Blinking staircase

August 2020

Zealand, Academy

Bachelor Student

Shifting students directions to encrease health

The purpose of the first project of my bachelor programme was to reduce the physical contact with students, teachers and other staff at Zealand, Academy of Technologies and Business in Køge. Our project design consisted of stairs with luminous signal colours, thus providing a different way of reminding others about the one-way traffic.

Methodology

We started by making a Scope Wheel to generate ideas about our product.

Scope wheel

Scan Cards gave us an effective and visual opportunity to unfold our thoughts and ideas. To get an overview of all the suggestions, we chose to divide them into categories, and finally, to choose the one we thought was most relevant to Campus Køge; we chose ‘Distance’.

Scan cards

Health

Napkins
Contactless temperature locks
Partition walls
Hand sanitiser
COVID-19 guidelines

Distance

Voices/sounds alignment
Light rectification
Sensors
Arrows on the floor
Marked seating
Distance indicators

Lectures

Digital lectures
A game named Shoul
Zoom

Low touch

Intelligent doors
Facial recognition
Robot
Online cantineplatform
Automatic transport of lunch

Dividing insights into categories

From our own observations as students at the school, we felt that the guidelines, especially on the stairs, were a significant issue to address. The ‘Distance’ category included both tangible ideas such as arrows on the floor. The ‘Distance’ category included both tangible ideas such as arrows on the floor, but also ideas that would be more expensive and time-consuming to design and implement, such as warning sounds and voices to guide people in the same direction. To make it more defined and to better give our team an overview of our goals, we filled out a scenario canvas with our goals, thoughts and attitudes about our product. We chose to use lights instead of sounds as many people can perceive sounds as provocative and embarrassing - which is not the intention. We chose lights with colours to act as a traffic light; green for pass and red for no entry. Our thoughts in relation to the colours were to use something that users know. Everyone knows what these colours mean and has known since they were children. Therefore, we turn to the system 1 mindset, where the user must instinctively understand what the lights signal.

Scenario canvas

Research

To determine if the measures that the Campus currently has in place to prevent the spread of infection are working, we created a questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire was to gain insight into whether students and teachers follow the signage at the school and whether the signage has an effect. To get an overview of people's behaviour, we used a pad of paper and a pencil to note the number of people walking up the stairs. To get a lot done on Wednesday morning, we decided that two of our team members would analyse the video while one would process the data collected from our questionnaire. The remaining two team members started on the written assignment and appendices. On Thursday, we set up our test product, which consisted of lamps that glow with red colour. We decided to place them on the left and right side of the steps so they wouldn't be in the way of the students. They were put on the ends of the steps so they would not be stepped on. While we were filming the students, one of the team members chose to stand on the second floor to be able to ask questions to those who are walking up the stairs despite the unidirectionality.

Product design

We have sketched our product as a long square box with LED lights in red and green, depending on which angle you see the product from. The product is intended to be built into each step, as shown in the picture. The unit must be adjustable, so it must be possible to change the colours - so that you can change the unidirectionality. In this way, the device is also much more flexible and durable than tape—both in terms of wear and tear and changing the direction of the stairs. The materials used to build the unit must be tough and withstand much weight. Therefore, we imagine the ‘shell’ should be made of Plexiglas or hardened plastic. Inside the unit, there will be LED panels emitting red and green colours on opposite sides. One side of the unit (the side facing upwards) should be angled so that you don't see the colour when walking up the stairs - this should ensure that there is no doubt as to which colour is current. When installing the product, they must, of course, be connected. Therefore, a groove may need to be cut in the staircase for wiring. We tested our prototype on Thursday using six red lights on the stairs. We tested for 4 hours. The red lights were our first prototype and were to indicate that you should not go up the stairs.

Results and conclusion

Based on our data and analyses, we can conclude that many do not follow signs and guidelines on campus. According to one of the respondents, it was because they were not clear enough. When we tested our solution with the lights, we found that most still used the stairs upwards. However, several people stopped and hesitated to go up the stairs when they saw the red lights (they still chose to go up the stairs). On the other hand, two people decided to change direction and take the road from the canteen. There could be several reasons why people chose to go up the stairs, and some chose to take a different route. From observations and interviews, we found that many people defy the one-way street because it's the easiest and quickest option. We also found that people find it confusing with all the different types of signage during this time of corona, which is why it is important that there is proper communication when implementing the product.