Is Safety Bad for Our Health?

My dad was old-school and something he said from time to time was, “safety third, if you want to get anything done.”  If you think about it, it’s true.  If it really was about “Safety First”, there wouldn’t be a welding bay to hang that sign in.

There would be no crab fishing, skyscrapers, bridges, or rocket launches.  We wouldn’t have sailed across the Atlantic to build a new country.  We wouldn’t have sailed at all.  How crazy is it to build a structure out of wood, jump in, and leave the safety of land? 

If it was all about safety, we humans wouldn’t exist today. 

Yes, be safety conscious in the endeavor, but it’s the endeavor first.  Probably second is finances, because money moves everything.  But in reality, safety is at least third. 

Unfortunately, in our efforts to make everything safer, we’re becoming weaker and that’s a problem, which brings me to brachiation and sarcopenia.

Wait … what?

Sarcopenia is a musculoskeletal disease in which muscle mass, strength, and performance are significantly compromised.  Age is a factor, but most likely because we become less physically active as we age.  It’s not so much age as strength and movement. 

Sarcopenia is directly correlated with a decrease in longevity.  According to a study by the National Library of Medicine, “weak grip strength is a key component of sarcopenia and is associated with subsequent disability and mortality.”

It can lead to other adverse health conditions, such as falls, fractures, functional decline, sarcopenic obesity, poor quality of life and cognitive impairment which all contribute to mortality. 

A dynamometer is a tool to measure grip strength.  The subject would grip the tool in one hand and squeeze as hard as they could.  A dial would measure the amount of force in pounds.  Grip strength is a highly reliable indicator of sarcopenia.  The lower the grip strength, the more susceptible to the effects of sarcopenia. 

Brachiating is the act of swinging from one object to another using our arms, like a monkey swings from branch to branch. 

Many playground equipment manufacturers still produce overhead climbing elements, such as monkey bars, overhead ladders, and so on.  However, when it comes to commercial playground design, there seems to be an overcompensation towards safety. We’ve greatly reduced the implementation of these brachiating elements and it’s having adverse effects. 

Safety is actually hurting our health and longevity.

Humans and monkeys (apes) share a common anatomical ball-in-socket shoulder design and brachiating helps develop and maintain shoulder joint mobility, improves the balance of muscle tension around the shoulder girdle, and increases the strength and coordination of the shoulder muscles.  As you can correlate, it increases overall grip strength. 

Brachiating has so many other important benefits, such as it increases endurance, flexibility, and hand-eye coordination.

It develops kinesthetic awareness (moving our bodies through space without bumping into things or other people). Many structures in the body have nerve receptors that act as conduits for information that are sent to the brain. For instance, the ear sends explicit information to the brain regarding the head's orientation to gravity, acceleration, deceleration, and direction of movement. The brain also receives information from the eyes, muscles, ligaments, joints, etc. – which are required to allow your body to move smoothly, stay balanced, maintain posture, and react to the immediate environment.

Brachiating develops motor skills, such as depth perception and visual comprehension of distance as well as fine motor skills, important for writing, painting, and driving.

It relieves tension in the back and shoulders, improves depth perception and stimulates both sides of the brain for greater integration and learning, as well as problem-solving.

The list of brachiating benefits goes on, but the macro takeaway seems to be that if we want to enhance our overall health and longevity, we need to design playgrounds with these overhead elements. 

Safety third means being safety conscious within the endeavor: focus, awareness, observation, engagement, and strategic risk-taking. 

Let’s get out and play.  It’s really good for us.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Outrageous Recreation

When we think of recreation, certain things come to mind: Bocce ball, cornhole, playgrounds, pool volleyball, camping, pickleball and so on. 

But, what about being angry?  Well … not actually being angry, but being “angry” for the sake of recreation.  There’s a term for this and it’s called Recreational Outrage.

It’s an indulgence of self-induced anger and public venting over such topics as politics, religion, the fact that all the doors in that new neighborhood are yellow, and so on.  Whatever.  Recreational outrage is now a hobby. 

