First, let’s take a look at something that they got right.

These are centered in the main elevator area on every deck. They’re recognizable, easy to find, and they’re a great way to find out where you are and where you need to go.

Here’s another element of the system that works. These numbers are big, clear, and greet you both when you get off the elevators and when you go down a flight of stairs.

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Now, onto some stuff that (I think) could have had better treatment.

This is one of the signs used to direct visitors to the rooms. This is placed on the wall directly to the left of the small passageway to the stateroom area. Notice that the arrow points up. This seems silly to me. I feel that grouping the stateroom numbers in order of direction, then assigning an arrow to each group, would have been a clearer and more effective treatment for these signs. The sign, in my opinion, is big enough to accommodate this.

This is a sign used to direct guests to the restrooms. The use of symbols here is good, but the choice of arrows does not feel appropriate. I might just have a strange aversion to that arrow, but when I look at it I tend to see a 90º angle with a line. An arrow pointing directly downwards, I feel, would have been a better choice.

These are just a few of the issues that I found. The other large issue is the insufficient quantity of signs present throughout the ship.

In part 2 of this article I will be showing some of my own solutions to these problems.