo, but a British accent – anywhere in the US? Sure, many international tourists come to the airport to go to the Mall of America, or connect through it, but a British accent?

Build as beautiful of a terminal as the taxpayers will allow you, put up a bronze plaque or statue to a famous person, but keep it simple for those who actually have to use it.

Comments

LAX also uses a british accent in their announcements. I was plum buggered by it all, but nevermind the bollox.

Comment by Joe Johnson
on 07/18/07 at 06:48 PM
 

I think a great deal of problems occur by over-complicating many things.  I recently read a technology piece that stated that while we consumers purchase the shiny box with loads of bells and whistles, we quickly get angry when it takes time to figure out how the thing works.  We really want KISS, but we rush to purchase flash without thinking about its consequences.  This dilemma was also true for product designers.  They want to cram in all sorts of neat stuff, but it isn’t always usable or ultimately desirable.  This goes for city planners, software engineers, and many, many MBA’s.

Comment by Don Pedro
on 07/19/07 at 08:47 AM
 

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