Getting Lost...Some reasons why

PART 4 - COGNITION?

Despite the best will in the world, designers can only solve so much. It needs to be appreciated that some issues can be simply too individual to factor into any project/ product. As such it also becomes inordinately difficult - if not impossible (nor feasible for cost/ practicability issues) to factor in or warrant the added expenses etc., to mitigate any/every single one of the plethora of the many user-based/ centred challenges that far too few people, or indeed any one person, might have.?

This is all the more so as the vast majority of projects are - by definition - meant for the “mass market”.

Simply put such issues/ challenges can be as numerous and as varied as there are people on the planet. Ultimately, in many such cases it comes down to the individual user.

PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY

The less time taken in preparation for a journey the higher the likelihood of being lost - either on the way or upon arrival. Unfortunately the plethora of information sources these days can be both a blessing and a hindrance. The obvious blessing is the speed at which a journey can be planned and started. The obvious hindrance is also: the speed at which journeys can be planned and started. In other words, it is a double-edged sword; we forget that we still need to prepare properly for our respective journeys.

With an abundance of information resources the more we assume certain things and therefore can easily miss an important detail - like a left turn - or our adrenalin is kicking in as we rush about: everything is last-minute. The more significant the journey, the more important it is that we still ought to take the right amount of time to prepare for it.

POOR STATE OF IMMEDIATE HEALTH

In good health, an individual can focus on other things and is less vulnerable to being disoriented (given that any medication could have an impact on our overall awareness). Tiredness - through long hours of work followed by a sudden stop or after a very long, fun but busy day at a theme park - or disorientation through prescription drug use or too much alcohol - can affect our physical capacity to pay attention to even the simplest of tasks, like getting off at the right bus/ train stop. Being focused on a physical injury or persistent condition can also affect our overall awareness of other things.

MENTAL INCAPACITY

There are many conditions/ diseases/ illnesses that will directly affect a person’s general mental abilities. An inability to process information for any reason will naturally increase disorientation and the likelihood of being lost.

Alzheimers/ Dementia are the most commonly noted neurological challenges that people are afflicted by and more commonly. Therefore any mental difficulty is going to have a direct impact - to a greater or lesser extent - on us getting, or being, lost. The severity of the condition will only compound the difficulties so that at a certain point, signage etc., is going to be of little to no, use.?

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT/ DEAFNESS

Without a doubt - we live in a very visually-oriented world. Sight - especially good levels of eyesight - is essential to pretty much everything we do, to our well-being, and our overall ability to fully function and orientate ourselves.

Anything that impedes our sight: colour-blindness, long/ short sightedness, blindness (temporary or permanent, legally or fully blind), eye deformities (congenital or acquired, disease/ illness, depth of field difficulties, injury) will also impact our ability to get around and locate ourselves in any given place/ situation.?If a visually impaired individual is also deaf, that can only further compound the issues - since the range of options that sound can provide, will be less of a factor.

PERSONAL STRESS/ ANXIETY

Being late, having an awkward/ nervous disposition, having an argument, stuck in a traffic jam, an emergency - all can affect our mood. Being mentally overwhelmed as such, it is all too easy for our focus to become clouded and can take us away from paying enough attention to our surroundings or how to get somewhere.

POOR OVERALL HEALTH/ MOBILITY

Getting around easily, as and when we want to, builds the familiarity and confidence we need to go places - and certainly new places. The more we are able to do this unimpeded, the more we train ourselves to cope and are able to observe our way.?The reverse is equally true.

INABILITY TO FOCUS

Some people are just better at focusing on the moment and they seem to notice everything around them - including the directions pointing to the station while simultaneously walking in and around a totally new/ unfamiliar environment and having an in-depth conversation. Others aren’t.

A quick case in point: recently I was so distracted about a household task, I did not see a brand new ‘dyson-type’ fan that was literally right in front of me, even though it is rather tall and “hard to miss”… On another occasion though, I had landed at an airport and went for an aimless walk-about while staying at a nearby hotel. A few days later while driving and definitely in need of directions back to the hotel - I quickly-enough recognised that a left turn was the end of the road I had - a few days before - walked...

