You Are Here

Usability Testing
Memo
Proposal Memo 2

To : Office of Facilities Design and Construction, Georgia Institute of Technology
From : You Are Here
Date : March 12, 2014
Re : Proposal for Building Directories in Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
Executive Summary
Based on prelim online surveys and research, our group has decided on incorporating a directory with
signage as our draft deliverable. Usability testing was done in Skiles Classroom Building to find out the
usefulness of our draft deliverable in helping Our group identified navigation as a need of the Georgia Tech
community that can be addressed with technical communication. We conducted preliminary research on any
attempts at dealing with this need, both past and present. An online survey was also administered to learn
how the community might want this need to be tackled. The results of our research and our proposed
technical communication-based solution are summarized below.
Current Situation and Problem
Navigation around campus has long been a point of discussion within the Georgia Tech community, dating
back to 1997s Master Plan studies. The Wayfinding Sign Project, first conceived in 2000, was an effort led
by the Office of Facilities Design and Construction to improve the ease with which visitors can navigate the
campus. It consisted of three major phases, spanning from end of 2003 to 2005. The project involved the
installation of various signs such as major directional signs to guide vehicular traffic into parking areas, 80
building identifications and 33 pedestrian directional signs. It also resulted in the present system of Campus
Directories, and Stinger and Trolley route maps (Technique 19).

There was a complete lack of any good directional signage.
Bradley Satterfield, campus architect for the Office of Facilities Design and Construction

However, this project was conducted on a macroscopic level with a focus on getting visitors from point to
point, by either foot or car. There were no specific mentions of improving the signage within buildings (The
Whistle). Our group believes that, just as how good directional signage is key to navigate the campus, it is
likewise important to the successful navigation within buildings. Although such signs were incorporated into
newer buildings such as the Campus Recreation Center (CRC) (Technique 12), we could not find any record
of efforts to standardize them across buildings or introduce them in older buildings.
Proposal Memo 3

Objectives
Our objectives for this project are:
To address the navigational needs of the Georgia Tech community, specifically within buildings on
campus
To develop our abilities to address the aforementioned need
To be able to rationalize the process and decisions we made to achieve this goal
Research
A preliminary online survey was conducted on a sample size of 10 students, consisting of a mixture of full-
time Georgia Tech students and exchange students (Fig. 1).


Figure 1: Preliminary online survey
Proposal Memo 4

From the results of the survey question shown in Graph 1, it was noted that 9 out of 10 students have at
least some difficulty in navigating inside a building on campus. When asked which building they found the
most difficult to navigate, some of the responses include the Savant Building, Skiles Building, Klaus,
Guggenheim, College of Business and College of Computing.


Graph 1: Survey Question Have you faced any difficulties in finding your way inside buildings on campus?

Based on survey results shown in Graph 2, a uniform response was obtained indicating an equal preference
for Directory Listing, Floor Plan and Directional Signage as plausible methods to improve the current
situation.

Graph 2: Survey Question How do you think we can improve the current situation?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
All the time Frequently Occasionally Never
Have you faced any difficulties in finding your
way inside buildings on campus?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Directory Listing Floorplan Directional
Signage
How do you think we can improve the current
situation?
Proposal Memo 5

Proposed Solution
Based on the results of our survey, we found that the Skiles Building is one of the buildings students found
most difficult to navigate around. Hence, we will conduct pilot testing of our proposed directory on the Skiles
Building. For this purpose, draft versions of Directory Listing, Floor Plan and Directional Signage will be
created as equal preference for all of them were indicated in our gathered responses.
Method
Preliminary Survey
To ensure that navigating around the school building is indeed a problem that exchange and full-time
students in Georgia Tech face, we have conducted a preliminary survey. Through this survey, we have also
determined whether the students prefer a directory listing, floor plan or signage to help them get around
inside buildings.
Research
After establishing our audiences need, we researched on what has been done in the past about this problem.
We gathered information about past efforts in improving campus navigation from Georgia Tech Archives
and related online resources. In addition, we may conduct an interview with the Capital Planning & Space
Management Department of Georgia Tech to gather more information that not available from the library
archives.
Plans
Our initial plan is to create a draft directory for a building in Georgia Tech that students find hardest to
navigate around. For our draft deliverable, we plan to print a poster-size directory and place it at strategic
locations of the building (for example the building entrance). We will then conduct usability testing to
investigate the effectiveness of our proposed solution.
Usability Testing
We will conduct tests on two groups of five exchange and full-time Georgia Tech students to determine if the
draft directories we created are useful in helping students navigate around the building. The first group of
students will search for a room in the building without the help of a directory, while the second group will
search for the same room with the help of a directory. The duration the students require to find the room
will be recorded. They will be surveyed after completing the usability testing about the level of frustration
they experienced in the process of finding the room. The results of the survey will be consolidated and revise
our deliverable into its final form accordingly.

