second homework from design for usability

1. Finding your way
Ima gine your g roup has been asked to design a system to help
people find their way in the EC building. Go and OBSERVE! How
do we find our way around the building now? How/where would
you meet with lecturer Dr Xiang Fei? (Tr y and find out – what
methods did you use? Is there a system?). Star t by obser ving the
area around the entrance and reception of the EC building. W hat
signs are there? W hat happens when you ask at the Reception?
Talk to some students in the main lobby. Look at the signs. Is
there anything to help people find their way to the right room?
How might you make it easier?
Finding DR Xiang fei wasn’t an easy task as all the signs that show you the direction
to every path of the building was not clear and hard to understand. At first I and my
group tried to use the directions which where stick to the wall to try and find our way
around to DR Xiang fei but we couldn’t understand the signs, therefore we were
forced to go to the reception and ask for direction.
After the long search for DR Xaing fei, we took our time to stand in the lobby and
observe people on how they find their way round the building. During this
observation, we found out that many people did not understand the signs and ended
up going the wrong way.
We started our observation from the reception, where we were able to watch people
going to the reception to ask for direction to their lecture room and even to the toilet
because most of the toilets in the building does not have toilets signs on the door and
also the signs showing the direction to each lecture rooms are sometimes confusing.
i spoke to some student meanly first years about the owl design of the building and
how the signs are helping them to get to their lecture rooms. Most of them said they
do not understand the signs and during their first week they had to ask directions from
the reception and the numbers on the door are so confusing.
The students complained about the toilet having room numbers and not having signs
on them, they also complained about the direction to the lecture rooms are also
difficult to trace.
I also ask some students if they could help me with the location of DR Xiang Fei in
the engineering building but most of them haven’t even heard of that name before to
the extent of finding who that is.
During our group observation i took some pictures showing the signs and direction
which are not easily understood and sometimes doesn’t make sense to new students
According to some students, they said
this sign doesn’t help as it does not have
any arrow on it directing them to the
actual lecture room and this sign didn’t
help me either on my first day to the
university

2. In my own opinion I think the room number
should be stick to the door itself and not the
wall next to the door, as this may create
confusion for new students like me
This is actually pointless and complete waste of
money, as the room number is already shown on
the wall so I think there is no point putting a
digital screen next to it again saying the room
number and it might also make some people
think that there is 2 lecture rooms with same
number.
An example of student who is lost and has to go to
the reception to ask for help on hoe to locate his
lecture room
These four students are completely lost and one of
them couldn’t figure out how to get to the toilet
because of the lack of signs on them.