Use of signs to enhance way-finding in a university bookstore

The major goal of this study was to design signs which reduced the time and distance students required to locale textbooks in a college bookstore. Bas ed upon the 1992 research of Arthur and Passini, three new sign conditions were devised: (a) iconic presentation, (b) new verbal labels, and (c) a com bination of icons and new words. It was hypothesized that the changes to th e design of the sign system would decrease the time and distance students t raveled to locate textbooks. The 328 subjects had no previous experience or knowledge of the university bookstore. During the iconic presentation cond ition the signs used only drawings to display the message. This change to t he sign system resulted in a significant increase in the lime and distance students traveled to find their textbooks in comparison to the original sig ns. Conversely, the redesigned signs using new verbal labels or a combinati on of icons and new words to display content significantly reduced the time and distance students traveled to locale their textbooks compared to the o riginal signs.