Wayfinding Systems: Digital Versus Analogical Media

Abstract

In today’s society space is overloaded with visual information, thus digital platforms are being increasingly used in design and could contribute to hinder this trend, assuming digital media and mobile platforms as an alternative to analogical media (paper support). In what concerns wayfinding systems, they need to allow more then to reach a point, starting from another, they should allow the experience and the knowledge of space, by allowing several layers of information, that people can use or not, depending on their interests and ambitions. This paper presents a study about the preferences and difficulties of people over 50 years old in the use of analogical and digital maps and discusses the possibility of the use of wayfinding systems in digital means for this age group, regarding the Design principles and inclusivity.