SEGD_Design - (Page 49) With their unlimited capacity for change, digital and touchscreen directories are becoming increasingly common in hotel, office, and retail environments. (Project: Parkdale Plaza, Minneapolis. Integrator: Alive Promo. LCD Display: NEC Displays. Photo: Courtesy NEC Displays) Radio frequency identification tags are another new technology that can be used to enhance digital wayfinding. For example, RFID tags could be installed all over a museum and “talk” to your cell phone to let you know where you are because they know where your portable mobile device is. Wolke, who is part of a technology-oriented “futures group” at fd2s, adds that RFID tags can be added to tickets in a parking garage to help you find your car. Breaking the digital barriers As with any groundbreaking technology, however, there are still some barriers to overcome in using handheld devices as digital wayfinding tools. For one, particularly in the U.S., there is no standard platform for sending and receiving messages. Developing standard software that supports all devices is the solution, according to Johnson. Google has invested a great deal of money into Android, a new software “stack” for cell phones that’s based on open-source software and a new way of programming. Another challenge is the adoption curve. Not everyone has a portable handheld device, such as an iPhone or even a basic cell phone. For example, Patterson’s proposed digital wayfinding system for the National Mall would be designed for higher-level portable devices, such as the iPhone. So the applications would be available only to the “privileged” portion of the population that can access information digitally. The bottom line: good design No matter what course digital wayfinding takes in the future, great design will be a make-or-break factor in its success. No matter how much information is presented, it needs to be clear, logical, userfriendly, and engaging. “It’s a thrilling time because there are tools like Google API to play with, so I think we’ll see a lot of exploration with digital wayfinding,” Wolke says. “But you still have to use a bestpractices approach as with physical signage. Getting the logic right first is paramount.” Jenny Reising is a Cincinnati-based design writer. 46 segdDESIGN
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