Deception in design, by design...

Mark Hurst recently posted a quick musing on the beneficial use of deception in product design. While most deception in design is detrimental, done for the cynical purposes of marketing by pumping up a product's image rather than its reality, these cases demonstrate that it can be used for good purposes as well. Read the whole post, because I don't want to steal his thunder; I will, however, say that my favorite item is the placement of a fake bus stop outside the Alzheimer's ward of a nursing home. If patients escape, they're likely to try to catch a bus - and they're easier to find at a fake bus stop that won't take them anywhere!