Denna studie är ett examensarbete i informationsdesign med inriktningen rumslig gestaltning. Syftet med arbetet har varit att förtydliga orienterbarheten och underlätta för patienter att navigera på vårdcentraler. Målet har varit att skapa ett gestaltningsförslag med visuell koppling som vägleder patienter mellan olika rum. Utgångspunkten för arbetet har varit i ett par väntrum på vårdcentralen City i Eskilstuna, där patienter har svårt att förstå vägledningssystemet.  Metoder som observationer, platsanalys, notation och intervjuer har genomförts och skapat en förståelse för patienters upplevelse av platsen. Genom metoderna har brister inom rumsutformning, placeringar, färger och former kunnat identifierats. Litteraturstudier om wayfinding, wayshowing, kognitiva aspekter, färgkodning, färger och det fysiska rummet har tillsammans med resultat från metoderna legat till grund för gestaltningsförslaget. Gestaltningsförslaget bygger på att rummet öppnats upp så att tydlig vägledning kunnat skapas, vilket är en förutsättning för att patienterna ska kunna hitta på platsen. / This study is a thesis in information design with emphasis on spatial design. The aim of this study has been to clarify orientation and to facilitate navigation for patients in health centers. The goal was to create a design proposal with visual connection to guide patients between rooms. The starting point for this work was two waiting rooms at the health center vårdcentralen City in Eskilstuna, where patients have difficulty understanding the wayshowing system. A greater understanding of patients' experience of the place was created through methods such as observations, site analysis, notations and interviews. The methods have identified shortcomings within the room layout, placement, color and shape. Underlying the design proposal are the results from the methods and literature studies of wayfinding, wayshowing, cognitive aspects, color-coding, colors and physical space. The findings show that navigation at the site can be improved by opening up the room, thereby creating a good wayshowing.

Det här examensarbetet behandlar orienterbarhet i allmänhet och hur det vidare kan appliceras i sjukhusmiljö. Arbetet är skrivet inom ämnet informationsdesign och beskriver hur man med hjälp av rumslig formgivning kan skapa en miljö med god orienterbarhet. Platsen för arbetet är entréhallen på Västmanlands sjukhus Köping. Entréhallen anses idag inte vara tillräckligt informativ i sin utformning vilket gör att besökare till sjukhuset går vilse och tror att de hamnat fel. Syftet med mitt arbete har varit att genom studier ta reda på hur ett rums layout samt rumsliga element kan bidra till en miljö med god orienterbarhet. Detta presenteras vidare i ett designförslag om en förändrad entréhall. Studierna har genomförts med hjälp av de kvalitativa metoderna: intervju och observation, samt med litteraturstudier för insamling av data.  Utifrån detta har jag jobbat fram mitt designförslag som visar en rumslig layout samt förslag på rumsliga element som bör gynna orienterbarheten på Västmanlands sjukhus Köping.

This project examines the potential of computer technology to enhance navigation within, and incorporate information-sharing into, the public urban environment.

