The first time I saw the attractions map of Universal Studios of Singapore was in one of Jared Spools’ UX conference talks. In his talk, Jared addressed what was done right in creating a great user experience, and this map was one of his examples.
The first impression people get from the map is its 3D display and the color-coded sections to highlight different attractions the theme park offers to visitors. Unlike most maps, this one relies heavily on visual elements, such as the vibrant colors and vivid graphics to highlight the theme park’s unique sections. By doing this, the designers have applied multiple design principles to draw the attention of the users. Below are some design patterns I have noticed in this map.
Three-Dimensional Projection
People have evolved to see things as three-dimensional whenever possible—even when the things are clearly not three-dimensional. The Universal Studio’s attractions map illustrates this principle by creating a 3D effect to provide people with realistic images.
Highlighting
Highlighting is used in design to bring attention to particular elements or features. With this map, lively colors are used to highlight the most popular sections of the park . The first thing that caught my attention is the brightness and vibrancy of the colors that are used to highlight and call attention to the attractions.
Recognition over Recall
This Psychological rule shows that people can recognize things over needing to recall them. For example, the images of leading characters from a movie help people to remember the scenes in the movie, which brings back these memories. In the case of design, this translates to presenting a user with an interface that is immediately recognizable and intuitive for the viewer.
Picture Superiority Effect
The picture superiority effect professes that viewers remember pictures better than text. Moreover, the effect is strongest when the pictures represent common, concrete things compared to more abstract ideas. By understanding this rule, the designers of the Universal Studios attractions map have created a large amount of graphics on the map. The image versus text ratio is extremely high in this map.
Many other design principles have been found in creating the Universal Studios attractions map of Singapore, such as color for grouping similar elements, and iconic representations for finding important things that often are searched by visitors.
