1.1 Assignment description
'Design two versions of a pedestrian map of the centre of Delft in such a way, that it influences the behavior of users.'
Visitors to Delft, not acquainted with the city, will need a map to find their way around the city centre. They will find one map with directions on a LCD-screen (6 x 8 meter) outside the train station.
When walking to the center of Delft from the railway station, the main options are to go straight or go left. The shopping area is on the straight path whereas the museums can be found more on the left path. Our job is to make two versions of one poster which influences the user into taking either the shopping route or the museum route.1.2 Limitations: To make influence less direct and more unconscious
- The use of text on the map is not allowed, with the exception of names of buildings, museums, streets and squares.
- The use of the “route line” itself as an indicator for direction is not allowed.
- The use of arrows or other arrow-like symbols as an indicator for direction is not allowed.
- The names “Museum route” and “Shopping route” should not be used on the map.
- There will be no key symbols. All visual elements should speak for themselves.
- The subtle but effective differences have to be based on the theory presented in Colin Ware’s book.
2 Design process
2.1 Looking for inspiration: How do people make maps?
We looked at other maps for inspiration: everything from the city maps and amusement park maps to the weatherforecast maps. There is a big range of different styles of maps, use of colour, icons etc – from very cartoonish to more realistic. A more cartoonish style is presented in figure 1. In figure 2 maps that have a sense of history are presented. Other inspirational maps we found can be seen in the figure 3, they have a more plain and “calm” style.
Figure 4. A weatherforcast map on BBC: a tilted realistic 3D map with symbolic icons, also more plain with limited colour palette.
We also found traditional houses in Delft and Delft Blue very inspirational, see figure 5. And ofcourse it should not be forgotten that this kind of map should indicate where the user is standing, figure 6.
Figure 5. Delft Blue and typical Delft (dutch) fasades.
2.2 Support from theory of visual perception
For the decisions on our map, the book “Visual Thinking for Designers” of Colin Ware, 2008 is used.
The main difference between the two versions of the maps, are the directions of the buildings, which are the icons in this case. The facades of the buildings contain the most information. On the shopping map, the buildings on the right upper corner contain more information since the facades are fully visible. The more the viewer goes to the left with his/her eyes, the less information he/she will see. The entrances of the buildings on the right are inviting the viewer to come inside, while on the left side this is not the case. This is based on the theory in chapter 6. This is also related to affordances which we read in chapter 5. Perception of space is fundamentally about perception of action potential within the local environment (Colin Ware, 2008). The left part of the map contains negative affordances. The side walls of the buildings, which do not have an entrance, will rule out the activity of going to that building. On the right side of the map, the entrances of the buildings afford going inside. This theory is the same for the museum map, but vice versa.
Since our map is a 3D map (it is tilted), it has to be clear which objects are closer to the viewer than the others. This is partly visible because of the map underneath the icons, the ground plane. The icons, which are placed on closer ‘blocks’ on the map to the viewer, automatically look closer to the viewer as well. At some areas we have used occlusion, to emphasize the closer and farther aspect.
Cast shadows are used to show the height of the icons compared to the ground. So in this case, all icons are on the ground and are no floating. At the same time, the cast shadows are showing the distance between the icons.
For the colors of the map itself, the chosen colors have a low saturation level. The color of the route is a high saturated color to emphasize the route. Since the map with the streets contains little information, it does not need to attract the attention. The route on the other hand, is an important part of the map and therefore it must take the attention. The ground plane of the map has a little gradient. The farther away, the less saturated the color is. This technique is not used for the icons, because the icons need to be fully visible. So, the degree of contrast is not reduced at the ‘back’ of the map. The factors mentioned earlier are in our opinion sufficient to communicate the distances of the icons to the viewers. This theory is gained from chapter 4.
