Information Design Critique

Information Design at the local shopping mall

This is an analysis of the information design techniques used by a Wilmorite Property in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State as well as some recommendations to improve the customer experience. This shopping mall has an annual attendance of over 9 million (Wilmorite, 2012, p. 2).

The Website

             The website has 6 main headings

                              1.            About us

                              2.            Directions/Hours

                              3.            Stores

                              4.            Coupons/Specials

                              5.            News

                              6.            Events

http://www.eastviewmall.com/

The website also features several social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc, sharing current sales events. But most importantly, the store information is fairly easy to find. You can browse stores by category or you can type in a specific store and it will show you the location on the mall map as well as a link to the store’s website.

Mobile App

The website also features a free downloadable app with specials, sales and event details as well as a mobile map which is a great way to connect with customers, especially the younger, smart phone crowd. The interactivity of the app will engage customers and increase their level of loyalty to this mall, as well as the loyalty program which awards points for certain purchases that can be redeemed throughout the year on a variety of products and services.

The Exterior

The mall property is 1,300,000 square feet that includes, the mall itself at 525,000 square feet as well as several other standalone stores on the property and there are a total 6,380 parking spaces (Wilmorite, 2012, p.3).  The main mall has been expanded upon over the years and some of the entrances are naturally, newer than others.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

The Interior

Maps

Throughout the vast mall, there are small standing kiosks that have a printed, backlit map of all the stores with a listing of all of the stores with a coordinating number to locate on the map.

(Photos courtesy of Flickr)

Overhead signage

There are only overhead signs and “crossroads” and the signs only list the main department store that waits at the end of a long corridor of stores.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

Aesthetics

The mall is bright and inviting with high, glass ceilings, large, furnished vestibules to take a break, a beautiful carousel, water fountains throughout and of course 11 fast food restaurants available in the food court.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

Opportunities for improvement

The mall is lovely, but it is suited only for consumers that like to wander around and spend hours at the mall.

There are so many stores that finding your destination QUICKLY  is difficult and  although the mall layout isn’t too complicated, when you are a shopper that has a particular destination in mind and you just want to get in and out as quickly as possible (me), the maps and signage are not comprehensive enough.   

I rarely go to the mall and when I do, I don’t want to browse, I have a purpose and I just want to get it quickly so before I go, I always access the website, find the store I need and try to determine the best entrance (suggestions to make that experience better below).

Exterior

When you approach the mall, there are several entrances, at the main department stores (Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, etc.), the food court and directly into aisles within the mall. Unless you enter through a department store, there are no markings although the map on the website indicates that there are lettered entrances.

I would suggest that each entrance have a large sign indicating what stores are accessible from that entrance so that it can be seen from the parking lot. The listings for each entrance should also be added to the mobile app and the website as well.

Website/Mobile App

         When I was perusing the website, what I wanted to be able to do is select one or a handful of stores that I wished to visit and then a personalized map that I could load onto my phone or print would indicate the best entrance and the actual walking paths to use to get to my stores of interest in the most efficient way possible.

         Interior

The mall map on the website serves its purpose, but I don’t particularly like the same map posted throughout the mall aisles.

If the center aisle maps could be like the one on the website where you could type in the store you want to visit and it would lay out the path for you; it would be a much more efficient user experience. 

    Information Interaction Design Theory

Wilmorite has done a great job of creating a pleasing atmosphere and  is clearly successful considering over 9 million shoppers visit annually, but it appears that no research or thought has been put into how to attract or improve the shopping experience of someone like me that dislikes crowds and doesn’t browse.

Wilmorite should conduct an analysis on consumer preferences both within the mall and outside of the mall (surveys) to better understand what the consumers are looking for so they can better enhance the user experience. The greatest opportunities seem to be with the mobile app and website where programs can be created that engage the consumer by providing information, interaction and sensorial design which will “create valuable, compelling, and empowering information and experiences” for users (Shedroff, 1994, n.p.) .  

Wilmorite can use the concepts of wayfinding to provide users with a better destination experience so that they know where they are, where they want to go and how to get there.

References

Shedroff, N. (1994). A Unified Field Theory of Design. Retrieved April 2014, from http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/unified/index.html

Wilmorite (2012). Eastview victor, new york. Retrieved April 2014, from http://www.wilmorite.com/Data/Documents/Eastview%20Sell%20Sheet%202012%20Letter.pdf

Design Tools Part Deux

Recently, a friend of mine turned me onto an online community of artists of sorts that you can purchase custom work for extremely low prices – and I mean low; everything starts at $5.00 and then there are add on options such as a longer presentations or songs or to jump to the top of their pending work queue if you need something in a rush. The site is Fiverr.com.

In terms of design tools though, what I want to talk about is stop motion video.  I hired a very talented artist from Fiverr to create a stop motion video for me that I used as a Birthday card. I sent her a picture and she drew it, added music and customized a greeting for me (all for $15!!) in stop motion.  It was truly amazing. Now, I am no artist and cannot draw, but stop motion videos can be made using many different mediums. You can animate anything that you can photograph.

