Identifying Communication Design
effective versus ineffective design
Effective:
Computing services at Carnegie Mellon has been updating all of their signage for computer clusters. These signs are located at the entrance of each computer cluster on campus and serve one basic job: tell students information about a particular computer cluster. The goal of this design is to cater to not only students who want a quick summary of the computer cluster but also to students who may need additional details about the cluster.
The name/location of the cluster is clearly printed at the top of each “division” of the card. Next to it is an icon denoting the operating systems that a computer cluster supports. In this particular case, we see that the West Wing computer Cluster has machines running on Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems. The sign also includes the number of machines running on a particular system. In smaller font, there is additional information that is useful if you are looking for a computer with certain features. Each card specifies the kind of computer the OS is running on, how CPU and RAM is in each computer and how large the monitor is.
The only thing that is slightly weird in design is the “star in rectangle” icon. I’m still not sure what that means. But other than that, this sign effectively conveys the details of a particular computer cluster.
Ineffective:
Even as I go into my 4th year at CMU, every time I use these doors to leave the University Center, 50% of the time I need to try twice to try and let myself out. The success rate is even lower when I happen to be talking to a friend while going through these set of doors.
To be specific, it is usually the middle door that I cannot open. The problem is not if I should pull or push to leave — that is clearly identified by the type of handle on the door. The problem is if I should be pushing on the left or right side of the door. The handle contributes to this problem: since it is one entire bar and not just on either side, the door is essentially symmetrical. What makes matter worse is that this middle door is part of the larger set of 3 doors. On the left, you have the automatic door for handicap users. This makes the user want to think of these 3 doors as 2 sets: the one single door for handicap users and the remaining two doors as a pair. You would think that for a set of double doors they swing open from the center outwards. But since these two doors are not technically a pair, both are supposed to be pushed on the left. This makes the middle door especially confusing. The only indication that the door may be pushed from the left are the two circular bolts above and below the handle. But since these are so small (and the bolts on the right door are even painted white), it is hard to recognize. A quick fix can be a small sticker with the word “push” on the correct side of the door.
