Contents

To be able to orientate oneself is a gift, a facility, that one either has, or has not. It is a precondition for existence. The ability to address every form of surrounding is part of our existence.

Loss of orientation slows a person down, roots him to the spot, causes him to go around in circles. It is only possible to move forward through orientation. The necessity for orientation has been with humanity from earliest times. Over the last few decades, the sheer volume of information offered, or indeed, imposed on us, through which we must orientate ourselves, has grown into an almost impenetrable jungle. This steady increase of information has resulted in a stimulus overload. Such an overload does nothing to aid orientation but instead makes it ever more difficult.

A sense of orientation alone is no longer enough. The reception of pictorial, graphic, written and spatial signals is accompanied by sound, haptic impressions and smell, amongst other things. The term “signaletics” has been coined to describe the analysis of the cohesive nature of information systems. We don’t just look for certain places, squares, streets or buildings, but also for content, themes, products and much else besides.

Nowadays, orientation also involves navigating complex information and orientation systems: timetables, check-in at airport terminals and hotels, navigation devices for road traffic, route planners on the Internet. Even in museums, clinics, and shopping centres, orientation can be a challenge.

People have their individual ways of gathering signals, both natural and man-made, within their environment. The assessment and interpretation of these signals is influenced by gender, age, level of education and cultural background.

There are situations where a consensual “reading” of signs is a necessity; above all in the case of road traffic control, but even this consensus is no longer valid, where driving on the left-hand
side is the rule. Additional complexities stem from the fact that much information is only comprehensible within a specific context. This gives rise to the necessity not only to be able to visually perceive the sign itself, but also to interpret its vicinity quickly and accurately.

As a result of globalisation, there has been a noticeably strong internationalisation of signs. On the one hand, this opens up an opportunity for non-verbal communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries; on the other hand, it brings a loss of identity with it.

An additional aspect is the fact that signs can have multiple meanings and functions. They deliver more than information and pointers — they stand as symbols for power, influence, differentiation and social conventions.

Objectives

• To become aware of the process of orientation and the individual interpretation of information.
• To exercise a critical attitude towards orientation and information systems.
• To discern orientation and information systems as constructs containing opportunities and dangers.
• To examine the particularities of orientation systems and their demands on the recipients.

• To understand that learning to read signs, in their various contexts with symbolic content, is an acquired cultural skill.

Organisation

The content can be dealt with through various teaching methods: lecture, discussion, workshops, individual study, or group work.

Exercise 1
Taking stock in situ
Together with your students, explore the educational establishment where you teach and/or its surroundings. Allow the students to look for orientation, or rather, information systems. Investigate how the various information systems of the school are presented. Which elements are used either to differentiate or to link the various systems?

The students can be divided into groups in order to investigate different places (railway station, town centre, hospital, etc.) and later present their results to the class (sketches, photos).

Exercise 2
Cohesion of content and presentation
The students should learn to decode the soft, neutral and rigid design forms of information systems. They should observe and discuss the sensations that arise from the form, colour and typographical features of the presented information. Mandatory and prohibiting traffic signs could be used to start the topic off.

Exercise 3
Producing signs
Following on from exercise 2, let students create signs of their own on various topics (using textual information, signs and pictograms). Central to the debate in this exercise, is the difficulty that arises when attempting to create a sign that allows one interpretation only.

Exercise 4
Information in context
Let your students place signs in various locations and read them in relation to the prevailing context. It should become clear that placing a sign in another location could alter the information or give it a new meaning. In concrete situations, it should be discussed how one could best improve the transmission of information (information content, positioning, amount).

Variations & Extensions

Exercise 5 
The construction of an irritation
Let your students develop an absurd orientation or information situation, install it in a concrete location and observe and document the reactions of passers-by. Through trying out the orien-tation system in an absurd situation, the manner in which we “perceive” this connection will become more clearly apparent.

Questions

• Should a globally unified visual language of signs be seen as an opportunity or as a loss of identity?
• Must orientation systems only be functional or can they be beautiful as well?
• “As much as necessary, as little as possible” — Could this be considered as a feasible principle for an orientation system?

• Guiding system or orientation system — which would you prefer?