More On Signage
There was a great slideshow in the NY Times the other day about work being done to update highway signs. The accompanying article is a terrific window into an evidence-based design process.
The project is the culmination of a nearly ten year effort by a team including an environmental designer and a type designer. Their goals? Improve readability for all drivers at a distance and at speed. A timely thing for highway officials to realize. Though only 12.4 percent of the U.S. population was over 65 in 2000, that number will increase to 20 percent by 2030.
Some people would think this a simple task, but for those of us who know full well the impact one particular design choice can have over another, and how many people these choices will affect, the project is a daunting undertaking. Ten years seems an appropriate time frame within which to solve the problem.
The current road sign design has effectively been in place since the 1950’s. The team’s intention was to build on the effectiveness and familiarity of the original sign system, while also addressing its deficiencies.
They considered generational differences in the audience and how (or how well) those audiences can see. They also factored other variables - inclement weather, fog, night, dusk, dawn, differing road speeds, oncoming headlights, and screaming kids in the back seat, to name a few. Needless to say, the designers had a lot to think about.
This story highlights how graphic design can be deployed to solve serious real world challenges, and help people get where they need to go.
That same idea holds true in healthcare settings. Below is a picture that we like to show as a great example of bad signage that hinders people’s abilities to get where they need to be. Just as a road sign that can’t be deciphered could make the difference between life and death, not being able to find an emergency room, for example, could create a catastrophe. At the least, being faced with confusing signage can induce feelings of panic, discomfort, frustration and other negative consequences. And that’s not conducive to a healing environment.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am
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