00:00You are the Director of Architecture of the Land...
00:03No, that's totally wrong.
00:04Okay, let me take that again.
00:10Hi Suilin, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.
00:12So, just for viewers who are tuning in,
00:15could you introduce yourself briefly?
00:19I take care of the signage team,
00:21who design signage to guide commuters in and out of the station.
00:24I believe you call that wayfinding, right?
00:25Yes, that's right.
00:26So, commuters have problems finding their way in and out of the station.
00:30I mean, I thought I was bad.
00:32You see, our stations are actually getting more and more complex.
00:35There are more entrances in one station, right?
00:39So, for example, Orchard Station has 13 entrances.
00:42So, we need to guide people to go to the correct exit,
00:45in order for them to actually get to their destinations
00:48more quickly or more efficiently.
00:50When stations are being designed,
00:52they look at the alignment of the tracks,
00:55the site availability,
00:57in order to place the stations without having the wayfinding in mind.
01:01So, actually, we do come in in the later part of the design,
01:04only to add on to help commuters find their way.
01:08Clarity is very important.
01:09The wayfinding signs have to be very easy to use,
01:12easy to understand,
01:14so that people with different abilities,
01:16they can actually make use of the signage and find their way.
01:20How do you make a sign easy to spot and easy to understand?
01:24Colour contrast is important, right?
01:27What we have now is actually a black background
01:30with a very clear colour, like yellow,
01:32which contrasts very well with black.
01:34And we also redesigned our icons.
01:38Previously, when we had the lift and toilet signs,
01:42a lot of people actually got confused
01:43because that's the male and female figures, right?
01:46So, if they see a male and female figure in a box,
01:48they go, like, that's the toilet.
01:49But actually, it's the lift.
01:50Is it a lift or is it a toilet?
01:52Right.
01:53I hope they found out before they got there.
01:55What other examples of clarity would you have to keep in mind
01:59when you're helping to design the wayfinding?
02:01We are also seeing a lot of overseas tourists in Singapore, right?
02:05In order to mitigate the issue of not understanding English,
02:09because not everybody understands English,
02:11we actually changed our exit code from alphabet to numbers.
02:15So, watch your station again.
02:17Exit 1 to 13 instead of A to...
02:22A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.
02:25Is it?
02:26Oh, I don't know.
02:27So, you see?
02:28Yeah, numbers are more straightforward.
02:30Yeah, numbers are more straightforward.
02:32You can say it in any language.
02:34Right, so you use numbers and you also use colour.
02:36So, how else do you use colours to support wayfinding?
02:39Right, so, for example, the exit codes.
02:40Nowadays, in the Thomson Coastline stations,
02:43you actually see this big yellow sign
02:45whenever you reach the entrance, right?
02:47So, that is actually through a ground-sensing survey that we did
02:53and they unanimously chose yellow as their favourite colour.
02:57And it creates a very good contrast with the black background.
03:00So, it's easy to see, easy to read.
03:02That's really fascinating.
03:03And what other kind of demographics do you feel that you have to design for
03:09when it comes to wayfinding?
03:10So, as we know, Singapore is an ageing society, right?
03:14So, we do have to cater to a lot of elderly,
03:19as well as to people with different abilities.
03:22Can you give me examples of how you support these people with different abilities?
03:26We design font sizes that are bigger.
03:28These are like three times the original size that we used to have.
03:33And we actually work very closely with the lift contractors
03:37to enable the lift buttons to change colour when you press on the lift
03:41so that they know that they have actually pressed on the right button.
03:44Ah.
03:45Because it could be quite confusing to them
03:48if there is no proper colour contrast.
03:51And also, like the visually impaired,
03:53we have braille signs as well as tactile routes in the station
03:57that can help guide them to their destination.
04:00Thank you so much, Swee Lin.
04:00I guess my final question is,
04:02do you have any other thoughts to share about wayfinding that the viewers should know?
04:06We are always trying to improve on our wayfinding signage.
04:09And if you have any feedback, please write to us.
04:12We will definitely review it and see how we can implement or how we can improve.
04:18I would like to bring my dog into the station.
04:20I'll talk to the station staff.
04:21Okay, thank you very much, Swee Lin.
04:24Do you know that dogs can only see two colours?
04:26Oh, what colours are they?
04:28I think it's red and blue.
04:29If I'm not wrong, I could be wrong.
04:31So they won't be able to see our signage?
04:32No, probably not.
04:33Swee Lin, how did you get here today?
04:35I drove here.
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