Esta pesquisa investiga os impactos do desenho urbano tradicional e modernista na orientação espacial em campi universitários, a partir da avaliação de usuários que diferem quanto ao grau de familiaridade com tais espaços. O problema de pesquisa reside na reprodução de projetos urbanísticos que remetem à lógica espacial preconizada pelo urbanismo moderno, os quais tenderiam a dificultar a legibilidade urbana, afetando negativamente a navegação. Assim, o objetivo é realizar um estudo comparativo detalhado dos efeitos de atributos físico-espaciais que compõem tais desenhos urbanos quanto à orientação espacial de seus usuários, a fim de contribuir para um melhor entendimento dos impactos de tais configurações na experiência espacial. Para tanto, são selecionados dois campi da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), localizados em Porto Alegre- RS: O Campus Centro, que representa o desenho urbano tradicional, com variedade arquitetônica, cujos prédios tendem a estar dispostos junto ao perímetro dos quarteirões e apresentam os acessos principais voltados para as ruas; e o Campus do Vale com características do desenho urbano modernista, onde verifica-se o predomínio da repetição e uniformidade entre os prédios dispostos em amplas áreas verdes, cujos acessos principais tendem a estar desvinculados das ruas. Os métodos de coletas de dados fazem parte dos utilizados na área de estudos Ambiente e Comportamento, sistematizados por meio de levantamento de arquivo, levantamento físico, mapas cognitivos, identificação e descrição de percursos, questionários e entrevistas. A análise de dados é realizada através de testes estatísticos não-paramétricos e da Sintaxe Espacial. Os resultados desta investigação demonstram que, independentemente do campus, os atributos físico-espaciais que remetem ao desenho urbano modernista tendem a ser avaliados negativamente quanto à orientação espacial pelos alunos calouros e, inclusive, pelos técnicos administrativos da UFRGS. Ainda, atributos arquitetônicos dos prédios como a falta de clareza no destaque formal do acesso principal e a menor visibilidade do acesso principal a partir da rua tendem a dificultar a orientação espacial. Foi confirmado que a avaliação do nível de facilidade de orientação espacial é influenciada fortemente pelo grau de familiaridade com o espaço. Entretanto, verifica-se o predomínio dos atributos físico-espaciais sobre o grau de familiaridade quando avaliados os níveis de facilidade de descrever o percurso para acesso ao prédio. Por fim, espera-se que os dados obtidos possam contribuir para qualificar projetos urbanísticos, a fim de responder melhor às necessidades dos usuários quanto à orientação espacial no espaço urbano. / This research investigates the impact of traditional and modern urban design in wayfinding performance in university campuses, based on evaluations of users who differ in the degree of familiarity with such spaces. The research problem concerns the propagation of urban projects that replicate the spatial logic advocated by modern urbanism, which would tend to hinder urban legibility, negatively affecting navigation. The purpose is to realize a comparative study about the impact of physical-spatial attributes considering different urban designs for its users wayfinding performance, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the impacts of such settings in the spatial experience. Therefore, two campuses of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), located in Porto Alegre-RS were selected: The Campus Centro, which refers the traditional urban design with architectural variety, whose buildings tend to be arranged at the perimeter of blocks and feature the main entrance facing the street; and Campus do Vale with characteristics of modern urban design, where there is a predominance of repetition and uniformity among the buildings, usually arranged in large green areas, whose main accesses tend to be disconnected from the streets. Data gathering means are part of those used in the Environment and Behavior area field of study, including archival records, field surveys, cognitive maps, identification of paths and route description, questionnaires and interviews. Data analysis was carried out through non-parametric statistical tests and space syntax theory. The results of this research show that, regardless of the campus, the physical-spatial attributes related to modernist urban design tend to be evaluated negatively on the wayfinding for freshmen students and even by UFRGS employees. Still, architectural attributes of the buildings, such as the lack of clarity in the identification of the main access and the lower visibility of the main access from the street tend to impair wayfinding. It was confirmed that the evaluation of the wayfinding facility level is strongly influenced by the degree of familiarity with the space. However, there is a predominance of physical-spatial attributes over the degree of familiarity when assessed levels of ease of describing the way to access the building. Finally, it is expected that the results obtained may contribute to qualify urban projects in order to better respond to users’ needs of wayfinding in the urban space.

La marche en milieu intra-urbain est considérée comme une pratique naturelle et évidente pour les déplacements à but utilitaire ou récréatif. Cependant, cette activité se révèle complexe à conceptualiser. Tout d' abord, elle inclut un continuum d'usagers piétons, aux capacités de mobilité diverses, pouvant être confrontés à des situations d' inadéquation avec l'environnement. Ensuite, les comportements de mobilité pédestre sont influencés par une série d'exigences : faisabilité,accessibilité, utilité, sécurité, confort ou encore plaisir des sens. Enfin, les choix d'itinéraires des piétons varient selon l'objectif et le contexte du trajet. A partir d'une démarche pluridisciplinaire, cette recherche soutient que, pour promouvoir la marche au quotidien, il est essentiel de tenir compte des spécificités de chacun et des situations pouvant potentiellement affecter leurs déplacements. En réponse, modéliser les déplacements piétons en milieu intra-urbain, via un SIG,offre non seulement un support d'analyse et de visualisation mais aussi un outil d'aide à la décision s'adressant à la fois au grand public et aux aménageurs. Cette démarche se révèle innovante en proposant un outil inclusif intégrant les interrelations entre une grande diversité d 'usagers piétons et l'environnement selon diftérents contextes. Notre méthodologie est à la fois reproductible dans différentes villes et capable de s' adapter à un contexte local spécifique par un audit urbain et un questionnaire-usager. Cette thèse se conclut par un cas d'étude empirique à Luxembourg-ville afin de collecter des informations sur la capacité d'une ville à fournir un réseau pédestre efficace et des témoignages d'usagers. / Walking is generally considered as a natural and obvious activity for utilitarian or recreation purposes. Yet, that activity is complex to conceptualize. First, it includes a continuum of pedestriausers with various abilities to move who can have to face the environment. Second, the mobility anwalking behaviours are also influenced by a set of criteria: feasibility, accessibility, usefulness safety, comfort and pleasure. Besicles, peoples' routes are also varying following the trips objective (lnclucled in an interdisciplinary approach, this research argues that to ensure a city suitable for daily walking, it is essential to take into account the specificities of everyone and of situations that may affect pedestrian travels. For this purpose, modelling pedestrian trips in an intra-urban area, via GIS not only provides a support of analysis and visualization but also a decision tool for both people and stakeholders. The innovation of this approach lies in an inclusive tool which integrates this interrelationships among a variety of pedestrian users and the environment in different contexts. Our methodology is also reproducible in different cities and able to adapt itself to specific local context through an urban audit and a questionnaire for users. This thesis is concluded by an empirical case of study in Luxembourg-city to gather information about the ability of a city to provide an efficient pedestrian network and some pedestrian users ' testimonies.