2.3 Brainstorming on the icons: How can icons indicate direction?
Based on the inspiration from the different maps a decision has been made that the map will consist of two layer: an underlying map of the city and icons “on top” of it. In order to indicate the direction which we want the user to follow, the “right” direction should be more outstanding. There are different ways of making elements on or parts of the map visually stand out.
Colin Ware presents (page 30) different ways of making a features to stand out among the other features. In the examples author uses grey value, surround box, distinguished shape, sharpness, colour etc. Having this in mind, we had many ideas. In the figure 7 icons (2D) are manipulated by size, colour and by a surround box. We also tried to manipulate the map itselft by saturation, brightness, size and emotioinal meaning of the icons, see figure 8. Although it was not allowed, we thought it would be interesting to have some ideas manipulating the route or putting an indicator for direction, see figure 9 and 10.
Manipulating the icons. From top left clockwise: icons stand out by gradually increasing size, icons stand out by color (saturation for instance) and the bottom left image – bigger icons and text on the chosen side (entire side).
We also explored different 3D cues described by Colin Ware (page 91-93). The idea is that the element (an icon) that sholud stand out, will be positioned “closer” to the viewer by different 3D effects such as occlusion, size gradient, degree of contrast etc, see the figure below.
An idea of a totaly different direction was to use doors of a house as an indicator of the direction – an intiutive cue. Viewer walking in the right direction would have an impression of facing the entrance, see the figure below.
Flat 2D icons with doors had developed into 3D icons, as shown in the figure 13. In this idea front side of a house with door is facing the viewer as he/she walks along the right direction. Walking in the wrong direction will imply that the viewer is facing the back of the house.
We decided to use this last idea with 3D icons because it was more challenging and interesting
2.4 Design vision
2.4.1 The informative elements:
- It will give visitors an overview of the city centre and the relative size of the centre (to understand the distances between different places).
- It will indicate main attractions (and also the landmarks, to help visitors navigate in the city).
- It will give a clear pedestrian route around which they can find some museums and shops of the city.
- It will combine realistic with cartoonist elements.
- It will have 3D elements, to extrude volumes on the map and make the route to stand out.
- The icons for the museums and shops will be designed for this specific map.
- It will not be indicative of a specific era. It will not favour old or new Delft.
- One version of the map will motivate visitors to take the clockwise direction on the route and the other the counter-clockwise direction on the route.
3 Problem definition
3.1 General
The problem in the design of the pedestrian map of Delft was how to indicate a walking direction to the visitors, in the most discrete and effective way.
However, people are used to interpret signs into content. This means that reading the signs on a map, people can look for the things that interest them. If they want to go shopping, for example, they will look for shopping areas. If they want to explore the city centre they will avoid the roads in favour of the more picturesque streets with the canals.
Our problem was to overcome the fact that some areas in Delft are more popular for shopping and others for a visit to a museum.
3.2 Specific problematic areas
- An inherited unbalanced route.
- The locations of shops and museums on the map should look equal.
- Phoenixstraat towards the left should not look longer than the road through Barbarasteeg.
- The two kinds of icons should have the same strength on the map.
- The decision to turn left or right should not be rationalized but be influenced by visual perception.
4 How are we making choices?
4.1 Criteria
In making executive choices in this design process we used three criteria:
- We chose for the subtle differences that could pass unnoticed.
- We look for the most influential effects that point direction.
- And we also looked for a challenge.
The map will be informative
- It will give visitors an overview of the city centre and the relative size of the centre (to understand the distances between different places).
- It will indicate main attractions (and also the landmarks, to help visitors navigate in the city).
- It will give a clear pedestrian route around which they can find some museums and shops of the city
- One version of the map will motivate visitors to take the clockwise and the other the counter-clockwise way on the route.
The map, also large in size, will be impressive
- It will combine realism with cartoonist elements.
- It will have 3D elements, to extrude volumes on the map and make the route to stand out.
- The signs of museum and shop will be designed for this specific map.
- It will not be indicative of a specific era. It will not favor old or new Delft.
