Ergonomic approach to signage systems
April 1st 2006

Using ergonomics to improve signage can pay dividends according to the Ergonomics Society.

The Society's consultancy Human Engineering has carried out a study for Manchester airport to enable staff to better understand what passengers need to know, particularly as some passengers find airports with their abundance of signs highly stressful places.

Simon Layton, director of Human Engineering, comments "Passengers need information in a form that is readily obtainable, understandable and has significance for them personally, whatever their background or language.

"Humans have a finite attention span and limited short term memory, therefore we constantly encounter overload in visually cluttered situations."

Human Engineering's approach was to identify psychological factors affecting passenger behaviour by interviewing and observing them at each stage of their journey. The consultants were then able to develop a model for an integrated signage policy.

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