Hey, some people play shuffleboard.

It reminds me of the Monty Python skit with the Argument Clinic:

“Is this the right room for an argument?”

“I’ve told you once.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Yes, I have.”

And it goes hilariously on from there. 

Like the Argument Clinic, will we see themed outrage areas in our local parks & recreation facilities or on a playground?  A place to picket, yell, scream, wear incendiary t-shirts, glue our hands to art, and so on?

Speaking of France …

“You weren’t speaking of France.”

“I was.”

“No, you weren’t.”

Anyways, in France complaining is quite normal.  In fact, it’s an appropriate conversation starter.  Complaining is everywhere and you begin to wonder if anyone is actually happy there.  I mean, it can’t be good for your health, could it?

Well, a 2011 study from the University of Texas found that bottling up negative emotions can make people more aggressive and cause health issues, so complaining can have an alleviating effect.

But … there’s a nuance to it all.  The French will complain about many things, such as the weather, bad wine, the government, and of course, tourists.  What they don’t do is complain about their own lives.  According to Emily Monaco of the BBC, they don’t catastrophise and for the most part, don’t really have a goal or resolution in mind.  It’s just complaining.  It’s not a means to an end.

“Bonjour Charles, have you ever seen such dreary weather as this?”

“Not in my four years on this terrible planet.”  They start early, I’m assuming.

Another study at the University of Oklahoma showed that complaining may have a positive impact on connectivity and human engagement and found it a useful tool for bonding, because it feels authentic. 

Let’s go over the rules once more: 1) The sky isn’t falling, so no catastrophic craziness. 2) Steer clear of your own personal lives and maybe others’ as well.  3) Complaining is not a means to an end, so don’t attach it to one.  It’s just complaining for recreational purposes.

Recreational Outrage, on the other hand, sounds like outrage for the sake of outrage, but there’s a dangerous attachment to a belief that expressing outrage is actual action, as if it will change something.  It won’t.  When nothing changes from their efforts (or lack thereof), the outrage gets worse. 

Not good for your health, not good for connecting with other happy humans, and it’s no way to live life. 

I’d rather complain with friends that I missed those last three cornhole shots and seriously, “did they make this wine from raisins!?  It’s so dry!”. 

Now that’s recreation!

Photo by Andre Huner on Unsplash

Five Reasons that Outdoor and Indoor Fitness Equipment Are Not the Same and Four Tips to Design the Best Outdoor Fitness Area

Back when I was in the commercial fitness equipment industry, we did a lot of R&D, prototype design, testing, and product development.  And that’s just for one machine; say an arm-curl/biceps machine. 

These are called single-station strength machines, which means that one entire machine is specifically designed for one muscle or muscle group, like the upper arm/biceps.  Then there are like twenty other machines to hit the rest of the body.

But one entire machine, just for one specific exercise.  Then we would take the “finished” product to the next trade show to see how an actual human related to it.  These people ranged from gym owners, to fitness enthusiasts, to professional bodybuilders.  And they were quite critical.

“The resistance falls off at the end”, “I don’t like the weight ratio”, “the range of motion isn’t fluid all the way through”, and so on.  At a fitness equipment trade show, before the actual hall opens officially, there’s a time period in the early morning hours, referred to as “early morning workouts”, where you could come in and get a workout on the new machines.  As representatives of the manufacturer, our job was to get feedback from the users. 

One year, we introduced a new leg press machine.  A gentleman who owned a Gold’s Gym came into the booth to try it out.  He got on it, adjusted the weight and the distance to accommodate his height.  He pressed it once and stopped, projecting a thoughtful, discerning face.  I walked over.  He pressed it again and back.  I asked, “What do you think?”  He said, “It puts a lot of pressure on my calves.”  And I said, “Good, because it’s a leg press machine.”  Not the best salesy response, but we ended up having a good conversation.

