The journey that Mateus designed for me was really good - I didn't have any problem understanding the instructions and the design was pretty well done as well. So, I did only a fez changes to the cards - changed a color that was too bright to read outdoors and took off all the images.
But then, because the idead behind his project was something like a journey as gift, I started building an idea for a project. I made a website in which people could either choose from ready-to-go journeys or take a quizz and have a journey generated for them.
For task 6 I choose to create a cycling journey. I searched trough Transport For London website to find information on the cycling paths in the city and decided to create a cycling route between Regent's Park and the lovely cafe Look Mum No Hands, through Regent's Canal.
This route is aproximetely 3.8 miles long and according to Google it would take 25 minutes to do it by bike. All the streets have cycling paths recommended by cyclists, meaning it would be ok for you to do it even if you are not used to cycle in London. I've marked in dark blue the places where you find a Barclays Cycle Hire stop - there are 9 stops close to the path I choose!
I researched a bit more about arrows and not knowing exactly where to begin with, I realized that we can easily have several different contexts for understanding arrows. For instance: a common arrow pointing right can mean one thing if you are reading a chemistry book and something completely different when you read the labels on products you have in your house.
Everyday arrows.
But if you think about way finding, arrows are pretty straight forward symbols to understand - they point directions.
They can be drawn in different shapes, but their meaning is still the easiest thing to be processed by our minds - even more if we are already looking for a direction to find our way.
Even thought it's something quite simple and that it almost looks like it's natural, it's important to remember that the truth is that we have been learning how to read arrows trough the whole of our experiences. So, when you see an upwards arrow (as the one on the picture above) you know that it's meaning is to point straight on and not actually up.
Sometimes these kind of things can get a little bit confusing:
In a first moment it can be a little bit tricky to see the errors, because these arrows are not really wrong. The problem is they just don't meet the common meaning that we are all used to - what we expect based on what we've been learning all our lives.
Task 05 // from here to there (where Mateus sent me to)
So, for this task we should design a journey for someone else and document the journey someone designed for us. I've designed a journey to Ana Paula and she'll probably be talking about that soon on her blog.
But now I'll post about the journey Mateus designed to me. He gave me these black cards on a envelope and told me I shouldn't look to all of them at the same time - this was on the instructions:
They were all numbered and so I started. The first card told me to go to Euston Tube Station.
Once in Euston, I took the second card and it read: "Get out of the station and find Euston Road. Cross the road and look for Gordon Street". It was pretty easy to find Euston Road, there were signs pointing it from the tube station, so I just followed them. I crossed the road and to find Gordon Street I went to a bus stop and looked on the map.
Gordon Street was at my right hand side, so I walked there and got card number 3, that said: "Walk down Gordon Street and you will find a park called Gordon Square Gardens. Go through the park, eventually you will find a BIG book next to the exit. Exit the park".
So I did. The BIG book was actually one of the BookBench sculptures. It was so nice to see one, I've been reading about them on the internet in a while. This one was for Mrs Dalloway and it was designed by One Red Shoe.
Card number 4 read: "Turn right and walk towards a big old building that looks like a castle. It's the Waterstone's building! I'm sorry to inform you that this is not your final destination. Keep walking down Torrington Place. Turn right when you get to Tottenham Court Road".
These instructions were pretty straight forward. This Waterstones building is beautiful and it really looked like a castle! Once in Tottenham, I read the 5th card: "Walk towards the Starbucks Coffee and turn to Howland Street. Keep walking, turn right on Cleveland Street".
Card 6 told me: "While you walk on Cleveland Street you will look for this Grafitti (picture) Once you've found it, go through this street... It's called Clipst... Street".
The picture was of a Banksy Grafitti! How cool! So I walked until...
It's Clipstone Street, by the way. Next card told me to find another Starbucks nearby and to have a treat (if I was hungry). So, I've found it and followed the advise - I was hungry.
Card 8 said: "Now that you've found Starbucks you just have to look around and find Weymouth Street, then WALK until you find a Santander Bank". I thought I would have to walk a lot, but it wasn't that much until I spotted Santander's red sign:
And then, because I could see The Marylebone (that grey building with the purple flowers), I already knew where I was and imagined where Mateus had send me to. Card 9 read: "Now turn right on Marylebone High Street. It is a lovely street where you will find your final destination. There's a picture of it on the next card. Hope you like it! :)" It is a lovely street indeed, with a lovely bookshop...And this was card number 10:
Daunt Books! :D So, after a BookBench, a Waterstones and a Banksy grafitti, I've arrived at my final destination. Particularly, I enjoy my time being in any bookshop, but Daunt Books is really a beautiful place, specially the travel section (which is why the bookshop is famous for). I arrived there at noon, got a book and a magazine, but only after an hour and a half of going through all the continents shelves.
Well, it was fun doing this! The directions were all pretty straight forward, it wasn't confusing at any time. And I've found it really interesting going to a place that I didn't know where it was; it made me much more aware of my surroundings. Thinking about it now, it could be a nice project: doing some sort of "secret guides" that would take you through nice places of the city. It could be something, right?
For the second task of the project I was asked to research different types of arrows. Here's something that I found and didn't know before: there are several icons for arrows in Unicode, which means that you can actually type them with your keyboard. Here are some examples:
Task 01 // successful example of a wayfinding project
The Musee du quai Branly is a museum in Paris that features art and indigenous objects of civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. It was founded in 2006 and the building was designed by the architect Jean Nouvel.