4.2 First choice: the concept
After brainstorming more than 15 ideas based on theory and experience, we chose the 16th. Following this we expected that we could influence orientation when
“3D icons are angled in perspective facing the right direction, doors are also placed at the side that faces the right direction, and shadows can be manipulated as well.”
We chose this concept because we believed in its ‘inviting’ effect. We also thought that the two map versions could have subtle differences, unnoticed from one day to the other. In the end our choice was made because we found it challenging to try out the 3D effect was such complexity.
4.3 Second choice: the icons
Before we had to make a choice between different proposals of icons, we had described how they should be:
Looking at the concepts on the blog, icons have to be more equal:
- Red color (of shopping bags) is much more strong than the blue (museums) - colors of icons has to be the same strength
- The size should be also equal.
- Icons have to have the same contrast
- Play with light.
- Shape of the icons should be the same.
4.4 Formal test
Our redesign choices were based on a formal test described in detail in paragraph 7: “Testing procedure and results”.
4.5 Choices on the details
Not all details could be tested formally. We determined the details of the design by trying out different options ourselves; but also by discussing and taking into account the opinions of tutors, fellow students and friends.
5 The concept
To put the focus on the center of Delft and the route, the parts of Delft further away from the route are masked with a transparant white layer.
- Pink colored route to stand out.
- Size of the icons relate to popularity/ size of museum/ shopping area.
- Compass because it is still supposed to be a map.
- Google maps pictures for the map itself.
These were our initial icons. The colors were chosen all wrong however; the red color is much stronger than the blue color. The museum icon was also not clear.
6 Feedback and design
6.1 Feedback from tutors
- In this concept it’s not advisable to differential the size of the icons. Bigger icons might attract immediate attention and people may look for a short cut to the specified point and not follow the route.
- The colors of the icons are not balanced. The shopping bag red is much stronger than the blue from the Museums.
- The color of the route is not consistent and is not balanced for both directions. The left direction has more white in the color than the right direction.
6.2 Feedback from other groups
"Funny effect. Playing with both clarity of the object and the color. Works well for the shopping bag.
On the museum-favored map the museum one does not particularly pop out though. Seems more like evenly matched with the shopping bags. Blue will not win that easily from red, especially since you use blue in the layout as well. Perhaps a sandy yellow color would make the museum icons pop out more, or a bit darker - more contrast with the white line around it?
Fresh map layout, looks nice."
- Museum route is not good because of color icons.
"great job! the concept of the icons facing the rout is very interesting.. and the different colorours of the icons is pretty clear..
I'm curious to see the new icons inside the maps!
my only suggestion is that maybe you can play with the size of the icons. I mean, in the concept A you can decrease the dimensions of the bag icons, putting more attention on the museum route (increasing the dimensions of the museum icons too)."
- Museum icons are too small.
6.3 The redesign of the icons
The final icons.
We tried to create a uniform cute and cartoony style. So we decided to make sketches of icon pairs which can be seen below.
Below you can see our process in Solidworks. We started out with the exact same base shape to work from. We added rooftops in the specific styles of the icons. With the ribbon and M added they begin to get more character. In the final picture with all the details added you could say they look like a boy and a girl. The icons look more balanced right now, but we were told the yellow color is still to weak.
7 Testing the concept
7. 1 Procedure
The test was executed with 20 participants that were not acquainted with Delft. The testing procedure was the following:
First respondent
We asked the participant if we can make him/ her some questions on two maps for educational purposes. If the answer was positive we asked if s/he was acquainted with Delft. (If someone was familiar with Delft the answers were taken into consideration but were excluded from the formal results) Both versions were shown simultaneously to him/ her for about 10 seconds with the question: 'Do you see any differences between these two maps'. All but one found differences in the two maps and immediately started pointing them out.