The thing is, these manufacturers are in very serious competition.  Everyone makes their own version of an Arm Curl Machine, and so on down the line.  I visited one R&D department and there was a professional runner dressed in a full body motion-capture suit (mocap), while a kinesiologist studied and mapped his motion on a computer.  That’s how high-tech it is.

So, if you’ve ever been to a gym and worked out on any of the equipment there, the quality of the joint angles, range of motion, anthropometrics (how it fits the human form), smoothness, ease of use, comfortability, adjustability, and biomechanics are what you experience. 

Then, one day you notice that your local park has put in some outdoor exercise equipment.  You get on the elliptical and quickly realize it’s nothing like the one at the gym.  You get on the chest press machine and realize it’s nothing like the one at the gym.  The quality of the exercise is terrible.    

That’s because it’s nothing like the equipment at the gym, nor for the most part can it be.  If outdoor fitness equipment was on par with what goes into a health club, you might find it in a health club, but you won’t.  You won’t because it’s not even close to the same quality, design, feel, adjustability, and so on.  Not even the same resistance mechanism.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. In an indoor environment, the equipment can have many adjustments to accommodate most heights and builds.  An outdoor environment is subjected to harsh elements, misuse, and vandalism.  Adjustment mechanisms, just won’t hold up.
2. Indoor strength machines use cables, pulleys, cams, and weight stacks.  Again, it just wouldn’t hold up in an outdoor setting.
3. Plush padding in seats and backs are traded out for hard plastic.  Not very comfortable. 
4. Highly technical and electronic cardio machines wouldn’t last a day outdoors.  To duplicate a treadmill for outdoor use is nearly impossible and to make an elliptical trainer feel like an indoor elliptical trainer, it must first have an ellipse (an elliptical motion mechanism usually at the pedals or in the front).   Then there are flywheels, motors, computers, and so on that all come together to make the machine feel and operate the way it does.  Can’t do that with an outdoor product. 
5. Most outdoor fitness equipment is designed and developed by a playground manufacturer or with that approach.  The science in R&D isn’t there.  Does it look like an arm curl?  Yes.  Can you do arm curls on it?  Yes.  Same quality exercise?  Not even close. 

So, what to do? 

1. You’re outdoors, so change your mindset.  This is not a plush air-conditioned gym.  However, being outdoors has way more psychological, emotional, and physical benefits than being indoors. 
2. If you’re designing an outdoor fitness space, stick to equipment where our bodies move, not the machines.  Pull-up bars (a variety of grips and heights), parallel bars, push-up stations with various levels, an overhead traverse ladder (a requisite skill in most obstacle course races), plyometric steps, and elements to connect exercise bands, straps, and use medicine balls.  As you can see, these are solid fixed elements with no adjustments or built in resistance mechanisms.  This is real whole-body functional exercise.
3. As far as cardio goes, most people either walked, jogged, or biked to where this station is.  We don’t need machines outdoors to get cardio.  The more the machine has moving components, the more things go wrong and it’s just not a good quality design anyway. 
4. As a park planner, the last thing you want is your visitors to be disappointed and talk badly about your exercise equipment.  You can avoid that by sticking with number 2 above.  If you have an “elliptical” cardio machine in your park, it will be very disappointing for the user.  They’re used to the highly sophisticated machine at the health club. 

There are a couple of outdoor fitness manufacturers now making resistance-based machines that are biomechanically functional and user-satisfying and we represent those lines.

For more information, questions, or advice on outdoor fitness, please email rob@toplinerec.com

Thanks and have a great workout!

Architecturally Harmonious Furnishings and the Beastie Boys

I worked at McDonald’s, back when we could get a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke for $1.45.  It was when cordless landline phones were new and Hot Pockets, Fruit Rollups, Nintendo, and the Beastie Boys didn’t quite hit the shelves yet.  Yeah, times were tough.

