The plan in my pocket

Text: an original contemporary visitor-review-style practice extract.

I picked up the floor plan because the entrance hall was busy and I wanted to find the small reading room. The plan did more than point me towards it. A narrow passage marked on the paper led to a courtyard I had not noticed from the main hall. I went back later to look at the courtyard properly; the plan had made it seem worth the detour.

That sounds like a simple success, but the paper was less helpful once I reached the upper floor. Its neat boxes suggested that the rooms followed one another in a clear order. In reality, a temporary display had closed one doorway, and I had to retrace my steps. A staff member showed me the open route. I could have followed the signs without the plan, though I would not have known what lay beyond the next corridor.

The plan also changed what I paid attention to. I began looking for the small rooms at the edges of the building, rather than treating them as spaces between the main galleries. Yet this may say as much about my own habit of following a marked route as it does about the paper. A visitor who prefers to wander might find the numbered rooms restrictive; another might welcome the reassurance. I kept the plan for the rest of the visit, but I am not sure it made the building easier to understand. It gave me a reason to explore, and a wrong expectation to correct.

In this extract, the writer sets out to persuade readers that a printed floor plan is worth picking up when exploring a public building.

Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.