Wayfinding

Wayfinding is the process if using spatial and environmental information to navigate to a destination. This process always involves the same four stages; orientation, route decision, route monitoring and destination recognition.

Orientation refers to determining a location in relation to nearby objects and the destination. Signage is one of the easiest ways to communicate where you are and where you can go.

Route decision refers to choosing a route to reach a destination. Minimising the number of navigation choices on a website for example, will improve route decision making, as will providing signs or prompts at decision points.

Route monitoring refers to monitoring the chosen route to confirm that it is leading to the destination. Providing visual cues highlighting the path taken can improve route monitoring, particularly when a wayfinding mistake has been made and backtracking is necessary.

Destination recognition refers to recognising the destination. To improve destination recognition, give destinations clear and consistent identities.

Wayfinding hasn’t really been implemented much in Fox Feud. It has been used on the introductory page via use of the “Enter White Deer Park” sign. This is part of orientation and communicates to users that they can go to the home page by clicking on the sign.

There are quite a few navigational choices in Fox Feud once users reach the home page. This is because there are eighteen characters to choose from. Therefore, route decision isn’t easy for users to make. Also there are no signs and little prompts within Fox Feud past the introduction, including these would have made wayfinding easier for users. Users know to click on the foxes because they light up when you roll over them with your mouse, so this does help with wayfinding.

In relation to route monitoring, it is not really possible to make a wayfinding mistake within Fox Feud unless you have accidentally clicked on the wrong character. Even so, there is a go back button on every profile page, so getting back to the home page is simple. Therefore it is not really necessary to provide visual cues highlighting the path taken to improve route monitoring. 

In addition, there is no specific destination within Fox Feud, it all depends on what information the user would like to find out, or their reason for using the application. There is a different destination for every user, as perhaps some only want to find out about one character, while others might want to read about them all. So for one person the destination will be reached once they have clicked on a single character profile, where as another user will reach their destination once they have clicked on and read every character profile.