Small changes can make a big difference - Public tickets in Milan

Do you remember the post I wrote on Milan public transport tickets and their poor design?
I think someone from ATM (Milan public transport company) had the same feeling.

In fact the last time I took the train, the tickets I got from the machine were a little different from the ones I remembered:

I believe there were constraint to be kept in the "graphic design" (the pinkish background), yet there are 2 small changes in printed content which make a great difference:

• the introduction of a big black arrow (much more visible and recognizable than the pinkish one in the background - which looks a bit too much a decoration);


• the new advice on the white end - by giving the same direction to all the text on the ticket, the user is less prone to get the feeling that the white part is somehow "different" from the rest of the ticket (read "something to be stamped").

Small changes can lead to big improvements indeed.
I'm sure less people get frustrated now and I bet there are less queues due to wrong ticket side insertion. :)

Well done ATM!