Adventures in wayfinding

Text by Michele Regenold, Photos by Alison Weidemann

Imagine you’re driving with your mom to visit a college campus. You’re going to a place neither of you has ever been before. Your mom is in charge of getting to the outskirts of town. She wants your help to navigate through town to the campus.

“Almost there,” she says.

You scrounge in your bag for the packet of stuff you got in the mail from Iowa State University. On the back of the folder there’s a campus map that shows your destination—the Memorial Union and the parking ramp.

“Which exit do we want?” your mom says.

Uh-oh. Your map doesn’t tell you that. It shows campus, not the whole town or highways leading to town. You could have sworn you had another map that showed routes into town. You flip through your stuff but it’s not there. You have vague memories of a brochure left at home on your desk.

Quick! You have to choose:

• Continue to the next exit.
• Follow the Jack Trice Stadium sign.