I76 CHAPTER 8

To show off personalization traces and other displays of self, people find
and make such display cases as windows, walls, doorways, car bumpers,
shelves, and Window ledges in almost any kind of setting, frOm offices to
homes, from hospitals to schools. By observing how parts of the environment
are useful as display cases, one can improve his ability to design environments
that provide opportunities for displays of self.

0 Identification. People use their environments to enable others to identi-
fy them more easily, like schools putting students’ names on lockers, or home-
owners putting their initials on commercially bought awnings. Such markings
are people’s individual street signs, even if they are just numbers: house num-
bers, office numbers, cell numbers.

 

Identification

Left: Numbers on the stairs identify the houses, Woburn, Massachusetts.
Right: Photo and memento magnets identify this assisted-living resident,
Palisades, New York.

Who leaves a trace can be significant. If a student writes his name with
felt-tip pen on a school locker, the locker might mean something to him. How
important is a home territory like this to him? Felt-tip ink is difficult to remove.
Did he do this on purpose to leave his mark for the next student? Would he use
a nametag provided by the administration? If so, what would he feel about it?
More important, what would this indicate about the relationship between stu-
dents and administrators?

The permanence of a trace may also be significant. Does the name of a
family etched into the wood of their front door mean they hold different atti-
tudes toward the neighborhood than their neighbors whose name is spelled out
with store-bought plastic letters on the lawn? The family with plastic letters
may feel no less permanent, but have greater respect for wooden doors.

0 Group membership. In addition to displaying their individuality, people
also display their membership in formal religious, academic, fraternal, political,
ethnic, cultural, and professional groups and organizations. The presence of
religious statues on front lawns, professional diplomas on living-room walls,
ethnic dolls in windows, pictures of President Clinton or President Bush in
someone’s home, or awards for reaching a sales quota in someone’s office all
tell you about the groups with which an individual identifies. Group-member-