Berlin, Germany
Old and busted: Fahrvergnügen. New hotness: Frauen-parkplatz! While this may confuse female VW drivers, it’s good to see Germany’s capitol city continuing to modernize all facets of society right down to the design of their women-only parking places. You know the Germans always make good stuff and that goes for graphic design as well: compare the businesslike woman on the updated sign above with the frazzled, skeletal-armed bag lady on the Kuwaiti sign. Honestly, who would you rather drive (or park) with?
Tianjin, China
Chinese society is modernizing at a rapid pace and the buying power of half-a-billion Chinese women is not to be ignored. Business-owners in Tianjin have made a pretty play for that power by advertising their mall’s LP section – Ladies Parking, that is. Pink electronic overhead signs guide women to well-lit parking spaces, which are situated near the mall’s entrance for their convenience and security before and after shopping.
The mall-owners have taken a slightly different tack to designing their designated-damsel parking area. Instead of painting pink lines and graphics on the soon-dirtied parking lot floor, the mall has brightened up the walls with colorful graphics (though still mainly pink) highlighted by pea hens… peacocks park elsewhere.
Surabaya, Indonesia
The Grand City Mall in Surabaya, Indonesia is a grand place to park if you’re of the pink persuasion if you know what I mean, and I think you do. One wonders, however, if the gloss paint completely covering these women-only parking places will be more than a little slippery when trod upon by unsensibly-shoed women in wet weather. Doing an impromptu slip & slide in fancy dress is anything but grand, amiright?
