Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 2019
Wayfinding on board a large cruise ship might be mistakenly thought to be easy and straightforwar... more Wayfinding on board a large cruise ship might be mistakenly thought to be easy and straightforward, and this may well account for the absence of literature on this topic. This paper will address this gap by exploring and exposing the influences that shape our everyday practices while cruising, itself a moving experience, carrying us by consent across the seas to distant shores. The need to address on-site experiences is not as Pearce (2011) points out, always fully investigated in post-holiday satisfaction surveys, and so this exploration of how passengers react and respond to their cruise ship surroundings exposes the scale, and sometimes overwhelming enormity, of some of these vessels now selling a mass tourism product.
Mention the word ‘wayfinding’ to many people and you will be faced with a quizzical look as thoug... more Mention the word ‘wayfinding’ to many people and you will be faced with a quizzical look as though you have spoken in another language. Wayfinding though is essential in tourism practice for a number of reasons.
Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 2017
Airports are complex spaces that exist primarily for the purpose of allowing significant numbers ... more Airports are complex spaces that exist primarily for the purpose of allowing significant numbers of people to fly from and into, a specific location. In these spaces, wayfinding is an important process, given that these people need to be moved in a time effective and safe manner, to various locations within the airport. In addition to the use of space, human help, and electronic technologies, static signage is an important tool in guiding people in airports. In this study I focus on static signage as a wayfinding tool in airports and I report on the findings from three wayfinding audits that this author did in three UK international airports in the last year.
Wayfinding has often been seen as being about the quickest or shortest possible route between two... more Wayfinding has often been seen as being about the quickest or shortest possible route between two points (Hölscher et al 2011; Tam 2011; Haque et al 2006). Moreover, this process has very often been seen as a cognitive one, with the experiential nature of wayfinding and with the embodied, emotional and sociocultural aspects of this experience conspicuously absent. We argue that wayfinding is rarely a purely cognitive process that involves an individual person, who is entirely instrumental in navigating a direct and precise route, but instead that this is a process almost always directed according to embodied and sociocultural needs. We propose a reassessment of present wayfinding definitions and suggest an alternative understanding that includes sociocultural elements, embodied individuals and experience through their embodied senses, as crucial elements of the concept. Seeing wayfinding from this different sociocultural ontological viewpoint, opens up new ways of understanding and planning wayfinding systems.
Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important and influencing resea... more Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important and influencing researchers’ options. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technologies (such as Skype and FaceTime) provide us with the ability to interview research participants using voice and video across the internet via a synchronous (real-time) connection. This paper highlights the advantages of using Skype to conduct qualitative interviews and weighs these advantages against any limitations and issues that using this tool may raise. This paper argues that Skype opens up new possibilities by allowing us to contact participants worldwide in a time efficient and financially affordable manner, thus increasing the variety of our samples. At the same time, the use of Skype affects the areas of rapport, non-verbal cues and ethics by creating limitations but also new opportunities. The observations in this paper stem from two different researches, carried out by the authors, on dance (as a form of trans/cultural heritage) and wayfinding (the experience of getting from A to B in various settings). These studies lent themselves to using Skype for qualitative interviews, because of the need to reach an international, varied and purposeful sample. The researchers’ experiences, combined with feedback from participants in Skype interviews, are used in this paper. The conclusion is that, although VoIP mediated interviews cannot completely replace face to face interaction, they work well as a viable alternative or complimentary data collection tool for qualitative researchers. This paper argues that VoIP based interviews offer new opportunities for researchers and should be embraced with confidence.
Wayfinding & Navigation Design for Beginners, 2023
This book is intended as an educational tool to assist anyone involved or interested in how to de... more This book is intended as an educational tool to assist anyone involved or interested in how to design signage for guiding people through locations and spaces. This is a beginner's guide to wayfinding and navigation and will help you design wayfinding such that people do not easily get lost and confused. If you are a student in design, wayfinding, or psychology, or in charge of designing a wayfinding system in any location, this book might be very useful for you.
Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 2019
Wayfinding on board a large cruise ship might be mistakenly thought to be easy and straightforwar... more Wayfinding on board a large cruise ship might be mistakenly thought to be easy and straightforward, and this may well account for the absence of literature on this topic. This paper will address this gap by exploring and exposing the influences that shape our everyday practices while cruising, itself a moving experience, carrying us by consent across the seas to distant shores. The need to address on-site experiences is not as Pearce (2011) points out, always fully investigated in post-holiday satisfaction surveys, and so this exploration of how passengers react and respond to their cruise ship surroundings exposes the scale, and sometimes overwhelming enormity, of some of these vessels now selling a mass tourism product.
Mention the word ‘wayfinding’ to many people and you will be faced with a quizzical look as thoug... more Mention the word ‘wayfinding’ to many people and you will be faced with a quizzical look as though you have spoken in another language. Wayfinding though is essential in tourism practice for a number of reasons.
Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 2017
Airports are complex spaces that exist primarily for the purpose of allowing significant numbers ... more Airports are complex spaces that exist primarily for the purpose of allowing significant numbers of people to fly from and into, a specific location. In these spaces, wayfinding is an important process, given that these people need to be moved in a time effective and safe manner, to various locations within the airport. In addition to the use of space, human help, and electronic technologies, static signage is an important tool in guiding people in airports. In this study I focus on static signage as a wayfinding tool in airports and I report on the findings from three wayfinding audits that this author did in three UK international airports in the last year.
Wayfinding has often been seen as being about the quickest or shortest possible route between two... more Wayfinding has often been seen as being about the quickest or shortest possible route between two points (Hölscher et al 2011; Tam 2011; Haque et al 2006). Moreover, this process has very often been seen as a cognitive one, with the experiential nature of wayfinding and with the embodied, emotional and sociocultural aspects of this experience conspicuously absent. We argue that wayfinding is rarely a purely cognitive process that involves an individual person, who is entirely instrumental in navigating a direct and precise route, but instead that this is a process almost always directed according to embodied and sociocultural needs. We propose a reassessment of present wayfinding definitions and suggest an alternative understanding that includes sociocultural elements, embodied individuals and experience through their embodied senses, as crucial elements of the concept. Seeing wayfinding from this different sociocultural ontological viewpoint, opens up new ways of understanding and planning wayfinding systems.
Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important and influencing resea... more Internet based methods of communication are becoming increasingly important and influencing researchers’ options. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technologies (such as Skype and FaceTime) provide us with the ability to interview research participants using voice and video across the internet via a synchronous (real-time) connection. This paper highlights the advantages of using Skype to conduct qualitative interviews and weighs these advantages against any limitations and issues that using this tool may raise. This paper argues that Skype opens up new possibilities by allowing us to contact participants worldwide in a time efficient and financially affordable manner, thus increasing the variety of our samples. At the same time, the use of Skype affects the areas of rapport, non-verbal cues and ethics by creating limitations but also new opportunities. The observations in this paper stem from two different researches, carried out by the authors, on dance (as a form of trans/cultural heritage) and wayfinding (the experience of getting from A to B in various settings). These studies lent themselves to using Skype for qualitative interviews, because of the need to reach an international, varied and purposeful sample. The researchers’ experiences, combined with feedback from participants in Skype interviews, are used in this paper. The conclusion is that, although VoIP mediated interviews cannot completely replace face to face interaction, they work well as a viable alternative or complimentary data collection tool for qualitative researchers. This paper argues that VoIP based interviews offer new opportunities for researchers and should be embraced with confidence.
Wayfinding & Navigation Design for Beginners, 2023
This book is intended as an educational tool to assist anyone involved or interested in how to de... more This book is intended as an educational tool to assist anyone involved or interested in how to design signage for guiding people through locations and spaces. This is a beginner's guide to wayfinding and navigation and will help you design wayfinding such that people do not easily get lost and confused. If you are a student in design, wayfinding, or psychology, or in charge of designing a wayfinding system in any location, this book might be very useful for you.
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Papers by Dr Paul Symonds
airports in the last year.
Books by Dr Paul Symonds
airports in the last year.