Contributions to knowledge

This research makes both academic and practical contributions in three ways. First is the novel contribution to how research is currently conducted in wayfinding through adopting the design science research methodology complemented by an ethnomethodologically informed approach of unique adequacy. This represents a new way of researching wayfinding problems the latter being a response to the current call for a better and deeper understanding the situated behaviour of wayfinders. In Section 2.5 can be seen the proposed Wayfinding Conceptual Framework (WCF) showing the complementary nature of design science and unique

adequacy (see Figure 3). The relationship is also emphasised in Table 14 seen in Chapter 7, section 7.6.

Second, is the theoretical contribution made to both the knowledge management and design disciplines. To knowledge management it is the conceptual contribution showing the value of physical properties in communicating knowledge. The successful operationalisation of the tri- partite conception of knowledge flows for the purposes of wayfinding serves to fulfil the

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original goal of the KIM project which was to find robust ways of handling information and knowledge over the lifetime of product-services of which hospitals are part of (see section 3.3.1). It usefulness for the purposes of developing wayfinding prescriptions is first emphasised in Chapter 3 (see sections 3.4 and 3.5).

The conception is proven to be a robust framework for evaluating and categorising wayfinding problems thus sensitising designers to effective solutions. This has been emphasised throughout Chapters: 4 (see section 4.5); 5 (see section 5.3); and 6 (see section 6.3). The exercise of articulating the importance of each knowledge flow for the purposes of designing better wayfinding systems/strategies brings design thinking in line with knowledge management. The idea of colour coding direction arrows as a means of communicating both direction and destination (see subsection 6.3.2 and Appendix 4) represents a novel to contribution to the graphic design community.

Third is the contribution made to practice in the form of an easy and simple to use tool containing guidelines for improving wayfinding in old and complex environments: The Wayfinding Wheel. A point must be made that the Wayfinding Wheel is not necessarily the main artefact of the research but its by-product which serves to demonstrate the communication aspect of Peffers’ (2008) DSRP model. The wheel has been designed in response to the observation that most wayfinding guidelines tend be to hidden in large volumes of text thus making their access difficult when needed. Bearing in mind that those charged with this responsibility are ‘... busy people, with very practical concerns...' (DOH 2005: 10) the tool has been designed in such a way that suggested guidelines are readily available when decisions relating to design or improvement are being made.

Thus the tool is designed to aid quick decision making for those charged with the duty to design effective wayfinding strategies/wayfinding systems. It is hoped that the tool will make the job of classifying the breakdowns in a wayfinding system manageable making it easier to articulate the nature of breakdowns, where exactly in the wayfinding system they occur and how such breakdowns lead to getting lost. The Wayfinding Wheel is composed of two sides both containing easy to access and follow instructions. Side one (see Figure 66) contains a set of instructions on how understand the behaviour of wayfinding prior to suggesting solutions. Side two (see Figure 67) contains the generic principle as suggested in section 6.3.2. The physical Wayfinding Wheel can be found inside the pocket at the back of this book.

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Figure 66 Side one of the proposed Wayfinding Wheel showing three key steps to improve wayfinding in old and complex environments.

3) Make suggestions for design or improvement based on descriptions

you have produced

1) Situate yourself in the setting and pay attention to how people:

Perceive and understand the environment; situate them in space

and make sense of the wayfinding information and cues made available

to them 2) Produce detailed descriptions of the wayfinders' behaviour as it occurs in that setting.

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Figure 67 Side two of the Wayfinding Wheel showing the key elements of the proposed generic principle serving to sensitise designers to the problems encountered.

The criteria contained in the Wayfinding Wheel, makes the following assumptions and demands:

1. that the job of designing any wayfinding systems ought to be seen in terms of knowledge flows between designers and wayfinders;

2. that those charged with the responsibility for improving existing wayfinding systems or design new ones in the first place must possess an in depth knowledge of the environment to be navigated before setting out to design or improve and that of the behaviour wayfinders within it. This group includes designers, facilities and estates managers and patient service mangers and those responsible for the actual positioning

Right information Right form Right place Right people Right time

Is there at least a starting position for the search process

(location), the correct destination and correct directions to that

destination?

Is it coded information (signs, symbols etc.), social practice (giving verbal instructions) or physical properties of the built

environment (such as architectural features of a building that require no verbal or written explanation, e.g. an information desk or entrance to

a building)? Have the needs of the

various types of wayfinders (well- informed, uninformed,

smart, helpless, blind, elderly, children, newcomers, foreign visitors, wheelchair users etc) been

considered?

For wayfinding, the right time is the same as the right place because of the static nature of wayfinding

signs.

Has attention been paid to the physical and spatial configuration of

the environment in deciding where to position any of the three forms of

wayfinding information at decision making points?

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of wayfinding information in relation to the physical layout of the environment. 3. that this knowledge can be effectively and efficiently transferred to wayfinders

through three knowledge flows: coded information, the social practice of giving verbal instructions and physical properties of the environment; and

4. that any wayfinding system must incorporate all the three knowledge flows in order to ensure that the varied needs of visitors to any setting are met.