University wayfinding: A master class in confusion
February 20, 2025 by
Max van IJsselmuiden
This is part of my ongoing series exploring frustrating user experiences we encounter in everyday life. These real-world UX failures show how design thinking (or lack thereof) forgets common sense.
Every now and then, I give workshops and lectures at universities. To prepare, I visit the offices of very smart people – professors. In this case, I was meeting a professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Groningen.
His email instructions were straightforward: go to the Harmonie building, officially known as building 1311, and find room 0723. Simple enough.
I had studied at the University of Groningen myself, so I already knew where the Harmonie building was. That meant I could safely ignore 1311—one less thing to think about. I walked in, climbed the stairs and headed for level 7, assuming the 7 in 0723 referred to the floor number. Common sense.
At level 7, I was met with four possible directions. No problem—I’d just follow the signs. I scanned my surroundings. Toilets. Department X. Department Y. Nothing about room numbers. Inconvenient.
Plan B: pick a hallway and try my luck.
I started with the closest one. A few turns later, I found 0723. Perfect! Except… the name on the door wasn’t the professor’s. Maybe he moved in recently and they haven’t updated the nameplate yet? I waited a couple of minutes, then checked again. 0723. He must be late.
Wait. There was a number before 0723: 1314.0723.
What was the correct building number again?
I pulled up my calendar: 1311.0723.
Wrong building.
Back to the main staircase. Another hallway. This time, I paid closer attention to the room numbers. 1311.0756. 1311.0758. 1311. Okay, so I was in the right building now. Unfortunately the room numbers still didn’t match the one I needed.
Two more hallways to go.
And there it was—finally—the right office, with the right name on the door. Just to be sure, I checked the number again. 1311.0723. The professor greeted me and made a joke about my tardiness. I suggested we meet at my office next time.
Design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about function. When design fails, we feel immediate frustration, even if we don’t recognize it as a design problem. These moments aren’t just annoyances—they’re design failures, symptoms of a deeper problem. Each represents a failure of design thinking, where creators lost sight of the actual humans who would use their products and systems.
University wayfinding: A master class in confusion
February 20, 2025 by
Max van IJsselmuiden
This is part of my ongoing series exploring frustrating user experiences we encounter in everyday life. These real-world UX failures show how design thinking (or lack thereof) forgets common sense.
Every now and then, I give workshops and lectures at universities. To prepare, I visit the offices of very smart people – professors. In this case, I was meeting a professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Groningen.
His email instructions were straightforward: go to the Harmonie building, officially known as building 1311, and find room 0723. Simple enough.
I had studied at the University of Groningen myself, so I already knew where the Harmonie building was. That meant I could safely ignore 1311—one less thing to think about. I walked in, climbed the stairs and headed for level 7, assuming the 7 in 0723 referred to the floor number. Common sense.
At level 7, I was met with four possible directions. No problem—I’d just follow the signs. I scanned my surroundings. Toilets. Department X. Department Y. Nothing about room numbers. Inconvenient.
Plan B: pick a hallway and try my luck.
I started with the closest one. A few turns later, I found 0723. Perfect! Except… the name on the door wasn’t the professor’s. Maybe he moved in recently and they haven’t updated the nameplate yet? I waited a couple of minutes, then checked again. 0723. He must be late.
Wait. There was a number before 0723: 1314.0723.
What was the correct building number again?
I pulled up my calendar: 1311.0723.
Wrong building.
Back to the main staircase. Another hallway. This time, I paid closer attention to the room numbers. 1311.0756. 1311.0758. 1311. Okay, so I was in the right building now. Unfortunately the room numbers still didn’t match the one I needed.
Two more hallways to go.
And there it was—finally—the right office, with the right name on the door. Just to be sure, I checked the number again. 1311.0723. The professor greeted me and made a joke about my tardiness. I suggested we meet at my office next time.
Design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about function. When design fails, we feel immediate frustration, even if we don’t recognize it as a design problem. These moments aren’t just annoyances—they’re design failures, symptoms of a deeper problem. Each represents a failure of design thinking, where creators lost sight of the actual humans who would use their products and systems.