- Then, we showed only one version of the map asking the following question: 'You are going to visit Delft for shopping and visiting museums. Which way would you go (left or right)? 'The respondent was not aware of any 'Museum route' or 'shopping route'.
Second respondent
The procedure followed with the following participant was the same as with the first, with the difference that the other map was shown and the question asked was 'You are going to visit Delft for visiting museums and shopping. Which way would you go? If they didn’t understand the question we would add: right or left?'
7. 2 Comments on the procedure
We noticed that sticking to the questions suggested in the assignment and being fast helped to get answers that were immediate and not over-rationalized. On the other hand, asking “visiting museums and shopping” may have influenced the answers. We had to stress that they wanted to do both, otherwise they looked on the map for the first sign of the word that they heard first (i.e. museums) because they thought that it may be a priority.
In such cases, which we had to exclude from the results, people who were trying to guess our motives and give us satisfying answers, like in the case of a young man who read more than what we suggested with our question: “…for shopping and museums…” answering that since he wanted to go for shopping he would take the counterclockwise route where one could find more shops.
7. 3 Expectations
Before the test we expected to find a consistency in the results concerning the ‘shop route’, basically because the first attraction was closer to the starting point at the station. We also expected that people could point out the differences between the two versions of the map if they could see them together because the icons were mirrored on the two versions.
7. 4 Results
7. 5 Analysis of the results
Participants to the test did not show any preference to the ‘museum route’. We noticed that 50% of the people who were looking at the map suggesting the museum route took the ‘right’ turn. This may mean that with the ‘museum route’ we could not influence their decision.
If we compare this element to the fact that almost all participants looking at the ‘shop route’ took the right turn. We can say that we have to minimize the elements on the ‘museum route’ that make the viewer miss our point and turn to the right.
Possible reasons why a viewer of the ‘museum route’ would choose the counterclockwise route:
- The big road that is lying at the left of the map, parallel to the first part of the ‘museum route’ is not attractive. Instead of following that, people want to enter the city center immediately, so they turn to the right were they can guess from the canals that is more picturesque.
- The starting point is favoring the right turn.
7. 6 Comments and observations
- We noticed that the participants recognized the icons easily. None asked what were the icons representing.
- Because of its green color, the route was in one case mistakenly seen as a river.
7.7 Redesign ideas
The borders
We could add elements on the map’s bottom left corner so that the big road lying at the left did not look like a border. In the redesigned map more building could be added and the canal that is following the tram lines could be emphasized more to make that part of the map also attractive.
The color of the route
The color of the route from green could be changed to orange. Orange is a color in between yellow and pink, the colors used at the museum and shop icons respectively. In this way, the route could be differentiated in color as much as possible from any river or a park on the map, while at the same time it shows no greater similarity to the museum or the shop icon.
The color of the map
Instead of the gradient, one color, grey could be used for all the buildings. In this was distances are not emphasized.
The starting point of the route
We had overlooked an important element on the map, the direction of the starting point. We think that maybe it was directing the viewer to the rigt to follow the counterclockwise route. We had to balance this influence.
8 Final design
8.1 Tested map (redesign)
The map has changed from a Google maps map to a simplified abstract map. The map is put in perspective, making it tilted towards the back. The icons are placed on the map in Solidworks to make sure perspective is the same for both.
Shopping route.
Museum route.
Above is the result of the first concept altered according to comments from tutors and fellow students. These maps we tested in Rotterdam and we found interesting results.
In the table you can see that for the shopping route we succeeded 8 out of 9 times. But for the museum route it was unfortunately 50/50.
8.2 Final design
The final final final design can be seen below. The most important things we changed after getting new insights from the user test were:
The color of the route is more prominent.
The direction of the starting point is more neutral. It was pointing in the shopping route direction.
The map is more balanced; below the compass on the tested map is white space. This made the museum route less attractive.
The color of the Phoenixstraat is made lighter, almost white. This balances both routes more.
Shopping route.
Museum route.
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