PRIMARY RESEARCH
Today to start studio brief one we went looking for some wayfinding systems around Leeds this primary research was to get an idea of how company's use wayfinding to navigate through first hand interaction with the system. I found some too be useful and others not so. We visited trinity shopping centre to begin then moved onto white gallery, the train station and the core. The trinity centre used a easy colour scheme to help work out the levels of the floors this was useful. They also used a San serif which was very clear to read it was accompanied by a range of easy to understand icons the only flaw I would say is the map itself is very cluster and slightly confusing. Other than that a very basic straight forward easy to understand system.
White cloth gallery was less of a wayfinding system as it is only a few room however I have used it as an example of good aesthetics for signage. The train station of another example of a very basic easy to understand system I thought it to be the best out of them all. Placing the right information in the right locations so I could always find where i needed To go. The white text on the dark shade of blue makes for good legibility as the white dominates the blue. Again they use a San serif with a range of well established symbols. This brings me to the final, the core. This was another mall similar to trinity but smaller. It was the worst system out of all the places I found this was due to use of colour font and placement. To start the placement of level 2 board was out of the way completely, this resulted in us having to look for it. The colour of on the light up board matched with the white font are increadible hard to read, to make matters worse the font used is a very fragile San serif which looks slightly like it's been handwritten. It is not praticle and easy it read it lacks legibility. I feel they have tried to hard to be different yet not come up with anything original, instead just used vibrant colours and a fancy type face. From this research I learnt I will not be taking a similar approach to the core instead when I have decided on my location will look into the most effient band effective ways to create a way finding experience that is easy and stress free. A factor I did like however was there use of stickers on the floor.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Case Studies
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Pentagrams wayfinding signage for LCC
Looking into pentagrams redesign of the way finding system for LCC I got a general idea of what I need to consider and look into. Key principles of my chosen environment are a important thing to look into to begin, pentagrams inspiration came from LCC's - A dedications to "making" and physical design. This helps give the project a direction it also lead them to creating something very adaptable which is ideal in an environment such as a college due to its rapid pace of change e.g. new classes, rooms, equipment. Pentagram also talk about which materials they use this is something for me to keep in mind, as it is all part of the way finding experience. They use perforated powder-coated alumnimun this helps visitors identify the signage as well as making it a extremely versatile and adaptable system as signage can be fixed onto any of these boards, this eliminates the need for a mass redecoration programme when elements must be changed. “Jez and I spent a lot of time walking between the different rooms in the different buildings to understand how the room types were used. Once we understood that the college needed something very simple and functional it was clear to us what we needed to do,” says Lippa. This suggests that for me to get a real understanding of my college I need to venture through the whole of it.
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Whybrow & Johnson Banks Wayfinding Signage for Ravensbourne
A way finding systems developed for ravesnboure college by whybrow with johnson banks. Ravensbourne is a university sector college innovating in digital media and design. They relocated to a RIBA award-winning purpose built campus in London in September 2010. Where they had a new identity created by Johnson Banks. This identity takes its cue from the building’s cladding, a stunning non-periodic tessellation inspired by the work of mathematician Roger Penrose. This has then been taken further by using these three tessellation tile shapes as the internal signage. This depth behind the decisions that have been made behind this entire project is something I will look into for my project, by researching into leeds college of art. They analysed the users and there routes taken to created correct direction point, Again similar to pentagram they analysed the areas thoroughly I will be analysing leeds college of art to understand how the students navigate around. The method they used was screen printed to remove the need to fabricate or have additional signage, this is a completely different method to pentagrams as they do not allow for redecoration however as this is a relatively new building I guess they will not need to. For the content within the way-finding they 'developed a simple zonal numbering system and sign inventory.' One thing I have taken from these two case studies is to keep the typefaces simple and legible.
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WAY-FINDING THOERY
The five principle behind wayfinding
'Three criteria determine the navigability of a space: first, whether the navigator can discover or infer his present location; second, whether a route to the destination can be found; and third, how well the navigator can accumulate wayfinding experience in the space.'
Study taken from Lynch, 1960 'What makes Lynch's findings especially interesting is that the imageable or memorable features of a space are used by people to assist wayfinding. Landmarks are memorable locations that help to orient the navigator; regions are distinct areas that place him in one part of the environment; and nodes mark points where wayfinding decisions are made. Since a navigator's uses these features to record his past route-following experiences, a designed space that employs them should be more effectively navigable.'
- Paths: Familiar streets, walkways, subway routes, bus lines
- Edges: The physical barriers of walls, fences, rivers, or shorelines
- Districts: Places with a distinct identity, such as, in New York, Chinatown, Wall Street, and Greenwich Village
- Nodes: Major intersection or meeting places, such as the clock in New York’s Grand Central Terminal
- Landmarks: Tall, visible structures that allow you to orient over long distances
Source (http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infoarch/publications/mfoltz-thesis/node8.html)
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Typeface
When considering a typeface I found some brilliantly purpose designed fonts one that really stood out was fs mill bank by font smith created to be used within wayfinding however these fonts have licenses and cost a large amount. So I decided to look for fonts will similar aspects I am up with helvetica, Futura and clear view. Now helvetica is a widely used typeface because of its
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Whybrow - Wayfinding Solutions
To get a better understanding of how to approach my way finding brief I decided to look at a company which deal with way finding in particular. first Whybrow analyse by identifying the problem then get under the skin of it. By 'interrogating' the brief, the consists of conduct technical sit audit, assessing visitors behaviours and flow routes. This helps me by giving me a basic understanding of what i need to do to make sense of my chosen environment. Next they develop by defining the way finding strategy. At the design stage they agree on form, material and graphic design of each way finding point. Its then user-tested and refined before production artwork is developed. They produce concept drawings, a full inventory with mapped locations, and arrange dda compliance tests. Finally they solve the situation, by evaluating with clients and users before signing off the solution. For this i would use my crib groups to evaluate ideas and concepts.
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Critique Fridays
For my critique I was looking to answer the questions of which environment to chose. I had a range of locations I was considering my first being leeds college of art which I found lacked consistency and used multiply signs. Such a the several arrow signs all in different colours there is also some doors with numbers printed onto then others with just numbers next to the door. However my worry was that a large amount of students where doing this location and you can also only take it so far as it is a school the information needs to be informative and simply. The other locations I was looking at was The Core and Trinity. Feedback suggested for me to chose the one which I had the most interests in, so to think more about is it somewhere I would go? What stores are inside or Facilities for the college? I found this helpful it helped me evaluate my choice better, because The core has many connotation to health and strength I decided to use here, as I am into health and fitness its a common interest, the core also has outlets such a yoga and The Gym which is the gym I go to. Its also designed rather badly. The critique group thought Trinity might be to much of a task as the way finding is already pretty good and easy to understand. They also said If I had an option over leeds college of art then it would probably be the better option as such a large amount of students are doing it. Advice from simon also noted that i will be restricted with the leeds college of art and chosing a environment more suited to me will allow for more creativity.
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