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.
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| 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>.
I love how you started with your drive on the property. With your description and the photos, I had a nice visual of the campus. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThis was extremely well done. I work at Cornell and have taken classes at TC3 so I am very familiar with it and the area, but I never thought about the "design" of it in this way. This has definitely gotten me to look at things a bit differently.
ReplyDeleteCynthia, I enjoy the fact that you started right off with the entry sign to the college campus. I especially like the fact that you point out the parking lots. It's easy to forget that the parking lots has are chock-full of wayfinding information. By far my favorite piece of interactive information is that cartoon map of the campus. It's informative interactive and entertaining!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job describing the information design you found at the school. I like how even though you’ve been to the school many times you were able to slow down and explore it as if you were a newcomer.
ReplyDeleteI had a very different outlook on my public space project. Though mine was informative about things specific to inside the property, and the goals of the organization, I did not consider where it was located, what transit was nearby etc... There were quite a few aspects I could have added, but is also good the way it is. Thank you for posting a different outlook so in the future I might keep it in mind.
ReplyDeleteCindy,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the walk with you on this journey. The way you describe it makes it very easy to imagine myself there as well. It does sound like the designers here actually took the time to think about how and why they need certain information throughout the area. Quite impressive layout and design. I also enjoyed the cartoon-ish map. I think it makes the images clearer and easier to orient yourself.