The You-Are-Here Sign in Public Maps: A Design Study With Special Focus on Orientation

and Direction ElementsKai-Hsin Chiu , Meng-Cong ZhengDepartment of Industrial Design, TAIPEI TECHkaishin61@gmail.com, zmcdesign@gmail.com

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1INTRODUCTION

Investigate the relationship between the You-Are-Here sign on maps and how people perceive related information.

A complete You-Are-Here sign should meet three requirements:

Determine current position.Determine directional orientation.Determine the routes to the destinations.

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1INTRODUCTION

You-Are-Here signs still have many problems.

1. Have no outstanding features and text to determine actual location, orientation and meaning.

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2PROBLEMS

Where am I ?My direction is… ?

You-Are-Here signs still have many problems.

2. Have no features that allow the reader to clearly determine correct directions.

Which way is right ?

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2PROBLEMS

You-Are-Here signs still have many problems.

3. In 2.5D maps, the You-Are-Here signs cannot change direction with the map or the viewer’s perspective.

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2PROBLEMS

We have proposed recommendations for the improvement of You-Are-Here sign designs to enhance people‘s navigation experiences in public spaces.

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2PROBLEMS

An investigation into how You-Are-Here signs convey spatial cognition messages to users.

To investigate the subject's actual usage of You-Are-Here signs of effect positioning and orientation.

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Two experiments 32 participants Video record

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3METHOD

STEP 1

Select the top 11 You-Are-Here signs they thought were designed to be most effective at conveying position and orientation from 92

cases.

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3METHODEXPERIMENT 1

STEP 2

Then to draw their own You-Are-Here signs and explain why they think it has the best effectiveness.

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3METHODEXPERIMENT 1

Asked participants to point out the letter corresponding to their direction.

A is on my right !B is behind me !A is behind me too !

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3METHODEXPERIMENT 2

Answer timeWrong answer

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3METHODEXPERIMENT 2

In the Second Experiment, we were recorded the participant’s time taken to answer each question and the number of

errors.

The top 11 You-Are-Here signs primarily contained 2.5D human form, arrow, and footprint

elements.

The top 11 You-Are-Here signs

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 1

Human-shaped is most effective in causing readers to evoke positioning associations. Arrow elements are most effective in evoking directional associations.

Orientation Direction

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 1

People have strong cognitive for human and arrow elements.

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 1

Adding circle background and text elements were perceived as increasing the effectiveness of expressing the position and underlying

meaning.

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 1

Front Behind0

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84

Over than the average for the proportion of front and behind

Wrong answerAnswer time

When viewed from the front, required more time and effort to understand than behind.

FRONT BEHIND

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 2

The front sign have two-step thinking cognition process, and this procedure can easily make wrong judgment and confused.

FRONT OFYOU-ARE-HERE SIGN

A

Example : Q: In which direction is A for you?

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 2

In 2D elements, we can know that arrow elements are more clearly and accurately determine the right directional than

footprints.

Arrow FootprintVs.

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 2

2.5D human form signs, when seen turned around or from different angles can easily obstruct the arrow elements or even distort them and cause confusion.

Example :

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 2

Both of them have obstructed the arrow elements or unrecognized angle.

Styles and angles of unrecognizable directional signs

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 2

Only show of human-shaped was caused the reader confuse the correct direction.

Only show of human-shaped was caused the reader confuse the correct direction.

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4RESULTSEXPERIMENT 2

Human was obstructing the arrow element.

Arrow element was too similar to the human shadow.

Arrow element was too similar to the human shadow.

Human was obstructing the arrow element.

The arrow element distort or even shorter.

UNRECOGNIZED ANGLE RANGE

1. Resembling our own appearance produced the greatest degree of effectiveness. Adding background and text were increased position effectiveness.

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5DISCUSSION

2. Adding arrow elements to You-Are-Here signs will increase the sign’s directional effectiveness. And adding 2.5D can also increase the orientation functionality.

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5DISCUSSION

3. The people are used to take the same direction to read the map and signs. Therefore, You-Are-Here signs and readers are preferably facing the same direction.

FRONT OFYOU-ARE-HERE SIGN

BEHIND OFYOU-ARE-HERE SIGN

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5DISCUSSION

THEREADER

AFTER

BEFORE

4. When using 2.5D human signs, we should pay attention to the use of a limited angular range, or use the human form limb movement to indicate direction.

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5DISCUSSION

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4.1 We propose research on using human arms action to indicate orientation in 2.5D models.

5DISCUSSION

Suggest for the design of You-Are-Here signs :

Adding human form and arrow elements.

Image of YOU-ARE-HERE SIGN

Adding the text and circular background.

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6CONCLUSION

Suggest for the design of You-Are-Here signs :

Using 2.5D and human arm action to convey position and directional. We suggest orienting You-Are-Here sign with the readers direction for best.

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6CONCLUSION

Image of YOU-ARE-HERE SIGN

Hope through research on the You-Are-Here signs can really help people improving the effectiveness of spatial cognition in public spaces.

THANKS FOR YOUR

ATTENTION

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