Wayfinding project summary

For my project, my group and I came up with a solution to improve the wayfinding of Budig Hall, specifically room 110. As Budig Hall is a beautiful building in itself, it can be difficult to navigate due to its white walls which are the same everywhere in the building as well as the shape of the building being a circle, therefore each side of the building is identical. This is a problem because as one walks into the building from the entrance it is hard to tell where exactly you are in the building as well as where one is supposed to go from there. To improve this, my group and I attempted to separate each lecture hall with the use of color. We placed a color coated map right at the entrance of the building which explained where one is as well as which color to follow for each lecture hall. The color red was the color used for room 110. Once one were to see this, they would easily see the red signage above the hallway adjacent to the map. The sign has three arrows with the number 110 filled into them. Once one follows the signage through the hallway, he or she would see another set of arrows with the number 110 within them. This time there is a red stripe that runs through the arrows and directs you straight to the destination. The color is the most important part of our solution. The colors that were chosen were made sure to fit in with the buildings beauty as they weren’t too bright or ridiculous looking. Because of the colors being different for each lecture hall, one would know after the first time experiencing the building which color is for which room. If one saw that one was in a red themed hallway he or she would instantly know they are being guided towards room 110. If one saw they were in a purple themed hallway they would instantly know they were heading towards room 120. Our intention for this wayfinding is to make it quick and easy for students to navigate to their classes. 

Reading Response

Interaction Design Sketchbook by Bill Verplank

This reading emphasizes the importance of sketching, interaction, design, and paradigms when it comes to creating interactive products and systems. The reading starts off by explaining the importance of sketching. With computers now a days, one may think sketching is less important. This reading begs to differ as sketching a huge brainstorming tool. Sketching is very important for capturing preliminary observations and ideas. Sketches can literally be in any style you want them to be. They can be very neat and organized or they can be the exact opposite and be chaotic. Drawing out ideas can really help one see his or her vision much clearer. Drawing can be a straight depiction from the brain. The reading also talks about interaction design. Interaction design would mainly be used to describe industrial design. It is how to design for the user’s needs whether they are mental or physical needs. There are three questions interaction designers must answer when going about their work. How do you do? How do you feel? How do you know? Most simple designs require one to do, to feel, and to know. An successful interaction designer makes these three concepts of feeling, doing, and knowing easy and convenient. The third concept that the reading talks about is the actual design. The design for the product is the blueprint. The design must address all of the issues and concerns that have to do with the product. The design brings all of the interaction together and to life. For it to be successful it must be user friendly and easy to navigate. The last concept that the reading talks about is paradigms. A paradigm is a pattern or a model. This section of the reading emphasizes the importance of computers and how we use them. Over the last 50 years, computers have become a huge part of life. The reading explains that if we create computers to think more like people, it will be easier to design. It is very much emphasized that computers are tools as well as media. Computers have almost invaded every medium there is today. The media is where people express themselves. Computers allow us to represent whats real, what could be real, and whats imaginary. This idea creates so many possibilities for design. 

America

For this project I had to redesign the American flag. I did not want to get political with it. I just wanted to simply modernize it. I did so by making the red and blue in the flag much brighter and neon like. I also wanted to create the illusion that the flag was always waving. I did so with the way the stripes move through the flag. Lastly I included the US Marine camo as it is very iconic in America and around the world.

Maryland

For this project, I was supposed to choose a design that inspires me and make a poster out of it. I chose the Maryland flag because of its unique colors and patterns that are iconic to Marylanders who take much pride in the flag. I chose the crab in the center because crabs are a huge part of Maryland as Maryland is sometimes known as the big crab cake. 

Wayfinding testing

Here are some images of our testing of our wayfinding through Budig using tape.

beginning Wayfinding

For my groups wayfinding project we chose to help navigate Budig hall to get to room 110. Our original ideas were to color coat the building and have a specified color for each lecture hall. This was the original plan.