Keep instructions positive

Write what you DO want people to do, not what you DON’T.

Why is it that when I’m told NOT to do something, my mind immediately thinks that’s exactly what’s happening?

It must be for them to have written the sign, right?

They’re dirty cups, right?

If there was no sign, it never would have occurred to me and I’d have quenched my thirst.

Image shows a pipe winding down a wall to a tap over a silver bucket. The bucket is on a table with trays of coloured cups on either side and a sign saying please do not place used cups on the trays, thank you.