REASON FOR VISIT

Why are we going somewhere? Is it because we want to - or must? Is it an Emergency? Do we just want to get somewhere, do what we want and then leave in a hurry - or just to occupy our time, peruse, take it easy and meander? It could well be that we don’t want to go shopping or visit a museum but end up doing so anyway. How we decide on our journey and the mood we are in - affects not only how we prioritise the amount of attention we give to ensuring we know our way, but how and on what we focus.

THE JOURNEY ITSELF

It is the normal expectation that when we plan a journey we typically envisage everything being smooth and relatively easy. As we all know though anything can happen and quite often does; traffic jams; our favourite/ preferred carpark is full - or no longer exists.

AGE

Cognitive ability generally decreases with increasing age. However - equally - when we are very young we simply haven’t acquired the necessary skills to be tuned into our surroundings, let alone understand warning signs etc. or have the required attention span.

Age also impacts the degree of and speed at which information can be seen, processed and, of course, how quickly it can be responded to; all the more so the older we get. The point is, it is very easy (and for different reasons) for the very young and very old to be disoriented.

ABILITY TO READ MAPS

Having a map is great - if you can read it (and follow it). Many find maps difficult to understand - even those on phones! Most people require maps to be displayed/ oriented according to the direction that is being faced - or that they are going. In the event that the person has issues reading maps (whether oriented or not), the difficulty can only increase and guess what - they will get lost.?

SENSE OF DIRECTION

How we navigate is essentially based on our own innate ability to know directions and organise our approach to finding our way. Without this ability or if that diminishes for any reason, the tougher finding our way is going to be.

OTHER COMPANIONS

Ideally you know where you are going and so - in a group, it might be that you are the one to take charge and lead the way. If however there are others with varying degrees of knowledge about a place etc., it can be that they instead take the initiative. They might want to prioritise another destination or route. This enables you - and others - to switch off as someone else’s abilities are relied upon.?Of course, this might not end up being the best idea.

MEMORY

People either consciously or subconsciously “landmark” their journeys or there is simply a feature that is just very distinctive. Likewise, after a few journeys/ visits it seems to become instinctive and it no longer feels like we are exercising our grey matter. However with greater dependency on devices, the more it is likely over time that relying on our own memory is going to become problematic.

The more we visit a place the more we will easily remember our way around a place. A naturally bad memory is not going to help. It is also possible to over-rely on memory because our minds can end up playing tricks on us. After a long time between visits, things are likely to have drastically changed. In this situation, we are often caught between our memories and the new reality.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

If you can’t actually read a sign - due to illiteracy or being in a strange country, then chances are you are going to be lost - a lot.

HOW DIFFERENT PEOPLE NAVIGATE

Living or being raised in certain parts of the world will lead us to sequence and process information in a certain way. A strictly Roman AlphaNumeric part of the world tends to order information one way, while those from predominantly direction-based parts of the world will tend to order their navigation another - including how the directions themselves are prioritised and how well the overall sense of direction happens to be.

In the same way, how messages are read can also have a profound impact on our sense of navigation. In the West people are attuned to reading left to right, top to bottom (horizontally) and from small to big. In some Asian countries the order can be left to right; right to left; horizontally and/ or vertically - using script (single-word characters/ ideograms); big to small. The point is, how we have been attuned to literally read the world, will affect how we know and make sense of where we are and the information we are given - or need - to find our way in another country.

SPEED

How fast we are travelling helps to determine how well we process information - and (especially if we are driving) how fast we are able to respond to information (i.e. make decisions). Obviously the faster we go, the less time we have to process/ act on any information provided to us. It also contributes to how information needs to be presented.

PRIDE

No-one really likes the idea of asking for help - especially when it announces to the other person that we - as adults - are lost.

Next Article: PART 5 - CONSULTANTS

WayMaker, with its integrated approach founded on direct, proven experience and understanding, has the ability to put all of the factors together to develop holistic wayfinding - and signage - schemes that work across all property types/ environments.?

Hopefully as a client you are as interested in your development’s Wayfinding as much as your guests/ visitors are. In the event that you are - you can contact Keith Moody (Principal Consultant) at: [email protected]

www.waymaker.world