I worked the graveyard shift; 10:00pm – 6:00am.  One night, I was sitting with the manager in the “dining room”, as they called it.  I said, “Man, these seats are NOT comfortable”.  In fact, they were quite ugly; harsh colors and cold-war styling, illuminated with diffused fluorescent lighting. 

My manager replied, “Yeah, that’s on purpose.”

“Why?” 

He said, “Because we want people to eat and leave.  We don’t want lingering or loitering.”  I was just a young teenager, but even then I thought, “well, that’s not very welcoming.” 

That kind of, “we don’t want you staying here” philosophy is still in play at many places and I don’t get it.  Starbucks got it right with “the third place”.  Howard Shultz’s ideas was that there’s home, work, and Starbucks.  Please come in, gather, share great coffee, and deepen human connection. 

Customers would gather, linger, relax, talk and spend $5 on a white-mocha misto.  Crazy, right?  How did they encourage this kind of behavior in a world of “get out”? 

Atmosphere.  Warm lighting, a friendly and welcoming staff, and stylish and comfortable furniture.  Imagine a chair or a bench that was comfortable and a table where you didn’t smash your knees when taking a seat.  I still feel it on rainy days.  A place where the furnishings weren’t donated by the local high-security prison. 

I see this in many outdoor site furnishings.  A steel bench that if you think about it, could double as a pit barbeque.  Even benches with backrests look like they came from a dystopian world where everyone wears the same utilitarian boots and the skies are always gray.  You’re wearing a jacket, but it’s not even cold and for some reason, there’s an air-raid siren in the background.  Who wrote this script?  Yikes!

What if the outdoors; a city-scape or a park was a “fourth place” (I didn’t want to steal Starbucks’ spot), or another place where we would feel comfortable gathering and relaxing?  The lighting is already pretty awesome, so really it’s about the furnishings. 

A bench, chair, or table that brings us together, makes us feel welcomed, lowers our collective blood pressure, and uplifts our spirit.  Did I overshoot that? 

Equiparc site furnishings creates an outdoor environment that is more enjoyable, welcomes us, celebrates the human form, and encourages us to stay a while.   Combining design with quality and durability for over 40 years, Equiparc elevates the outdoor experience.

The sun is breaking through the clouds, the kids are playing frisbee with the dog, and I’m pretty sure I hear ‘Three MCs and One DJ’ playing in the background.  Not sure why that guy is wearing a jacket though. 

Life is good.

International Darwin Day and the Evolution of Playgrounds

International Darwin day is February 12^th, so in honor of that, let’s take a look at the evolution of playgrounds.

In the grand scheme of things, the late 1800’s wasn’t that long ago.  We had cars, cameras, telephones, record players, electric lighting, and typewriters, but pretty much no playgrounds.  They weren’t a thing. 

Very uncommon and if you did find one, it was what the name says; a place (ground) where children played.  The idea was to give kids a place to play that wasn’t in the street.

Cars evolved from the three-wheeled Benz, of Mercedes fame, that didn’t even have a proper steering wheel, to the luxurious, practically self-driving, AI machines of today. 

Cameras are phones.  Wait … phones are cameras?  Actually, phones are also “record players”, but vinyl is making a huge comeback.  Lighting went from that single brownish incandescent bulb that didn’t really illuminate the far corners of the house to the multi-hued, multi-colored, variable brightness, illumination experience we fully control with our … phones.  Typewriters are now a software program or app that’s downloaded onto powerful computers we take for granted.  Remember typing class in school?  Now it’s just inherent. 

And “playgrounds” evolved from sand gardens that were basically an open lot between buildings, to the elaborately designed and constructed destination play-plexes we see today.  I should copywrite that: “Playplex”. 

Back in 1905, the director of the Washington DC playground system and the director of physical education of the New York City school system, got together and formed the Playground Association of America. 

The PAA’s basic belief was “that inasmuch, play under proper conditions is essential to the health and the physical, social, and moral wellbeing of a child, playgrounds are a necessity for all children as much as schools.”

