Navigational design

Signage.
Some are hard to avoid and some even harder to ignore. Some are plain obvious while some need super human eyesight to look at. Nonetheless, Signages are everywhere.

One hot afternoon, I made a trip back to my old school. On the way there, I saw a signage indicating the way to the KL Bird Park. Thinking the park was just around the corner, I followed the curving road. Along the way there were more Signages with arrows pointing towards the park. After following the arrows a while, the entrance is still no where in sight. Then I convinced myself that may be the park is really far,so I continued on driving along the winding road. And then, I reached a junction. Now, where is the sign board when you need it(scrathes head)? And look! it hidden behind some untrimmed bushes.

Alas, I reached my destination and really the park is not far. Turns out, I've been driving around it all along, the park is so huge that one could easily miss the entrance.

Navigation board outside the park entrance.

One of the issue I found about going to the park is, the arrows are pointing in the right direction but they do not indicate how many meters it is from the entrance. I ended up going a few rounds around the park before I found the entrance.

The second issue can be solved easily, simply by maintenance. The growing scrubs around the signage should be trimmed periodically as not to obscure it.

The third issue is the design of the signage. Some signage were bright and colourful making them easily spotted while some were not so readable. For example this signage on the left, was found just outside the entrance. The white vertically arranged fonts are hard to read unless one tilts the head sideways. The white silhouette of the hornbill is not really attractive and doesn't stand out from the whiteness of the board.

I prefer this Hornbill logo.

I would prefer the use of the cartonnish hornbill.

Another problem is coherence.All the signages are using different colors and even the logo are different.

Bird Park logo is different from the one on the right.

Restroom symbols should be added.

Finding the restroom was not an issue unless your unable to read in English or Malay. The restroom was located inside a restaurant and the signage is poorly placed and lack graphics.This sign was place near the carpark and may be missed by passerby or desperate people with *severe* bowel movements. There should be a toilet sign with symbols placed near the entrance.

Bird Park Map.

Luckily, there were no issues with the inside of the park. Navigation was easy as there are signs and maps on in most places.