There are several simple programs you can use to assist you in creating a stop motion video such as Windows Movie Maker, Stop Frame Animator or Jelly Cam to name a few. You simply take picture after picture of a subject with just slight movement captured with each picture, then link all of the photos together within the chosen stop video program and the still photos will play out as a running film.

Stop motion videos can be used in business presentations, especially in how-to instructions.

This instructional video is how to make poppy seed bagels - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20RMdROqKrk

And check this one out just for fun (I’m not sure I’ll ever have that much free time on my hands!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZtxHOfmhH4

Design Tools

What is a design tool?

When I think of tools, I automatically think of a tool belt filled with physical tools used in design. I imagine that you would have basic tools such as writing and painting utensils and then more advanced software tools for web designing.

But what about the knowledge and information needed to bring information to life through multiple design disciplines in User Experience Design? Things like Market Research, Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, and Journalism are all tools in information design (Waller, 2011, p.4).

What do these things have to do with design?

A designer that understands psychology will be better prepared to anticipate a receiver’s response. One that is skilled in linguistics will develop excellent descriptives. Understanding the end user or audience will ensure that information is received, understood and beneficial to them (Waller, 2011, p.15).

Research is another tool; results of focus groups, preferences and ranking tasks, as well as performance tasks, will influence the designer and again, create the best possible design to meet the needs of the end –user (Waller, 2011, p.15).

In the end, there is always an audience that the information is intended for and by employing multiple design disciplines, the user experience can be enhanced greatly.

(Saffer, 2009)

References

Waller, R. (2011, March). Information design: How the disciplines work together. Retrieved from http://www.robwaller.org/SC14DisciplinesTogether.pdf

Saffer, D. (2009). The disciplines of user experience. Retrieved from http://www.kickerstudio.com/2008/12/the-disciplines-of-user-experience/ 

The Design Process

The basic structure of the design process includes Information Gathering, Planning, Designing, Development, Testing and Launching.

                               

I have put the design process to use in this blog.

Step 1) Information Gathering

I began to gather information by:

•          Reading the course materials
•          Searching in other sources for more information on the design process 

Step 2) Planning

•          I decided to demonstrate the design process through a simple listing of the steps

Step 3) Designing

•          I visualized what I wanted to create
•          I found a graphic that would illustrate the process for users

Step 4) Development

•          I began by listing all of the steps to the process and then went back in to add a little detail in bulleted points such as this one

Step 5) Testing

•          In this case, I just re-read through my work to make sure that there were no grammatical or layout issues that needed correction before posting

Step 6) Launching

•          I posted the blog for end users to see

Further discussion on the design process

What steps might I add to the process?

                In a more complex situation in which there were other parties involved, there would definitely be more detail within each of the steps. For example, the gathering information step would expand to include speaking to end users, compiling details of the clients need, etc.

How can the process be improved?

                I think client collaboration should be its own step as it is extremely important. Besides gaining buy-in and acceptance from end users, the product’s success is dependent on the perception and acceptance of those end users. I think the collaboration step could be added between planning and designing and designing and development, but it should actually be an ongoing thing throughout the life of the design process.

What is the most important step of the process?

                I think each step is important but depending on the actual situation may weigh more heavily on one step than on another. For example, if there were many issues during the development of a program, then the testing might play an even more vital role than in a less complex design.

               

Information Interaction Design Theory

          The Information Interaction Design theory combines three components; information, interaction and sensorial design (Shedroff, 1994). Since all learners have different needs, I particularly like this theory of design because no matter the needs of the learner, whether they are visual or hands on, if done right, this type of information design should be able to reach them. 

          Here is a very simple sample to demonstrate the theory. Lets say our students are new artists and we want to teach them how to make several colors out of just the 3 primary colors (I'm sure this sounds very familiar). 

         The idea behind this design is to take the information known - (information - how to make additional colors from the primary colors), display the colors to visually stimulate the senses (sensorial) and then hide the linking lines and only have them display when the user clicked on a color and then only the specific lines would appear, showing where the color originated from (unfortunately that is beyond my ability to actually demonstrate in this forum - but I hope you get the idea), which would provide the last piece of the theory - interaction. 

          You could also move beyond the intangible and allow users to physically experience mixing colors with paint. They could follow the diagram and then actually create the colors depicted which would touch upon sensorial (touching and smelling the paint), interaction (physically manipulating the paint) and again information as they learn what happens when slightly more of one color is added or how much of each is the perfect amount to achieve the desired color. 

           I'm not a painter and I don't know about you - but this sounds like fun and I want to do it!

Shedroff, N. (1994). Information interaction design: A unified field theory of design. Retrieved    from http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/unified/index.html

Information Design

Information design is the process of translating data or other information into a visually compelling format that is easy to interpret and understand. 

    Information

·        

• Might translate into easy to read bullet points

   Information may be translated into a graph or chart

Information

May translate into a table

Information might also be translated into pictures or storyboards, flow charts, web pages, the list is endless. To me, the goal of Information design is simple; compile a bunch of shapeless information and transform it into a visually compelling format that users can easily read and understand.