Wayfinding at pedestrian crossings in Melbourne’s CBD where pedestrians are most likely to be face-down on their phone, much like as I observed as early as 2011 in Busan, South Korea. Like the promoters in Busan, the designers from the City of Melbourne understood the pedestrians and their behaviour – this led to the intentional design and installation of light panels on the ground at pedestrian crossings. Nice one, designers!
Previously, in Busan, South Korea
Advertising taped to the footpath at pedestrian crossings is a common sight in areas of Busan such as Seomyeon that are frequented by youth, young people and university students. As a location for advertising it is ideal. It is one of the rare times busy pedestrians will stop, if only for a short time. That’s long enough to catch their eye with some brightly coloured paper. Placement on the footpath is also more likely to increase the potential for a pedestrian to view the advertisement as they gaze down at their smartphone. Accidental line of sight!
In the following photo from 2011, duct tape residue is all that remains of footpath advertising campaign at this pedestrian crossing in Busan, South Korea.
Flexible contextual instruction and wayfinding. pic.twitter.com/NNUkWJIEHM
— Rowan Peter 📡🛠🛹❤🤘 (@rowan_peter) June 24, 2017
