The National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) is a significant institution in modern medicine in Taiwan. Its West Campus, the oldest medical center in the country, has been recognized as a municipal historic site due to its architectural and historical importance. However, visitors have faced navigation difficulties for a long time. To address this issue, a study was conducted to find navigation solutions within the constraints of architectural structure, hardware, and busy crowds. Blender and Unity were used to recreate the environment, and interactive virtual wayfinding experiments were conducted with 64 participants divided into two groups. Each group completed 12 tasks in two scenarios, and their task performance, wayfinding behavior, and questionnaire responses were collected to evaluate the overall environment. The pretest helped identify problems in the existing signage system and weak areas, leading to redesigning of a new signage system. The main objective of the posttest was to evaluate the new design’s effectiveness. Our research contributes to future signage system layout design references, enhancing readability and information coherence while recommending locations within medical facilities. We set specific design standards to facilitate wayfinding signage systems in complex environments.

In the discussion of the multiple aspects of underground urban facilities, emergency measures during disasters need to be appropriately planned to evacuate and relocate people instantly. People are prone to losing their way in large indoor spaces. Smartphones are equipped with multiple sensors and a multimedia interface; these features are now standard tools that be utilized as personal evacuation guides. Under the mental stress of emergency evacuation, people tend to make different perceptual judgments and decisions when processing the information on an interface. This study summarizes the current smartphone navigation system interfaces on the market as seven samples for the experiment. We chose the most advantageous information elements from the results to design two types of interfaces, namely continuous route view navigation and survey view navigation. Through experimental observation and think-aloud analysis of on-site simulation testing results, the proposed interface is both legible and readable and provides minimum message loading to guide users.

Peer interaction through play is one approach to stimulating preschool children’s growth. The outdoor playground facilities in parks are ideal places for children to practice their social skills. This study utilized nonparticipant observation to observe and record children’s play behaviors and interactions with others to ascertain whether outdoor playground facilities favor peer interaction. We summarized the design elements of peer-interaction-promoting playground facilities to optimize the facilities by determining the types of environments and facilities that trigger peer interaction. This study discovered that children spent most of their time in solo play and the least in peer interaction. Such interaction occurred only in spaces in which children stopped briefly. After installing a new bubble machine designed to increase peer interaction, solo play behaviors and parent–child interactions became less frequent for children younger than six years old, whereas peer interaction became more frequent. During the peer interaction of children aged 3 to 6, the frequency of level one, three, and four interactions increased. They also displayed level five behaviors, which were not observed before the installation. The new facility triggered higher-level behaviors, such as cooperation and playing together, enhancing peer interaction between different age groups.

An effective disaster prevention map ensures public safety and efficient evacuation during emergencies. Emergency evacuation information design in Taiwan is in its nascent stages. This study focuses on individuals' understanding, behavior, and decision-making during disaster prevention to devise suitable disaster prevention map norms. We examined the Emergency Planning Zone's existing disaster prevention methods and surveyed the community to understand their disaster prevention concepts and needs. We conducted two experiments: the first tested the comprehension of existing disaster prevention maps and identified their issues, while the second evaluated a redesigned map based on Experiment 1's findings. We discovered that all age groups agree on needing accurate, fast information and diverse evacuation route options. Experiment 1 revealed disproportionate assembly point icons on the existing map, leading to navigation difficulties. The map also failed to mark landmarks, road names, and blocked intersections accurately. The redesigned map in Experiment 2 addressed these issues, showing that improving map information design aids recognition and memory, and bridges wayfinding behavior gaps in people with different spatial abilities. We suggest marking evacuation routes on maps, placing corresponding signs on-site, and locating assembly points near landmarks for easier navigation.

This study explores how digital comic application interfaces affect reader comprehension, cognitive processing, and narrative engagement. As comic reading transitions from print to digital platforms, app-based interfaces such as full-page multi-panel layouts, guided view sequences, and single-frame scrolling fundamentally reshape the reader’s narrative experience. This research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining a general survey ( N = 84), a controlled reading experiment ( N = 24), and interviews with five professional comic artists to examine how different interface designs influence readers’ visual narrative processing. Participants read identical comic content through three distinct interface modes, followed by immediate recall tasks and engagement assessments using the User Engagement Scale (UES). Visual Language Fluency Index (VLFI) scores were used to analyze individual differences in cognitive processing. Results indicate that guided view interfaces significantly enhance narrative recall and emotional engagement among readers with lower visual language fluency, while higher-fluency readers preferred full-page layouts for their flexibility and richer visual context. The single-frame format was found to simplify comprehension in complex narratives but reduce perceived esthetic satisfaction. Interviews with comic artists further revealed that app interfaces influence not only readers but also creative practices, particularly in pacing, panel composition, and the use of visual cues. The study concludes that interface design is not a passive vessel but an active agent in shaping digital reading cognition and experience. These findings have implications for digital literacy, interface usability, and the evolving storytelling strategies in digital comic media.