Pointing You In The Right Direction

Hardware and software engineers at Breakfast have created an interesting twist on the everyday street sign. ‘Points’ is an incredible gadget offering a helping hand to anyone who has ever stood perplexed on a street corner, slack-jawed and trying to work out which way to go. This rotating digital street sign is updated throughout the day/night to point you in the direction of favourably reviewed restaurants, music festivals and events etc.

 ‘Points’ can even retrieve information from twitter, causing the arms of the sign to move, showing the direction of trending locations in the nearby area. The social street-sign even has a built-in keypad where you can tap in and search anything you’re looking for.

Although this is arguably the world’s ‘most intelligent street sign’, here at apt we have been questioning its usefulness. These days we can pick up an entire route from our smartphones and be personally guided to a destination at a click of a button; in comparison to that, ‘Points’ seems pretty well... pointless.

Although ‘Points’ unlike some of Breakfast’s other projects wasn’t created for a particular brand, the agency is exploring the different avenues it could go down to customise the interface for marketers; including at sponsored events and locations. We think this is a good idea, but we’re not sure on its practicality for everyday use. What do you think? On point? Or Pointless?