When pondering what to do this Module's assignment on I thought about how frequently visitors get lost and confused in our building's parking garage. I decided to take an "old" look at the garage and all of the signage that is present. As I was on foot with my camera in hand, I was pleasantly surprised that there is new signage up all throughout the garage which makes for a much better experience. Ironically however, there was a gentleman who was quite lost and confused and I was able to assist him at this time!
When entering the garage via your vehicle, you proceed to to an automatic station which gives you a ticket. This ticket determines the cost of your stay. The ticket only has the printed time on it. You proceed down to the garage and there are overhanging signs to give you some better direction:
The one big issue that I find here is that weekend and evening visitors are mostly here to attend events at the Verizon Center and there is nothing in the signage addressing that customer.
There are two buildings within AARP itself and a third building that exits to a different building name Terrell, you can see these mentioned in the signs. They are also etched in the glass doors when getting to the elevators.
In addition to the buildings there are 4 levels of parking in this one garage, the levels are also colored coded and labeled with letters. Most of the photos show orange paint which represents C level parking.
There is also very clear signage on the walls to get to the stairways.
The new maps that have been installed at every door way are great wayfinding instruments for those entering or leaving the buildings. They also provide a color coded map of the three buildings and show where you are when entering the elevators.
Confusion can again occur with the sporadic numbering of parking spaces. There are a limited number of spaces that are numbered and the remaining are not so this is an area where improvement to their information design can be made. You can see parking space labeled on poll but not in the center spot. There are also several spots that have no numbering whatsover if not located on the wall.
Overall, the parking garage has improved tremendously in the past 6 months and I was not even aware of it until venturing on this project. Jacobson discusses this under concepts of information, "information describes an ordered reality but can be "found" only by htose with the proper observing skills..." I am really not sure exactly when most of these changes were implemented because I no longer needed to observe this information. However, I realize now that there is still a lot room for improvement as mentioned in this blog.
I love this post! We recently had went to an airport and got COMPLETELY lost in the parking garage when we returned.It was so bad that we kept hitting the lock and unlock to see the lights on the car and that didn't even help. We thought we had memorized the lot# but it didn't help much. Thirty minutes later we found it! I think I would find your particular example confusing on how to pay as well- normally its when you exit -not on a certain floor. Great example!
ReplyDeleteI have heard of some really clever ways in the design of parking lots to help people remember where they parked their car. For example, Disney Land's theme park Magic Kingdom split their parking lot into two main sections, “Heroes” and “Villains,” and then smaller sections within each, including: Woody, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Simba, Mulan and Rapunzel (Heroes lot), and Zurg, Jafar, Hook, Scar, Cruella and Ursula (Villains lot). Each lot also has its own color, so essentially, all you have to remember is one of these three characteristics (hero, Rapunzel or blue) and you can find your car.
ReplyDeletehttp://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/09/magic-kingdom-parking-lot-welcomes-heroes-and-villains-at-walt-disney-world-resort/
You did a good job graphically describing this parking garage. I really dislike parking in them if there isn't valet service...I never remember where I parked! I also never heard of paying anywhere except the exit either, I found that very bizarre! Do you have to show a receipt at the exit?
ReplyDeleteWow no one should be able to get lost in that garage! It's great how there is even wayfinding going on even in the pay booth. Great photos and post.
ReplyDeleteKathy Tavia
Very thorough and detailed post!! Was the payment machine multi-lingual also?
ReplyDeleteParking garages are my worst fear as a driver! You did a great job with this post and I think I may be able to maneuver through the garage you discussed. Now if only the ones around me were even remotely close!
ReplyDeleteWhen I took my LSAT last fall, I parked in the first parking garage that I came to near the testing facility. After many hours of test-taking I zombie-walked out of the facility to realize that I was faced with three parking garages that looked exactly the same, and I could not remember which one my car was is! Needless to say, with my luck I found my car after stumbling through all three garages. Worst day ever!
Parking garages are definitely an area in which the information design needs to be improved nationwide!