Hmm...Missing Rooms at SFU Surrey?

As a first year studying my second semester at SFU Surrey, I have gotten to know a little bit about room locations. However, I had a bit of problems with those in my first semester. My friends and I spent quite a bit of time trying to find a “missing room” on the campus.

One day, a friend had booked room 3082 for a group project session in between classes. With SFU’s online room booking system, room numbers are displayed while she would click on a specific time frame for a certain room. None of us would know exactly where it was until we got there.

The problem was, we did not get there on that day. I met my friends in the hallway and they claimed they were not able to find the room. We switched on our laptops to double check the room number we booked. It was 3082 all right. One of us then remembered the school map in our planners.

We were surprised that 3082 was not on the map. I pored over the miniscule numbers for several minutes to make sure...3082...3082...nope, not there. My friends looked over the map and did not see the number either. Why did the map leave out room numbers? Perhaps the map was too small to fit every single number. After a little discussion, one of us remembered the Galleria Directory.

The Galleria Directory had even less rooms mapped out, and 3082 was not listed anywhere on the directory. Again we wasted time trying to find a number that was not mapped. I thought this was rather strange. The Galleria Directory was rather big, so why not include all room numbers? Or maybe there were other possibilities of the room booking system not being updated and listing an old room that no longer exists as available. We did not want to waste any more time so we just gave up the room and went to the grand hall, or mezzanine, and called room 3082 a missing room.

The next day my friend discovered that 3082 does exist and brought me to see it. I recognized the room as a place we passed by the previous day but saw no label that said 3082. The only label was a capitalized “COPY ROOM” beside the door. My friend then pointed out the tiny silver number that almost blended in with its silver plaque. It was a number almost impossible to see at a general distance of about four feet unless we already knew it was there and looked for it. Soon I learned that there were other “missing” rooms like 3082. I wondered why these rooms were not labeled on the map, or at least labeled with bold, black 3D numbers like other study rooms.

Most of my courses at SFU Surrey have taught me mapping and labels are a crucial part of the design process, as well as for products’ interactivity with the users. What exactly is mapping? From what I learned, it is the structure of a particular product designed in a simple enough manner that users could quickly learn how to use it. Maps are made for our convenience and consultation when we are not sure where a certain place is. If the mapping was well-designed, we could all read and understand it immediately.

Sure, after that I now know that room numbers could be listed nowhere but in a small print that camouflaged against its background near the door, but I think students or anyone else who might visit the campus can do better with clear map and labels. SFU Surrey could set a slightly better example of what it teaches.

Just a little thought that it would be more convenient for us who go to the Surrey campus.