Design bite of the day:  the Tokyo metro system uses recorded bird sounds to guide visually-impaired passengers to the exits.

We think this is an elegant solution:

The type of sound was issued in 2001 based on the “ Transportation Barrier-Free Act ”.

Based on these guidelines, station ticket gates and above-ground entrances and exits of subways will emit “ pin-pon ” or similar non-audio sounds, while platform stairs will produce non-audio sounds resembling bird whistles. To ensure effectiveness, the emitted sound must be at least 10 dB louder than the surrounding background noise to prevent cancellation.

It is known that some sounds are difficult to locate the source of when heard by the human ear. These guiding sounds are specially created to be easy to locate, even when reverberating off the surrounding walls and ceilings.

More information is available on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's website.

How to integrate this mindset into your business:

1. What clues are my customers instinctively looking for in their context of use?

2. What is my business missing to come up with this kind of solutions?

3. Does my company have an atmosphere that allows employees to speak up with creative and unconventional solutions?