TORONTO TYPE

Now that so many city pedestrians are transfixed by their smartphones, retailers will have to get savvier about attracting attention. Signs will have to become snappier and more eye-catching than ever, to accommodate glances upwards that might last only milliseconds.

Will we see more ground-level signboards? Flashy displays on the sidewalk? Audible calls to action? The look of commercial streets is bound to change.

The downward gazes mean that it’s getting more difficult to navigate city spaces. The filmmaker Casey Neistat addresses this problem in the hilarious Texting While Walking:

I first came across the clever film on the New York Times site. It’s part of their Op-Docs series and the page featuring the film includes a statement by Neistat. What do you think of the solution demonstrated in the film? Do you have any suggestions for texting etiquette while out in public?

This entry was posted on February 20, 2012 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.