Through a comprehensive evaluation of the spaces of 25 railway stations, where power-saving operations are being conducted due to an earthquake, the effects of various components of the space on users’ psychology were reviewed. For the platforms of railway stations, which are divided into ‘island platforms’ and ‘side platforms’ the ‘physical quantity measurement’ and ‘impression evaluation’ were assessed. When a simple power-saving method, such as partial lighting up is adopted, it has been shown that there is a negative effect on the users, both physically and psychologically. In particular, in the case of outdoor platforms, there is a concern that glare and anxiety due to contrast may increase; therefore, it is necessary to utilize the reflective surfaces effectively. Floor illuminance is fundamental to lighting design. However, some areas cannot be evaluated by floor illuminance alone. The difference in the results of the impression evaluation in five areas with floor illuminance around 50 lx was widely distributed, and it was found that the shape and material of the space affected the results. If platform screen doors are installed, a lighting method that can evenly illuminate the interior of the space is necessary. By reviewing each factor that determines the visual impression, it was revealed that the lighting location and lighting method were significantly affected.

A sign is a means of conveying information such as directions to destinations, usage information and advertisements for products and services, in a space where many people gather. Public spaces need to provide information that can be used easily on the spot to various people, and it is considered essential to show information constantly. In order for the user to obtain the necessary information from signs, they must be found and recognized. In this study, other signs and decorations were focused as elements of contrast with the surroundings. The real space (a concourse at a major terminal station in Tokyo) was reproduced by 3DCG and presented on a screen or VR space showed by head-mounted display for experiments. In Experiment 1, evaluation of the conspicuity of the target sign by stationary subjects was conducted using adjustment method. It was suggested that when a subject did not move his / her line of sight, it is mainly based on the range of 6 degree from the center of the sight as judging the conspicuity of the target signs and ease of finding them. Moreover, it was suggested that the area of “attractant” around the target signs disturbed the conspicuity of the target signs. In this study, “attractant” refers to other signs, decorations, or other things that contain information that being in the field of view. In Experiment 2, the relationship between the area of “attractant” around the target signs and the time to find the target signs was examined by a sign search experiment with looking around in the VR space. It was suggested that it is based on the range of 10 degree from the center of the sight as judging the conspicuity of the target signs and ease of finding them with looking around. The area of “attractant” had a major impact on the ease of finding signs. The same was true for colors used on the signboard surface. In particular, if a high contrast combination such as white and black is not used, it is considered that signs will easily blend into background. In Experiment 3, the subjects walked and searched the target signs in the VR space, and the relationship between advertisement display conditions, age group, and ease of finding the sign (time to search, distance to find) was examined. The time to search and the color code did not affect the search time, it was suggested that the signs could be easily found by preventing them from blending into the surrounding visual environment. It was shown that the influence of the advertisement display condition on the distance to find is limited. In order to be able to find the sign from a long distance, it is considered necessary to change the conditions of the sign itself more than the presence of “attractant” such as surrounding advertisements. In future research, in order to be able to predict the ease of finding from the state of the attractant in the actual space, it is necessary to increase the pattern such as the type of “attractant” and the positional relationship with the sign, and conduct a more detailed examination.

In this study, we classified 16 kinds of arrows which are frequently found at the station as "straight arrows" and "polygonal arrows". Then we conducted a fundamental experiment using arrows as the sole experiment elements of the space. In this experiment, subjects made a direction judgment and wrote a progress route intuitively. In this way, we investigated the factors of causes that made people get lost at the station. The results we got from the experiment are summarized below. 1) As for all the 8 types of "straight arrows", subjects are apt to judge the direction as a plan indication rather than an elevation one. 2) The downward "straight arrows" may cause misunderstandings in the direction judgment. 3) In case of "straight arrows", except of rightward and leftward arrows, "It is difficult to do the judgment between the plan and the elevation indications." became the most important reason why the subjects got lost in the direction judgment. 4) Based on the experiment of "polygonal arrows", we found that some upward arrows worked particularly better indicating the direction and progressing the route. Also, subjects can easily understand these signs. 5) The downward "polygonal arrows" may cause misunderstandings in the direction judgment. 6) As for all of these 8 types of "polygonal arrows", "It is difficult to know the distance to the turning point." became the most important reason why the subjects get lost in the direction judgment. 7) In some cases of "polygonal arrows", the users may interpret them as elevation indications which the railway company does not expect. 8) It is possible that the U-turn arrows of "backward progress" indications are not working properly. In both of the "straight arrows" and the "polygonal arrows", the force of indications of the downward arrows is weaker than the upward ones. And the downward arrows are difficult to understand. It is necessary to investigate the causes in detail in the future. In addition, as for the "straight arrows", it was obvious that the users may confuse the direction of plan indications with the elevation ones. This became a factor which made people get lost at the station. According to "The Ecological Approach To Visual Perception", we think that the force of the indication will be increased by incorporating the linear perspective and the texture gradient in the signboard. However, this idea needs to be examined by more experiments in the future. Otherwise, when applying to the real situation of the space, there are more factors other than the arrow signs in the view range of the direction judgment, so we need to consider this influence multifaceted.

From the perspective of universal design, signs should be easy to understand for all users. In Japan, tourist information signs have become increasingly multilingual in recent years as the number of tourists from other countries has increased. However, it is not clear whether the current signs are comprehensible to both Japanese and non-Japanese speakers. In this study, field and questionnaire surveys on signs were conducted in Matsue City, a regional city in Japan, and the evaluations of Japanese and non-Japanese speakers were compared. In the field survey, a caption evaluation method was used to evaluate the visual environment, and in the questionnaire survey, the SD method was used to evaluate the signs obtained in the field survey. The results indicated that non-Japanese speakers were more likely to focus on signs, and signs with diagrams and maps were evaluated more positively. In addition, the evaluation structure of signs was found to consist of four elements: “Harmonicity”, “Clarity”, “Visibility”, and “Comprehensibility”. “Harmonicity” was indicated to be as important as “Clarity” and “Visibility”. These results suggest that the replacement of text with diagrams on signs contributes to the improvement of impressions and is particularly effective for non-Japanese speakers.