Practical Human Factors & Sign Design

John Wood. Executive Chairman CCD Design & Ergonomics Ltd

Jon Burden, Industry Liaison Manager, Network Rail

King's Cross Station Redevelopment Programme

Introduction

• Kings Cross – Signage and Wayfinding

• ‘Cable-cars’ project signage programme

• Modelling ‘wayfinding’

• International standards on colour coding

The Kings Cross Project

The Organizational Chart

Original Grip Stage 3 Design

Retail Redesign Grip Stage 5

Work Diagram For Consultation

Checking Human Factors

Checking Human Factors

Comparing Human Factors

Departure Board

Impact Of Revised Retail Layout

‘Monolith’ Location & Signing

Where The ‘Monolith’ Should Have Been

Location Of Information Desk

The ‘Link Bridge’ Challenge

‘Vinyls’

‘Departures’ Is Now ‘Arrivals’

Temporary Station Signage

Fire Escape + Impromptu Signing

Temporary Signing By Train Operators

Redundant Signing By Train Operating Company

Lessons Learnt

• Make easily, replaceable signs

• Don’t change the design half way through!

• Decide on the signing standards to use early on

• Create some form of mock-up

• Visit another site ‘intelligently’

Emirates Air Line (Cable Car for London)

Typical Plan Layout of Signs For ‘Cable Cars’

‘Cable Cars’ - Lessons Learnt

• Paper based ergonomic evaluation difficult to do.

• Attempting a 3D assessment in a 2D representation

• Need for simple quick and low cost modelling.

Development of Wayfinding Tools: Objectives & Concepts

Study Objectives

• Improve measurement of wayfinding performance

• Robust and reliable

• Easy to use

• Applicable to new works and modifications

• Difficulty of ‘putting oneself in visitors shoes’

• Develop metrics

Survey Results On Wayfinding

Negative Features

Frustration

Confusion due to information overload

Confusion due to retail and directional infor

Lack of awareness of time and distance information

Poor terminology

Lack of recovery clues

Inadequate lighting/auditory environments

Example Of Wayfinding Metrics

Example Of Wayfinding Metrics

Analysis Of Photographic Image

Class of sign Number in visual field

Area in photo (mm squared)

% of total

Primary 2 470 2%

Secondary 2 1270 6%

Other 4 630 3%

Measure Of Visibility At Decision Points

Scoring Visibility & Relevance of Signs

Scoring Visibility & Relevance of Signs

Connection: Entrance to - Visibility Weighting Score

1 toilets 1 0.8 0.8

2 shops 1 0.5 0.5

3 check-in 0 1 0

4 security 1 1 1

5 café 1 0.3 0.3

AVERAGE 0.52

Standard for Colour Coded Alerts

• Express the degree of safety or danger

• Be suitable for an international audience

• Cover all hazards, all locations, all sectors

• Transmission by variety of media

Generic Meaning of Colours in Colour Codes

Colour Meaning Suggestion

Red Danger Take appropriate safety action immediately

Yellow Caution Prepare for taking appropriate safety action

Green Safety No need to take safety actions

Results of International Survey

Results of International Survey

Fire Danger

Results of International Survey

Results of International Survey

Triage Tags

Results of International Survey

Metrological Map

Results of International Survey

The International Nuclear and

Radiological Event Scale

Results of International Survey

Initial Proposals

Current Proposals

NOTE: avoid using red and green without supplementary elements

Some Useful Guidance

ISO Guide 71 to products and services to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities

In Summary

• Illustrated how human factors contributed to the signage and wayfinding elements of two UK programmes

• Shown how metrics might be developed for measuring wayfinding performance

• Presented the work of an international standards team developing a set of universally acceptable colour codes for public warnings about disasters