A Visit

The public place I chose to observe is Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) in Dryden, New York.   Although I had been to this campus many times, I never really paid attention to all the information that was being displayed in front of me.  TC3 is located along Route 13, where often cars are traveling at approximately 45-55 miles an hour.  However, no matter how fast someone is driving, it is certain that the main entrance way-finding sign of TC3 does not go un-noticed.

 

Once I turn unto the main campus road, the winding road is surrounded by beautiful landscape that eventually leads me to 5 main parking lots.  On the edge between the main road and each of the parking lots are signs indicating which lot I am about to enter i.e. Lot 1, Lot 2, etc. 

 

As I am driving into parking Lot 3, I found myself being controlled by the perfectly marked parking spaces, looking desperately for the closest spot to the main building on campus. Upon observing my surroundings at the parking lot, I happened to notice that each parking lot light were marked to identify each section of the parking lot i.e. B1, B2, etc. Upon locking my car, I started to walk towards the main building and notice that the each sidewalk starting at a parking had lamp posts with eye-catching vividly colored banners attached to them displaying the schools name and words of encouragement and success. 

The main building is a white two-story rectangular building. I entered the building and immediately I was met by an individual behind an information desk. Next to the desk was a rack filled with bus schedules, campus pamphlets using information mapping techniques, classroom location maps and a way-finding campus map. 

I thought the cartoon style of the infographics on the campus map were a great way to present clear and user-focused information.

Once I finished looking through the array of information in the rack, I continued to walk forward and find myself bombarded with signs identifying where I might need to go next.  For the most part, each doorway was labeled to identify a room by number and/or type of room. Having odd-numbered rooms on the east side of the building and the even-numbered rooms on the west side of the building, I believe was well thought out.  

2014. Ithaca. By Corey Hess.

Overall, I felt the way the information was organized and presented to me met my needs and purpose for this observation.  

"Tompkins Cortland Community College." TC3 -. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.tc3.edu>.

"Tompkins Cortland Community College." TC3 -Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.tc3.edu/about_tc3/images/cartoon_map.jpg>.