Hmm.  Sounds well and good, but their literature dictated that an ideal, proper (see, there’s that word again) playground, would have separate play sections, and not only would it be supervised, but there were instructors (on a playground?) to teach children necessary (necessary?) lessons and organize their play. 

They pretty much ruined the very definition of play.  Play is imaginative, full of discovery, not structured, actually fun, mentally and physically engaging, while decompressing from the regiments of life.  They made it regimented.  They took play out of play. 

Early playground apparatuses weren’t very safe.  In fact, they could be quite dangerous, so maybe the supervision part was needed.  Everything has a starting point, so in the case of playgrounds, evolution is a good thing.  Through the years, playground manufacturers used better materials and safety in components and overall design became a thing.

In the 1970’s we had the brilliant idea to stop using asphalt, you know … what we make roads out of, as playground surfacing.  We started coming up with more resilient, softer, and less bodily-damaging surfaces.

Today, we have committees, standards, compliance in design, and so many other safeguards that would make you think the next evolution in playgrounds is a padded room. 

Instead, playgrounds are more elaborate with more play value, inclusivity, challenging, engaging, inviting, and lots more fun than their ancient ancestors. 

The evolution of playgrounds has come a very long way in a short period of time. 

Happy Darwin Day!

About the Whole Flower, Bee, Playground, Child, Community Analogy

“A flower is simply a weed with a good marketing budget.” – Rory Sutherland

A weed gets no love, but a colorful flower gets bees.  More bees, more pollination, more flowers.  The landscape is enriched with beautiful weeds; eh … flowers. 

But it’s not just flowers.  These bees will pollinate and fertilize other plants that produce seeds, and the entire habitat continues to grow and thrive, supporting other animals.  Life proliferates harmoniously.    

Without these flowers, there would be no bee activity, and no pollination or fertilization of more than 70 crop species out of 100 that feed around 90% of the world’s population.  No honey either. Our world and lives would become much harsher, bland, and devoid of many things.

Because of these well-marketed weeds, the bees get excited and that communicates joy and excitement to other bees that also visit the flowers and that’s how all of this works.  Everything is positively affected exponentially.

To paraphrase Mr. Sutherland, a playground is a park with a good marketing budget.  It makes the landscape more attractive, just like a flower to the weed.  It’s not that much of a stretch, but the point is that a playground brings more kids, which excites other kids to visit and play. 

This spreads joy, health, social skills, happiness, positivity, fitness, friendships, learned cooperation, risk taking, resiliency, and stress relief.  Yes, children experience and hold more stress than we’d like to admit.

They get better sleep, it strengthens their immune system, and their brains are more prepared for learning.  Beyond the children, there’s the community.  A park with a playground increases property values, which means more property tax and therefore more funding for better maintenance, beautification, and growth and the ecosystem proliferates positively. 

And it’s not just playgrounds in this respect: Shade structures, shelters, site furnishings, outdoor fitness equipment and so on, are like planting flowers, whereas they add something beautiful and useful to the landscape that attracts more “bees”.  More “bees”, more “honey”, more growth and so on.

Let’s plant some flowers. 

Even Monkeys Fall From Trees

Climbing, swinging, sitting, eating, socializing, playing, and living in trees isn’t just second nature to monkeys.  It’s their way of being.

But … “Even monkeys fall from trees”. – Japanese Proverb

Humans fall from “trees” too.  We slip, stumble, and fall literally and metaphorically.  Many times we’re embarrassed and our confidence takes a hit.  We hope no one noticed, we assess the damage, take emotional and physical inventory, and mentally process the moment.  Sometimes we’ll dwell on what just happened; “should I ever go back up in the tree?”

Well … do you know what the monkey would tell us?  Not much, I’m afraid.  It’s a monkey and they tend not to speak.

But, they would be back up in that tree, looking down at us, not understanding why we’re still sitting there.  Because when monkeys fall from trees, they shake their head, regroup, and get back up there, because it happens.   

Even experts make mistakes.  It happens. 

