A 20mph default speed limit will be introduced in Welsh urban areas on 17 September. SignPlot software from Buchanan Computing is the first system to cater for the change. Executive chairman, Simon Morgan, discusses how the user's journey is at the heart of the software's development.
With much computer software, people feel they are fighting it when they should be aided by it. Rather than increasing their job satisfaction and productivity and creating output to be proud of, they feel frustrated and limited by it.
At Buchanan Computing we have always been aware of this phenomenon and have gone to great lengths to avoid it. We not only want software users to feel empowered by the systems but also to be involved in product development in a meaningful way.
SignPlot includes the new dragon plate (pictured below - image from Buchanan Computing) as a vector graphic symbol accurate enough for sign manufacture. This symbol is closely based on the winning design in a competition for school children, judged by Margaret Calvert, OBE the co-designer of the UK’s system of traffic signs.
We have learned that people soon get used to the quirks and minor inconsistencies of systems they use regularly, to the point where they don’t even notice them.
To eliminate these issues, one needs to observe totally new users and see what actions they attempt and to ask them what they found intuitive and what they didn’t.
This is something we have been doing at Buchanan Computing for many years. Our training team makes detailed notes of the user experience they observe and use this when participating in the design of new versions.
The other major source of input for new features is our programme of regular user group meetings. These were previously held in person in London, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Like everyone else, we moved to online meetings during the pandemic and have not gone back. But we do host live ‘Special interest groups’ for some systems to provide a more intensive focus on particular tasks and forthcoming national changes.
For several decades, these user groups have been the focus of our enhancement programme. At every meeting, the latest ‘wish list’ is produced, with participants encouraged to add to it. We then have a vote on every item to prioritise which would be of interest to the greatest number of people.
But sometimes we end up implementing them nearly all anyway, and we take care to avoid neglecting improvements that are relevant only to a subset of users: sign manufacturers or those following different requirements in Wales, for example.
The recent new releases of version 3.8 of SignPlot and SignLoad, our traffic sign face and structural design software are prime examples of this approach.
Over the years we have observed many areas where we can help those new to sign design to learn both the software and the Department for Transport’s design rules more quickly.
Guidance given based on new users' experiences in SignPlot - picture from Buchanan Computing
Some things we automated, like getting the right version of the alphabet (Transport Heavy or Transport Medium). But for others, we have added hint messages for things we observed people getting wrong, from spelling errors to confusion between ‘panels’ and ‘patches’.
At a recent training course in Edinburgh, we had observed that direction signs to hospitals were a particular problem, the rules for these in the signs regulations (Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions - TSRDG) being far from obvious. As well as needing a separate patch under or beside the H symbol showing whether or not there are A&E or UTC (urgent treatment centre) facilities, there was the need to specify whether the symbol needed the thin white border used on dark-coloured backgrounds.
These problems were fed to the design team who came up with a solution: a mixture of further automation and hint messages that offer to place the correct combination of symbols if the wrong one is detected.
As well as issues connected with the correct use of TSRGD, we have picked up in the latest version issues concerned with the use of the software, such as a reminder to copy work into a new file for a new project and an offer to weed out superseded information when a file is getting full.
We have always been assiduous in supporting users in Wales with their particular requirements, and both our SignPlot and ParkMap products produce fully bilingual output for signs and order documents respectively.
Wherever possible, the translation is automatic to improve consistency and to help those not fluent in Welsh.
The latest version of SignPlot, therefore, has all the new signs needed for the forthcoming TSRGD amendment for Wales, not surprising in view of our having used it to assist the Welsh Government in creating the graphics for this statutory instrument.
Last year, we helped Transport Scotland in a similar way with their TSRGD changes.
Our user-centred approach means our partners are enthusiastic about helping us make further enhancements, feel satisfaction when they see suggestions they have made implemented and are always ready to praise and recommend the products and services.
