The perception of arrow in a three-dimensional mode. Toward the Effective Signs.

Abstract

At public places in a grand scale, people get relevant information from signs and move to a certain direction relying on this information. In particular, arrow-shaped signs are essential in direction signs. But the present arrows which are expressed in a twodimensional mode seem to be difficult to understand, as they are pointing some directions in three-dimensional space. Indeed prior study showed that most users had experience of having got lost at the station, and half of them attributed the cause to the ambiguity of the arrows. This study investigated the perception of the present arrows and examined the perceptual effectiveness of new arrows designed in a three-dimensional (3-D) mode. In Experiment 1, for both prevailing arrows in a two-dimensional (2-D) mode and new arrows in a 3-D mode, the subjects (101) were asked to report which directions they indicated. For 2-D arrows, there were confusions in perceiving their directions. On the contrary, 3-D arrows caused no confusions, showing clear pointing of directions. In Experiment 2, for thedi rections of up, down, forward, and backward, the perception of the 3-D arrows was investigated. The result demonstrated that 3-D arrows were pointing ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ most clearly. It was concluded that the present arrows in direction signs could not always point their directions effectively, giving users confusions, while 3-D arrows could do clearly. This suggests that 3-D arrows should be adopted in the direction signs.