Kids are experts at playing.  And they’re experts at making mistakes.  It’s their nature.  It’s how they learn, develop resiliency, make adjustments, build confidence, and realize that falling or making a mistake or misstep is not the end of the world.  Sure, we might get a little embarrassed, but we shake that off too and the other monkeys quickly forget.

As we get older, we tend to hold on to those mistakes and lose some of that resiliency.  The best thing we can do is keep playing.  Just because we become adults, as if it’s some kind of cosmic transition, doesn’t mean we stop playing.  The activities and approach might be different, but we need to maintain our ability to fall and get back up in the trees.

Keep playing.  Keep climbing.  Stay resilient.

Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

The Positive Health Benefits of Our Uncommon Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and you know what that means.  Yep, you guessed it: John Madden tournaments with the cousins!

Wait … what? Bear with me; I’ll bring it back around. Did you know that there’s more to thanksgiving traditions than turkey, the Macy’s parade, and Black Friday? 

With just a little research we found close to a hundred not-so-uncommon Thanksgiving traditions, such as: Playing a board game with family, hanging by the fire pit, cornhole, running a turkey trot, bocce ball, or other outdoor leisure games, and taking the kiddos to the playground just to name a few.

In our family, the John Madden trash talk starts right around this time.  Then on Thanksgiving day, first thing in the morning, you can hear John’s voice, “Boom”!  And the gaming has started, followed by lots of yelling.  At some point during the day, John’s video game character will say something like, “Here’s a guy who’s 6’,4”; which means at his height, he’s taller than the other players who are shorter than he is.”

Great stuff.  We’ll play Madden all day, only taking a break to eat with the whole family. 

The common theme here is quality leisure time with family and friends.  Whatever the activity, the benefits come from social interaction while letting go of the pressures of everyday life.  Laughing, playing, interacting, and just enjoying each other’s company is so good for us.

Leisure, recreation, and play with others reduces stress, decompresses our mental pressures, alleviates anxiety, enhances positivity, and heightens happiness.  Overall, our mental, emotional, psychological, and even physical health is restored and upgraded.  Literally, our joints, muscles, blood pressure, heart, brain, immune system, lymphatic system, organs, digestion, and so much more are all positively affected through play and leisure with others. 

Maybe not a cure for eating turducken, but it helps. 

Thanksgiving gives us a reason to do all this, but once a year isn’t nearly enough.  We can’t go to the gym for nine hours once a year and expect to be healthy and fit.  But going for 30 minutes every day will.  Same with play and leisure time.  All those benefits come from relaxing and decompressing on a regular basis.  Still do the full-day on Thanksgiving of course, but throughout the year, we really need to play.

Taking our kids to the playground for 30 minutes on a regular basis increases their learning capacity, alleviates stress, enhances focus and attention, and it positively affects their overall productivity.  But more importantly, all those health benefits. 

Regular bouts of play and leisure with others isn’t just for kids and it’s not just for Thanksgiving.  Neither is turkey, by the way.  And neither is Madden NFL Football. 

Let’s play.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by MART  PRODUCTION: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-brown-sweater-sitting-on-brown-leather-couch-7330165/

Burke, NRPA, and the Importance of a Big Purple Party

Fun is only done right for the sake of fun with no peripheral agendas, hints of business, or underlying purposes.  Otherwise, it’s “fake fun”.  When fun isn’t real, we don’t get the full benefits.

“We need more moments where we’re simultaneously in the zone and feeling ourselves, but not for work.” – Catherine Price; Author of The Power of Fun

Real fun; unadulterated fun, brings us happiness and joy.  We’re enjoying ourselves in the moment, being fully present, without our brains being attached or distracted otherwise.  Experiencing happiness and joy on a regular basis is more powerful than genes, nutrition, and exercise for overall health and longevity. 

Add friends or a group of friendly, fun people and the effects are multiplied.  I used the word “unadulterated” because as adults, we tend to do fun things from time to time, but not fully.  We convolute it with thoughts of things we have to get done, “important” stuff (whatever that is), and other obligations.  Children get fun right.  It’s very important that we do as well.   

