Vancouver, Canada recently opened a new subway system called "Canada Line" (http://www.canadaline.ca). While I notice quite a few issues in the whole passenger experience, one thing that makes me wonder the most is the exit sign: instead of printing "Exit", they use "Way Out". My thoughts:
- "Exit" is almost the international standard word to indicate an exit route. I believe most ESL people can still understand the word and recognize it as symbol even if they don't know English. - Don't try to be clever and reinvent the experience. Using an example from Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think", one should use well-known terms like "home", "about us", "jobs" instead of "Learn More about Calvin", "Wanna get hired?" - According to Jhenifer Pabillano from Translink.ca blog, the decision of printing "Way Out" was made by the private contractor InTransit BC, who thought "Way Out" was more descriptive and would be easily understandable by an international ridership. (see #link1) I am curious what matrix or user study, if any, they used to support this argument? For more details of my thoughts you may visit my blog at http://calvin-c.com/blog/way-out #link1: http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2009/08/canada-line-roundup-even-more-pics-and-video-and-passport-stamp-info/#comment-19912 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