Bartram och Moura (2014) och Hoeg (2008) har båda listat upp olika sätt för speldesigners att leda spelare i spel men att det finns få studier inom området. Tanken med detta arbete har varit att titta på specifika tillämpningar för att förstå vilken väg spelare väljer vid symmetriska vägval då ett av alternativen visar vägen för spelaren. Problemet mynnar ut i frågeställningen: När spelare står inför två symmetriska vägval, vilken väg väljer då spelare ifall ett av alternativen antingen leds av ett landmärke, en skylt eller partiklar i rörelse? För att ge svar på detta har en artefakt skapats med en efterföljande enkät. Därefter har en analys förts på de 31 svaren som inkommit. Resultatet visar tecken på att personer i hög grad tillåter sig vägledas av tillämpningarna. I slutet görs en diskussion gällande relevanta aspekter rörande arbetet och området. / Bartram and Moura (2014) and Hoeg (2008) have both listed different ways for game designers to lead players in games but that there are few studies done in this field. The thought behind this thesis have been to study different wayfinding cues to understand which path players choose at a symmetrical decision where one option leads the player. With the problem the following becomes the issue: When players face two symmetrical choices, which way does the player choose if one of the options are leading the player with a landmark, a sign or moving particles? To answer this, an artifact has been created with an subsequent questionnaire. Subsequently, an analysis was made of the 31 responses received. The results show signs of people to a high degree allows themselves to be guided by the wayfinding cues studied in this paper. A discussion on relevant aspects of the work and the field are presented at the end.

Wayfinding Design for Randomly Developed Areas: The Beltline Case Study proposes a wayfinding signage program for the new public transit project in Atlanta known as the Beltline. This program unites the Beltline with other transit options within Atlanta, such as MARTA, to form a comprehensive transit system. This program will be known as The Atlanta Unified Transit Program. My proposed signage program includes map kiosks, information posts and signs promoting the various levels of transit offered in Atlanta as well as information about the areas surrounded by public transit. The signage examples created for my thesis are prototypes that could later be applied to any location within the area serviced by public transit.

Wayfinding is a complex skill and the lack of tools supporting the specific sub-types of navigation hinders performance in large-scale virtual environments and consequently can slow the adoption of virtual technology for training. The VTrail System is designed to support virtual training by providing trainers (trailblazers) with the ability to create trails to guide users (trail followers) during training simulations. Without an effective interface to assist with creating trails, the task of trailblazing remains difficult. The objective of this research was to design a default interface for the VTrail System that adheres to the basic human factors engineering guidelines of simplicity, universality, and that does not interfere with primary task performance. Two studies (trailblazing, trail following), with a total of four experiments, were performed to evaluate and modify the proposed interfaces. The first experiments in each study determined that the proposed default interfaces are simple enough to use so as to not interfere with primary task performance. The second set of experiments found that, aside from the interface components included in the default interface, novice trailblazers and trail followers did not make use of any additional wayfinding aids when users were provided with the ability to create a custom interface. Secondary benefits included; the development of a novel approach for measuring spatial knowledge acquisition (called the SKAT), a set of criteria for qualitative analysis of trail quality in the form of the Trail Quality Questionnaire (referred to as TQQ), and improved understanding of the role individual differences, such as gender and spatial ability, in wayfinding performance. The high correlation between spatial ability score and performance on the SKAT suggests that the test provides a valid means of measuring spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual environment. A measurable difference in the trail quality between males and females indicates that the TQQ can distinguish between trails of variable quality. Finally, there are measurable gender performance differences, despite similar levels in spatial ability between the genders. With the proposed interface designs the VTrail is closer to being ready to be incorporated as a support tool into virtual training programs. In addition, the designs for the VTrail System can be adapted for other platforms to support trailblazing in a range of applications, from use in military operations to providing an enhanced tourism experience. This research also serves as a starting point for future research projects on topics ranging from improving the design of the SKAT measure to understanding the effect of expertise on trailblazing performance.