After 15 years in the parks, recreation, and playground industry, I had the pleasure of attending my first Big Purple Party by Burke.  Business and marketing sure, but when it was purple party time, that’s what it was.  It was just fun for the sake of fun.  It was observable and apparent in the 1,800 people in attendance. 

Great band, great music, and dancing.  I caught myself a couple of times thinking the music is just a little too loud to have a conversation with someone.  Crazy, right?  It’s like playing pool volleyball, wondering if the water could be less wet. 

This is the playground industry.  We promote play and fun.  Everyone at the party was a professional working in the parks and recreation industry.  It sounds like working in a field with the words “parks”, “recreation”, and “playgrounds” would be all fun and games.  While it’s fulfilling and can be fun, it’s a lot of work, stress, moving parts, red tape, politics, management, organization, delegation, responsibilities, and a hundred other things. 

It was so good to see all these professionals letting go and just having a good time.  We can get caught up in day to day responsibilities and making fun available for others, while we lose track of our own fun.    We all need to recharge, reinvigorate, and decompress.  This is what I saw at Burke’s Big Purple Party.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at next year’s party.

Play hard!

The Art, Science, and Consequences of Playground Color Schemes

If we need a hammer drill, would we go to a furniture store?  How about a suit or a dress?  Would we go to Best Buy?  We wouldn’t go to GameStop for a ping pong table no more than we’d go to an appliance store to buy a watch or a purse or makeup or shoes or … okay, you get the picture.   

What if there was a store like that?  Well … there was and it was called Sears.  One of the biggest reasons Sears ceased to exist is that they became everything and nothing at the same time.  Sears lost it’s identity because, according to George Troy, author of the Five Laws of Retail, upper management focused on financial shell games to enrich themselves personally and to appear successful in the short term.  They profited, but at the cost of killing Sears.

Back in the 1980’s Pepsi’s marketing department launched the Pepsi Challenge.  Pepsi vs Coca Cola in a blind taste test and guess what; most people picked Pepsi.  Great for marketing, but here’s the problem; it was a one-sip test.  Pepsi was much sweeter than Coke and in the short term, our senses loved it.  In the long-term though, too sweet is just too sweet and people went back to Coca Cola.  Even today, Coca Cola is worth $65-Billion more than Pepsi, even though Pepsi is a much larger company with many more different brands.  Hmm.      

When we mix all the paint colors together on a palette, we don’t get an explosion of color.  Instead, we get a drab, gray sludge.  Some colors and various shades of those colors are more colorful than other colors.  Individual colors can compliment other colors, making each even more vivid.  Doing this strategically makes the whole more colorful.

At the back of a Playground catalog, there’s a color palette with examples of playground designs in different mixes of colors and they’re brilliant.  There’s an art and science to it, but many years ago, I got the idea that I was smarter than that and created a playground with various colors that I picked.  Looking back on it, it was like pushing Bob Ross aside, while slapping various paints onto the canvas.  I had no idea what I was doing and when I saw the finished product, I realized I created a gray sludge with no artistic theme or identity.  All of the individual colors lost their value.

Sears tried to be everything to everybody and became nothing to nobody.  Pepsi won the battle but lost the war.  Well they’re not exactly losing by any stretch, but you get the analogy.

Instead, consider the audience.  What does this playground design mean in this space, in this community, in this park?  What are we trying to accomplish?  Narrow that down and get real focused on the “why”.  Is it about nature and outdoors, is it about a colorful wow factor, is there a theme to this area that relates to certain colors? 

Maybe there isn’t any of that, but in any case, going to a color palette that was designed by a trained and experienced expert is probably the best way to go.  They know color schemes and how certain colors affect other colors, creating an identity for each design so that it will engage with the human spirit.

Otherwise, we might get an unappealing gray sludge with no identity and no staying power.

Photo by Chaewon Lee on Unsplash