Integration of Environmental and Social Values in Cultural Spaces:Sustainable and Inclusive Wayfinding Materials for Museums

In the context of use of large museum centers,numerous national and international methodological experiments show that the wayfinding project must consider the needs of both habitual users(user-centered design)and local communities(design for communities)and the importance of environmental protection(eco-design)as a priority interest of the community.This“double target”,“user-centered”and“environment-centered”can be applied during the selection process of materials to be used in the project.With respect to these possibilities,this contribution intends to present the results of research focused on material characterization of the reception and distribution spaces of large museum centers.This characterization is based on use of sensory materials and aims to evaluate their impact on the usability and sustainability of wayfinding systems.The paper directed towards a proposal for organization of integrated information on new generation so-called smart materials;within the design of a wayfinding system,these can balance the aesthetic-perceptual and performance and environmental impact,in order to allow designers to make informed decisions oriented towards inclusion and sustainability.The study was addressed by conducting two phases of systematic literature and library review of materials.The investigations conducted led to achievement of a first research result which consists in the identification of a“standard sheet”for the mapping and cataloging of the materials used for wayfinding.The“standard sheet”allows organizing the information on smart,sensorial,and eco-friendly materials,balancing the aesthetic-perceptive component with the performance on the environmental impact along the entire life cycle in a circular perspective.This tool could guide designers towards an environmental communication project oriented towards sustainability and is effective for usability and wayfinding.

The Effect of Signs Design of Wayfinding to Elders in Hospital： Take National Taiwan University College of Medicine for Example

Taiwan had officially entered aging society in 1993, and meantime the birthrate reaches its lowest point again and again. The constitution of population dramatically turns into an elder and low-birthrate society. Therefore, the ratio of elders living along is increasing yearly. When the elders need to deal the illness and go to hospital along, decays come from degeneration might have affect on their activity in accessible environment in hospital. Signs is a vital tool for delivering and communicating information in the road sign system. Whether the elders can identify the signs in hospital clearly becomes an important issue in the current research. To understand the affect of signs design in hospital to elders, the research reviewed and gained insight of degeneration in both physical and psychological of elders and the proper principal of signs design for elders. The research surveys in Taipei City, which has densest medical center, and mainly focus on National Taiwan University College of Medicine, which has hundred years of history （founded in 1895）. The research conducts field survey in both old and new buildings of National Taiwan University College of Medicine in August, 2015. The survey includes five types of signs design： Public Facilities, Prohibition, Safety, Warning, and Commercial Facilities. The result from article review indicates the most salient psychological degenerations includes the change in cognitive function, decay of memory, and deceleration of information processing; physical degenerations includes the decay of vision. As a result, the following properties should be taken into consideration when designing sings for elders： （1） The proper ratio of graphic and text. （2） Avoid using colors or matches difficult to identify by elders, like purple, blue, and green. （3） Take the visibility, legibility, identity, attention, and memory into consideration, there should be 70% differentiation in contrast between text of sign and background. （4） Avoid using multi-meaning graphic, keep the design simple. The result from the survey of National Yaiwan University College of Medicine indicates： （1） Using mainly on graphic and text as subsidiary, part of the sign design using both Chinese and English, and make sure the appropriateness of ratio between graphic and text. Use more of sans-serif font, which has better legibility. （2） Match the color mainly as yellow background with black graphic, blue background with white graphic, white background with black graphic, white background with blue graphic, a strong contrast between background and graphic on brightness and chroma matches the principle of visibility, legibility, and identity. （3） Simplify the signs design may safeguard its visibility. When elder need to handle illness comes from degeneration alone and go to large and complex hospitals frequently, the decay of their mental and physical might have a huge negative affect. Therefore, the signs design in hospital should understand their properties and design signs that match their requirement, to safeguard their live independency.

Wayfinding design in transportation architecture-are saliency models or designer visual attention a good predictor of passenger visual attention?

In transportation architecture,wayfinding quality is a crucial factor for determining transfer efficiency and level of service.When developing architectural design concepts,designers often employ their visual attention to imagine where passengers will look.A saliency model is a software program that can predict human visual attention.This research examined whether a saliency model or designer visual attention is a good predictor of passenger visual attention during wayfinding in side transportation architecture.Using a remote eye-tracking system,the eye-movements of 29 participants watching 100 still images depicting different indoor seenes of transportation architecture were recorded and transformed into saliency maps to illustrate participants'visual attention.Participants were categorized as either"designers"or"laypeople"based on their architectural design expertise.Similarities were compared among the"designers'"visual attention,saliency model predictions,and"laypeople's"visual attention.The results showed that while the"designers'"visual attention was the best predictor of that of"laypeople",followed by saliency models,a single desig ner's visual attend on was not a good predictor.The divergence in visual attention highlights the limitation of designers in predicting passenger wayfinding behavior and implies that integrating a saliency model in practice can be beneficial for wayfinding design.

