London South Bank University fail at mechanics
July 12th, 2008
I spotted this on my bus to work and snapped a pic with my cameraphone. In case you’re wondering, yes, London South Bank University does offer courses in engineering.
I wonder who designed this nonsense?
Entry Filed under: General
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25 Comments
1. UHaul 1, London bus 0 | B&hellip | July 12th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
[...] posting the goodness that is the UHaul truck with the ballistic ejecta equation on its side, comes the report of utter fail from a London Bus ad for the London South Bank University. I guess sometimes engineering isn’t exactly rocket [...]
2. Hattix » Blog Archi&hellip | July 12th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
[...] From sciencepunk comes this amusing image. [...]
3. Patrick | July 12th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
At least this one almost has it right, unlike the others with enclosed gear-locking.
(What is it with these people posting nonsense?)
4. AndyD | July 12th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Maybe the point is that they can build solutions that achieve the seemingly impossible. Sort of like an updated version of the square peg in the round hole?
5. sourman | July 12th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Okay, I know this is going to make me look stupid, but what exactly is the problem with the image? I don’t know anything about gears, sorry :P
6. C | July 12th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Sourman, if any of the gears above starts to spin, the teeth of the other two won’t permit it. One of them would have to move.
7. Michael Campbell | July 12th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Except in that particular drawing, it doesn’t appear the largest and middle sized gears’ teeth are interlocked. *As shown*, it looks to me like it’d work. Sort of. The teeth on the smallest two gears don’t look the same sized to me.
8. LafinJack | July 12th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Never let basic physics get in the way of your dreams.
9. ioresult | July 12th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
The gears don’t have shafts to turn on. They’re just gears left on a table or workbench waiting to be mounted. I don’t see anything wrong there.
Unless you count the gear teeth overlapping on the two smaller gears… The resolution doesn’t permit to distinguish if it’s a photoshop mistake or a broken tooth. A broken tooth would seem normal to me, especially in a student lab (students break stuff by mistake, I know I have).
10. LaCreption | July 12th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Think…
11. LaCreption | July 12th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Link didn’t come through.
Well done art project
http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/archives/tech/2008/07/paniek_door_enorme_ufo.html
12. Patrick | July 12th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Ah, I didn’t catch the overlap mistake. But at least the gears aren’t locked like they were in:
http://www.sciencepunk.com/v5/2008/06/stupid-transport-poster/
13. Frank the SciencePunk | July 12th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I agree it’s a little ambiguous. Here’s a close up.
@ 9. ioresult – I see your point, but this is about poster design and the implied message. The designer tried to convey a message of LSBU ‘working’, but managed the opposite.
14. Hattix | July 12th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Patrick, the “people posting nonsense” are trackbacks, an indicator of another blog linking to this one.
15. Reginald Selkirk | July 12th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Submit that to failblog.org.
16. HolfordWatch | July 12th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
According to the 2007 accounts for the Institute of Optimum Nutrition (pdf), LSBU’s KTP provided ION with the free services of an IT student from LSBU.
This feels like it should explain that, somehow.
17. Edward C | July 12th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
It looks like the medium gear would not mesh with the larger or
smaller gear.
18. sourman | July 12th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I get it now, thanks :)
19. mighty favog | July 12th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
As a graphic designer, I can tell you exactly what they were thinking. It’s just pure composition. An odd number of different sized objects and a compact arrangement are just good basic design. And from a design standpoint, it is effective. But there should have been some consideration of the intent of the ad…that’s also a part of good design.
20. Spurtz | July 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
That’s why graphic designers work with images only. Safer and less expensive for the employers that way.
21. Harold | July 13th, 2008 at 4:20 am
I recall reading a few decades ago that a similar composition was used as the logo for an engineering society. It’s probably happened more than once.
22. AndyD | July 13th, 2008 at 11:32 am
As a graphic artist, I take offence at any suggestion we’re incapable of thinking :) “Art” or not, I wouldn’t have created it such that two teeth looked like they occupied the same space.
But then, I had strong technical drawing skills in school whereas many graphic artists are artists first and technicians second – or maybe third – or maybe not at all.
I could tell you the story of the graphic arts graduate who created a full-colour, embossed facsimile header sheet, but I won’t.
23. philbo | July 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
@HolfordWatch:
“According to the 2007 accounts for the Institute of Optimum Nutrition (pdf), LSBU’s KTP provided ION with the free services of an IT student from LSBU.”
OTT on the TLAs, ISTM.
24. Ian | July 14th, 2008 at 11:25 am
It’s a lame, cheap, shoddy bit of graphic design. In fact, it’s pathetic. And it’s just like half the work I see people do on a daily basis – no attention to detail, no care and no thought.
25. Maurizio Morabito | July 15th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Finally there is an explanation for the swinging bridge, the broken catamaran, and all other British engineering disasters of late. We should be grateful for such low standards…had they been higher, for example the British-trained engineer that tried to blow up Glasgow airport would have succeeded
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