Stomper baffled by Waterway Point’s ‘creative’ directional stickers: ‘Pointless and absolutely useless’
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Creative or cringe?
Directional stickers meant to guide shoppers at Waterway Point have left one Stomper amused, confused and frustrated all at once.
Stomper X said he came across around 40 to 50 of these stickers at the Punggol shopping mall on July 3, but believes they had already been there for some time.
According to him, the stickers are meant to direct shoppers to a new pick-up and drop-off point at the side of the building — instead of the front — due to ongoing construction works.
X said: “There are a massive roadworks going on there, so all the main roads, the main junction and the taxi stand in front of the mall are blocked off.”
Photos X shared with Stomp show purple footprints on a puddle-shaped sticker bearing the words: “This way to new pick up & drop off point”.
However, the Stomper questioned why the design could not have been simpler.
“Why couldn’t they have just used arrows to point you in the right direction to the new taxi stand???” he asked.
Stomper shares how he interprets stickers
Instead, the stickers left him wondering what message they were trying to convey.
Among his tongue-in-cheek interpretations were:
- “Peeing in your pants”
- “Your water just broke”
- “Did you forget your diapers?”
- “Wet your pants on your way to the taxi stand!”
“It seems the marketing team was too creative and thought, ‘Oh we must add water to the sticker and make it interesting’,” he said.
“Well, I think it backfired.”
X explained why he found the stickers “absolutely useless”.
“These are outside of the building, and with the scorching hot weather, shoppers are forced sweatily to decipher what on earth these stickers are trying to say,” he said.
“I was standing there for a minute trying to figure out what these stickers were about.”
‘This way... which way?’
The Stomper added that the footprints — which “aren’t very obvious” — do not indicate which direction to go and felt that arrows would have been more helpful.
“What is the point of the water splashing between the purple feet?” he asked.
“You’ll be sweaty? You’ll be peeing here? Your groceries are leaking? You’re not feeling well and a little leaky?
“Oh... I know, it’s because it’s WATERway Point. And maybe only three other people in their marketing department know.”
The Stomper also criticised the wording on the stickers.
“They say, ‘This way to NEW pick up & drop off point’ — this way? Which way? The way of the purple feet?” he said.
He joked that they looked more like signs directing people to a Songkran water festival than to a taxi stand.
In his view, directional signs should prioritise clarity over creativity.
“It needs to be dumb-proof, not creative,” he said.
“These stickers are pointless and do not contribute to the purpose of guiding people efficiently to where they should go.”
He also questioned whether older shoppers or those unfamiliar with the design would understand the message at a glance.
“Shoppers are in a hurry to get home after going to the mall,” said X.
“They’re not going to stand there and admire the world-class work done to a directional sticker, which amazingly features the ‘WATERway Point theme, to a taxi stand.”
‘Learn from Japan’, says Stomper
X said Waterway Point should take inspiration from Japanese subway stations, where the signs are “clear and understood by all”.
“No matter where you’re from, you don’t have to speak Japanese to get around Japan,” he noted.
“I have no idea what the people behind the stickers were thinking.”
He added that he had submitted his feedback through the mall’s website but did not receive a response.
Stomp has contacted Waterway Point for comment.
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