Measuring user preferences and behaviour in a topographic immersive virtual environment(TopoIVE)of 2D and 3D urban topographic data

This paper investigates user preferences and behaviour associated with 2D and 3D modes of urban representation within a novel Topographic Immersive Virtual Environment(TopoIVE)created from official 1:10,000 mapping.Sixty participants were divided into two groups:the first were given a navigational task within a simulated city and the second were given the freedom to explore it.A Head-Mounted Display(HMD)Virtual Reality(VR)app allowed participants to switch between 2D and 3D representations of buildings with a remote controller and their use of these modes during the experiment was recorded.Participants performed mental rotation tests before entering the TopoIVE and were interviewed afterwards about their experiences using the app.The results indicate that participants preferred the 3D mode of representation overall,although preference for the 2D mode was slightly higher amongst those undertaking the navigational task,and reveal that different wayfinding solutions were adopted by participants according to their gender.Overall,the findings suggest that users exploit different aspects of 2D and 3D modes of visualization in their wayfinding strategy,regardless of their task.The potential to combine the functionality of 2D and 3D modes therefore offers substantial opportunities for the development of immersive virtual reality products derived from topographic datasets.

GPS-based fine-scale mapping surveys for schistosomiasis assessment: a practical introduction and documentation of field implementation

Background Fine-scale mapping of schistosomiasis to guide micro-targeting of interventions will gain importance in elimination settings,where the heterogeneity of transmission is often pronounced.Novel mobile applications offer new opportunities for disease mapping.We provide a practical introduction and documentation of the strengths and shortcomings of GPS-based household identification and participant recruitment using tablet-based applications for fine-scale schistosomiasis mapping at sub-district level in a remote area in Pemba,Tanzania.Methods A community-based household survey for urogenital schistosomiasis assessment was conducted from November 2020 until February 2021 in 20 small administrative areas in Pemba.For the survey,1400 housing structures were prospectively and randomly selected from shapefile data.To identify pre-selected structures and collect survey-related data,field enumerators searched for the houses’geolocation using the mobile applications Open Data Kit(ODK)and MAPS.ME.The number of inhabited and uninhabited structures,the median distance between the pre-selected and recorded locations,and the dropout rates due to non-participation or non-submission of urine samples of sufficient volume for schistosomiasis testing was assessed.Results Among the 1400 randomly selected housing structures,1396(99.7%)were identified by the enumerators.The median distance between the pre-selected and recorded structures was 5.4 m.A total of 1098(78.7%)were residential houses.Among them,99(9.0%)were dropped due to continuous absence of residents and 40(3.6%)households refused to participate.In 797(83.1%)among the 959 participating households,all eligible household members or all but one provided a urine sample of sufficient volume.Conclusions The fine-scale mapping approach using a combination of ODK and an offline navigation application installed on tablet computers allows a very precise identification of housing structures.Dropouts due to non-residential housing structures,absence,non-participation and lack of urine need to be considered in survey designs.Our findings can guide the planning and implementation of future household-based mapping or longitudinal surveys and thus support micro-targeting and follow-up of interventions for schistosomiasis control and elimination in remote areas.

Influence of geometry on legibility： An explanatory design study of visitors at the Kuala Lumpur City Center

Legibility is based on landmarks and geometry. Visitors in a space learn to ＂read＂ an area by using three- and two-dimensional cues. This research aimed to determine the responses of visitors to the influence of geometry on the legibility at Kuala Lumpur City Center （KLCC）. The relationship between geometry and space legibility can affect visitors＇ wayfinding. In this study, visitors, including 86 respondents and 8 individuals who participated in a focus group, were surveyed through questionnaires and interviews during daytime. Results show that legibility was moderately and positively correlated with regular geometry, but legibility was negligibly affected by existing geometry. Regression analysis, Hest, ANOVA, and scheme coding of qualitative data suggested that regular geometry used in urban spaces might strongly improve legibility. For urban designers, regular geometry associated with landmarks enhances legibility.