The Physical Environment:
The Interface We Move Through
Designing for clarity, function, and real people
In designing retail spaces and museums I am constantly struck by the sense that the environment being created sets a mood/feel and then acts as an interface (that we literally inhabit) that allows the user to make informed choices at the appropriate moments. A good design connects people to their environment and to the other people in the environment - helping them get what the point is and feel good about being there. Three rooms accessible from a center room vs. three rooms accessed sequentially is a simple example of how space arrangement acts as an interface. In retail design how we arrange the major circulation - and then provide graphics or other clues - profoundly affects the visitors experience, the way they interact with staff, and the store’s profitability. In museums we can see how the location and context of an exhibit, not to mention its other design characteristics, affect how the visitor gets their first understanding of the content and how (more properly “if”) they will discover additional layers of content.
Fundamentally, the most consistently interactive experience we have in the modern world is still moving through space, making choices about where we look, what we do, and how we interact with other people around us. As with any instance where we have the option of making choices there are some basic principals that help tilt the odds towards a successful interaction: try not to provide more than three choices at any given decision point, provide a sense of the consequences of the choice, make the choices appropriate to that time/space/circumstance. I have been interested in reading lately how various neurological and behavioral research supports what has been an intuitive and generally observed set of conclusions. Particularly interesting concepts are subitizing vs. enumeration (how we perceive quantities) as well as the concepts of “visual attentiveness” (how we pick out objects in crowded fields). Together we can use these to help explain why three choices are the maximum we really want and why we need to be aware of cultural biases and traditions as we design and locate graphics and way finding.
When designing I often think of things in terms of a number of types of functionality that we need to achieve on behalf of the client and the end-user.
Aesthetic Functionality
- Creating the mood / making emotional connections
- Creating memorable visual icons
- Create the appropriate level of order/chaos
Content Functionality (including business functionality)
- Creating an interface between the institution and their clients / end-users
- Making ideas, concepts, material, and other content - other stuff - accessible
- Creating means to clarify the above
- Clarifying content choices
- Create the appropriate level of order/chaos
- Navigational Functionality
- Creating an environments that people can find their way through
- Creating the means for multiple people to function in the space
- Decrease unease and confusion
- Create the appropriate level of order/chaos
Social, Ergonomic, and Cognitive Functionality
- Understand the underlying cultural expectations and “ground rules” to allow people to do all of the above items with minimal effort
- Creating environments that promote connections between people
- Creating environments that promote a sense of trust between visitors and staff
- Create ergonomically appropriate spaces
- Acknowledge our fundamental cognitive biases
- Accommodate perceptual realities and differences