DBA Design Challenge 2003

Digital Wayfinding / Roundel and Dalton Maag

Anyone spending time on a station concourse waiting for a train will suffer from three conditions:

• A severe pain in the neck from staring up at the electronic signboards
• A severe pain in the eyes from trying to decipher the text as it scrolls across or down the screen
• A severe pain to the head as the implications of yet another delay or cancellation sink in.

Design cannot resolve the myriad problems of contemporary train travel in the UK but it can do something to sweeten the pill in typographic terms. Roundel and Dalton Maag, both recognised experts in the field have collaborated to develop long overdue design protocols for electronic signage that will help designers, commuters and computer users.

Some User Issues

• Information confusing or contradictory
• Positioning and installation of screen problematic
• Level of illumination for display too low since it is intended for home or office use
• Screen glare and reflections
• Technology not designed to display type
• Resolution on plasma screens and CRT is poor
• Scrolling is disliked.

Some Recommendations

• Maximum angle for reading overhead signs should be 30 degrees from the horizontal
• Taking this angle from average eye heights to the top of the sign will give minimum reading distance
• Character height should be calculated by dividing this distance by 137.5
• Screens should be angled downwards to reduce glare and reflections, and reflections from floors and walls taken into consideration
• Non-reflective glass to be used and angle of adjustment variable for each screen
• Sign should be positioned to avoid direct light from windows, glazed roofs and overhead lighting
• Consistency in graphic presentation, language and physical presentation
• Humanist sans serif typeface preferable to Grotesque
• Spacing of words kept loose to compensate for larger viewing distances
• DMR (Dalton Maag Roundel) typeface developed as example of best practice
• Few but consistent colour changes with test pages converted to greyscale to check for contrast and tested in actual environment
• Scrolling should be vertical not horizontal with transitional fade in fade out preferred.