Wayfinding is a complex skill and the lack of tools supporting the specific sub-types of navigation hinders performance in large-scale virtual environments and consequently can slow the adoption of virtual technology for training. The VTrail System is designed to support virtual training by providing trainers (trailblazers) with the ability to create trails to guide users (trail followers) during training simulations. Without an effective interface to assist with creating trails, the task of trailblazing remains difficult. The objective of this research was to design a default interface for the VTrail System that adheres to the basic human factors engineering guidelines of simplicity, universality, and that does not interfere with primary task performance. Two studies (trailblazing, trail following), with a total of four experiments, were performed to evaluate and modify the proposed interfaces. The first experiments in each study determined that the proposed default interfaces are simple enough to use so as to not interfere with primary task performance. The second set of experiments found that, aside from the interface components included in the default interface, novice trailblazers and trail followers did not make use of any additional wayfinding aids when users were provided with the ability to create a custom interface. Secondary benefits included; the development of a novel approach for measuring spatial knowledge acquisition (called the SKAT), a set of criteria for qualitative analysis of trail quality in the form of the Trail Quality Questionnaire (referred to as TQQ), and improved understanding of the role individual differences, such as gender and spatial ability, in wayfinding performance. The high correlation between spatial ability score and performance on the SKAT suggests that the test provides a valid means of measuring spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual environment. A measurable difference in the trail quality between males and females indicates that the TQQ can distinguish between trails of variable quality. Finally, there are measurable gender performance differences, despite similar levels in spatial ability between the genders. With the proposed interface designs the VTrail is closer to being ready to be incorporated as a support tool into virtual training programs. In addition, the designs for the VTrail System can be adapted for other platforms to support trailblazing in a range of applications, from use in military operations to providing an enhanced tourism experience. This research also serves as a starting point for future research projects on topics ranging from improving the design of the SKAT measure to understanding the effect of expertise on trailblazing performance.

Die sich im Verlaufe einer Demenz manifestierenden Orientierungsstörungen schränken die Selbständigkeit der Erkrankten ein und sind oftmals einer der Gründe für die Übersiedlung in eine Pflegeeinrichtung. Aufgrund ihrer krankheitsspezifischen kognitiven Einschränkungen ist es den Betroffenen dort erschwert, sich ihr neues Wohnumfeld zu erschließen. Demzufolge sind Demenzerkrankte zur Aufrechterhaltung von Mobilität und Selbständigkeit in einem ganz besonders hohen Maße von baulichen Strukturen abhängig, die ihnen räumliche, zeitliche und situative Orientierung bieten. Bisher liegen jedoch nur sehr wenige empirisch fundierte Forschungsarbeiten zu deren geeigneter Gestaltung vor. In dieser Dissertation wurde untersucht, welche baulichen Merkmale von Altenpflegeeinrichtungen das räumliche Orientierungsvermögen demenzerkrankter Bewohner beeinflussen. Dazu wurden die baulichen Strukturen von 30 Einrichtungen analysiert und umfangreiche Daten zur Orientierung der dort lebenden Bewohner erhoben. Es wurden fünf Wege innerhalb der Wohnbereiche identifiziert, die Bestandteil der Aktivitäten des täglichen Lebens sind und in allen Einrichtungen vorgefunden wurden. Durch Einschätzung der Pflegekräfte wurde bewertet, ob, bzw. wie gut, die Bewohner diese Wege zurücklegen können. Der Einfluss der unterschiedlichen baulichen Merkmale auf die resultierenden Orientierungswerte wurde mittels statistischer Signifikanztests überprüft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass mit fortschreitender Demenz das Orientierungsvermögen sinkt. Gleichzeitig steigt die Abhängigkeit von der Ausprägung der baulichen Strukturen jedoch an. Signifikante Einflussfaktoren bestehen u. a. in der Bewohnerzahl, der Erschließungstypologie und der Ausformung der Gemeinschaftsflächen. Kleinere Einrichtungen begünstigen zwar die Orientierung, aber auch Wohnbereiche mit 25-30 Bewohnern können gute Werte erzielen, wenn sie eine geradlinige Horizontalerschließung über Flure, die keine Richtungswechsel beinhalten, aufweisen. Gleichartige Elemente, wie z.B. mehrere Wohn- und Essbereiche oder Cluster kleinerer Wohngruppen, schränken die Orientierung hingegen ein. Diese und weitere Erkenntnisse wurden in Gestaltungsempfehlungen überführt, die in der Versorgungspraxis bei der Planung sowie Umstrukturierung von Pflegeeinrichtungen angewendet werden können. Weiterhin wurden auf Grundlage im Krankheitsverlauf eingesetzter Orientierungsformen und –strategien Modelle des Orientierungsprozesses Demenzerkrankter entwickelt.