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1. Do: Plan ahead

In commercial real estate, your touch screen building directory is a marketing vehicle and a reflection of your building and property management brands. As such, the best place to start is with a plan: evaluate your stakeholder needs, refine the functional and logistical objectives, and take into account any particular environmental considerations unique to the project. Only with your plan in place should you start to think about the LCD directory interface and content design.

2. Don’t: Set up obstacles

Remember that we’re in the information age and that it’s crucial to provide efficient access to what the user is looking for. Buildings with smaller tenant lists should use a letter block sorting structure instead of a keypad search, which requires fewer touches. When integrating weather, traffic cameras, or other media, make sure it has a dedicated space so that it is still viewable even if someone is using the directory.

3. Do: Design to Shine

Sure, it’s a building directory, but it’s also an opportunity to provide a valuable tenant amenity, a rich user experience, and an exclamation point for your brand. Don’t settle with what your competitors have — take it to the next level with a unique design and exciting visual effects.

4. Don’t: Use websites

Though it’s tempting to integrate your website into your building directory to streamline development and save cost, this is a major usability no-no. On a tablet pc with a keyboard and mouse, a mouse click is equal to one pixel, which allows it to be very precise when selecting among links bunched close together. A finger on a touch screen, however, will register between 20 and 30 pixels, making the navigation process much less precise and, as a result, much less friendly. No matter how much you think you can save by using your website, it’s not worth the frustration your tenants and visitors will experience. If you must use a website, make sure it’s designed specifically for fingertips, not mouse clicks.

5. Do: Evaluate

Though the instinct is to breathe a sigh of relief once the project is over, it’s important to make sure your directory is working well for your users. Take an afternoon and watch how your guests are using the directory. Watch the expression on their faces and how it easy or difficult it is to find what they’re looking for. Last, stop a few people who’ve used the directories and ask them about their experience. More than likely — if you’ve followed tips 1-4 above — that experience will be a good one.

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