Font choice: The font used on a stagecoach bus ticket looks like the dottie font by Robert Schenk but instead of using dots or squares it is lines. This font was designed for showing text in electronic devices such as computers e.g the old macintosh computers. The font isn't the easiest to read but then again it is not hard to read either. The more important information on the ticket is more readable because it is larger and a thicker line weight. I think this font was chosen because it is printed out electronically and it is meant to look like a physical representation of the information on the computer or the electronic device (a reciept). It is not fun or interesting - only used to hold information that may be important. The hierarchy used is appropriate in terms of the differnce of weight and scale of the text as the more important information (date, expiry date, price, type of ticket) are all in a larger scale and are in bold. However, I think the placement could maybe be improved on as it seems quite random.
Usabillity: the people who would use this ticket would be basically everyone - People who travel to work, students, teenagers, famillies, older people. If the ticket isn't important to them anymore ie. they don't need it to get back home for example, people just throw them away. I think that older people or people with bad eye sight may struggle slightly with them because the smaller text is quite small and crammed together, it is also quite thin which means that they might not be able to pick up on the letters as clearly.
That's an expensive bus ticket! You could be more thorough in your user analysis and use this more effectively in your redesign. For instance, who else looks at the ticket? What is the purpose of the date and the time and how important is the price once you've paid for it? I presume if it's an all-day ticket, the bus driver is the primary user as he needs to see it more clearly (and quickly) that the holder of the ticket. That's sort of where the heart of this particular design problem is. What are the circumstances of use and how can you improve them? Or do they need to be improved? Also, the font will be printed from a machine there on the bus, so there will be technical issues with changing to Helvetica or similar...not something you need to fully understand, but something to be aware of.
ReplyDeleteStill, your redesign is quite clear and considers hierarchy in a new way...but it could be even better.