Proposal Memo 6

Resources Needed
Planning
For our planning process, we gathered feedback from Georgia Tech students about their experience
navigating their way inside buildings. This survey serves to emphasize the problem students face in finding
their way inside buildings on campus.

The use of library archives helped us identify relevant efforts undertaken in the past regarding building
directories. We looked into various school publications, including information on past FASET Orientations
(which includes campus navigation information as part of their freshmen survival guides) and feedback
given by students concerning navigation.
Google forms and spreadsheets (Surveys)
Georgia Institute of Technology Archives
- Technique
- The Whistle
Construction of Directory
The list of resources listed below will be essential in the design and construction of the directory. They will
provide the backbone to our draft and final directories.
GNU Image Manipulation Program
Poster printer
Building floor plan
List of current room names and its code number
Implementation and Usability Testing
A sample size of ten Georgia Tech students will be chosen for a usability test on our draft deliverable (draft
directory). The process of this usability test was earlier described under Methods.
A representative size of ten Georgia Tech students
Stopwatch
Draft directory
Survey for usability testing
Proposal Memo 7

Schedule
Task Time (hours)
Plan 4
Conduct Preliminary Survey NA
Research 4
Design 6
Construct 6
Implementation 10
Conduct Final Survey (Usability Testing) NA
Evaluate 3
Estimated Total Time 33

Week Objectives
9 Planning
Identify different problems around the Georgia Tech campus and community
Select on a problem to work on
Devise a solution to the problem using Technical Communication
Prepare for project pitch
10 Conduct Preliminary Survey
Prepare a series of questions and draft out survey
Distribute survey to the relevant respondents
Research
Collect information about Georgia Techs past from GT Archives
Submit proposal memo
11 Spring Break
12 Design
Decide on the final mode of project deliverable
Design a prototype based on research collected
Construct
Construct the prototype
Develop the prototype and make improvements if necessary
13 Implementation
Implement proposed idea to a random set of potential users of our idea
Conduct Final Survey (Usability Testing)
Prepare a series of questions and draft out survey
Distribute survey to the users who tested the prototype
14 Evaluate
Consolidate survey results and analyze findings
Identify possible problems and suggest future improvements for the project
15 Team presentation
Proposal Memo 8

Qualifications
As exchange students from Singapore, we were not familiar with the environment in Georgia Tech when we
first arrived. Hence, we depended heavily on the navigation tools available on campus. To our frustration,
there was a lack of clear signage around campus and within buildings, causing us to spend large amounts of
time searching for our classrooms.

However, improvements such as You Are Here location markers on campus directories were implemented
when campus tours for prospective freshmen started later in the semester. Our group feels that such
improvement was eased our navigation efforts around campus. However, no improvements were made to
improve the situation within buildings. Thus, we decided to focus our efforts on a more microscopic scale of
navigation by creating a draft building directory. We hope that this may one day serve as a template for
campus-wide directory standardization efforts. Having experienced navigational difficulties firsthand has
motivated us to improve the current system. Although we lack expertise in making directories, tapping on
the schools resources such as Lynda will equip us with the required abilities for our task.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have identified the problem around the Georgia Tech campus to be the lack of sufficient
directional signage within buildings. From research findings, we found that there were little efforts that
done on such a microscopic scale. By introducing Directory Listings coupled with well-illustrated Floor Plans
and Directional Signage, we incorporate the Technical Communication value of managing complexity in our
proposed solution to provide useful information on the rooms in a selected building. Through our usability
testing, we are able to evaluate the effectiveness of this system with specific regards to our target audience
exchange and full-time Georgia Tech students. This could be seen as an extension of the Wayfinding Sign
Project on a microscopic level where students and visitors are able to better navigate their way within
buildings.
Works Cited
Technique. "New wayfinding signs aid campus navigation." Freshman Issue 90.5 (2004): 5, 19.
. "State of the art: a tour of the CRC." Freshman Issue 90.5 (2004): 12.
The Whistle. "New campus signs help point the way." The Whistle 29.23 (2004): 1-2.