(Source: Vertical Garden // Flickr)
In this project it's possible to see how the wayfinding design establishes a dialogue with the architecture of the building. According to the museum's website:
Hidden from view by thick vegetation, and protected from the noise of the quays by a glass palisade, the museum only reveals itself gradually, and the visitor becomes explorer. To reach it, he must cross an undulating garden designed to create an impression of remote, untamed greenery. In the building, which is perched on piles, all is curved, fluid, transparent, mysterious and, above all, warmly receptive.
It's interesting to notice the concept of the museum as a non conventional and exotic/distant place is reflected, since the very beginning of a visitor's experience, on how it might seem hidden. The most interesting thing, in my opinion, is how this happens without giving the visitor too many or too few information - it can't be impossible to reach, but at the same time an overwhelming amount of arrows and explanatory text might ruin the idea of an exploration of the unknown.
Once inside the lobby, the visitor has to go trough a ramp that gives access to the main exhibition. The ramp is used as an area for exhibition and since 2010 it holds an installation called The River, by Charles Sandison:
Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in a river of moving words projected with varying rhythms and concentrations along the whole of the ramp leading up to its source: the collections area. 16,597 names of all the peoples and geographic locations displayed in the museum's collections accompany the flow of visitors in this way.
(Source: Personal Footage - Mateus Barros)
Even though this is an exhibit, and not a permanent feature of the museum, the installation adds something to the general feeling of the experience in Quai du Branly. Also, it's quite nice to notice that even if it's a ramp and the path is pretty straight foward, The River makes the visitors feel like they are being taken to the right direction if they follow the flow of words.
The permanent exhibition of the museum is divided in 4 different categories, which are the continents from where each piece of art came from. Each continent is signalized by a color, as you can see on the map:
Here's a link of the collection's map in higher resolution and in english. You can also take a tour inside the museum via the Google Cultural Institute at this link.
The whole of the museum’s main floor is marked by a multifunctional element (signalized above as "La Rivière"), a 252-metre-long serpent clad in natural leather. This serves as a support for signage and multimedia equipment, and as seating.
(source: Domus Web)
I had the chance to visit this museum last year and immediately fell in love with it. It's a very modern building and the disposition of the subjects in matter is quite innovative. I remember that the overall felling I had was an excitement about being able to explore something completely different and unusual.
Even though I couldn't find any information regarding the wayfinding visuals, I think the building and how the ambiance were designed already work as part of the wayfinding system. I'm waiting for an answer from the Communication Department of the museum and as soon as I know who projected the signage of Museé du Quai Branly, I'll post it here.
For the first task on this project I got to choose an environment (it could be a shop, a park, a museum) and analyse the existing wayfinding system at it. I choose to analyze the flagship store of Topshop, located in Oxford Street, London. The signage and how every information is displayed on the store always caught my attention and I think the way it was designed really added up to the feeling and ambiance of the store.
I looked it up details about the flagship store address on their website:
Then, with the map information, I headed up to the store. I took the tube, got down at Oxford Circus station and the first thing I saw once I was on the street was:
Inside the shop the lights are pretty strong and the ambient feels a lot more alive than the outside (on this day London was all rainy and grey). The ground floor is easily recognizable as the one that holds the accessories (bags, scarves, hats), so I try to guess where I would find my products. I can see there's an overwhelming amount of information going on, but I spot a map on my right:
Reading the map I understand I have to go to the lower ground (-1) where there's ladies clothing. This information reappears as I make my way down the escalator:
Once in the lower ground, there's a panel on my left hand side showing what Topshop have in each floor. The level I'm on is visually differed from the others trough the use of the color red in the type. There's no indication of a swimwear section, so I just go ahead and try to look for some sign of where it might be.
I spot a sign for Swimwear on my left hand side:
I can see the Swimwear area is identified by a bright pink hue that paints the walls and the ceiling. The clothes in the hangers are not ordered in any obvious pattern: it's not color coded and there are bikinis, dresses, hats, shorts, etc, all mixed up together. I'm looking for a black bikini top and it's not difficult to find it:
Once I got it, I start to look for the fitting rooms so I can try it on.
I find it while I'm still on the Swimwear section and head up to it. It has different doors for the entry and exit and they are clearly signalized. The doors in the fitting room are numbered. You easily understand that the higher the number on your door, the closest you are to the exit.
After I try the bikini top, I get out of the changing room and start to look for the shoes section. I remember reading on the first sign that it was on the -2 floor, so I start to look for an escalator. The first escalator on my way only goes up - and because I don't really remember seeing it when I was going to the fitting room, I get a little confused. Luckily, there's another totem with a map nearby:
Now I know the escalator I need to take is near the jeans section, and I start to look for it.
The -2 floor is almost entirely dedicated to the shoes section:
The shoes are arranged by type (first high heels sandals, then platform sandals, flats, ballerinas, boots and then specific brands). I walk around until I see the flat shoes and spot the one I've chosen online. Then I look for a place to sit and try it on.
With both of my products in hand, I start to look for the tills so I can finally buy them. It's not long before I spot a sign saying "pay here".
Unfortunately the tills on this floor weren't open, so I had to go one level up to pay for my items.
This time it was easier to find the escalator - maybe because on the shoes section you have more ("white") empty space than on the clothing sections.
After paying for my items, I look up to find the exit. I spot the escalators that only goes up right in the middle of the shop and realize the floor leading to it is different from the rest of the shop: it's a hardwood flooring, which gives me the impression of it being almost like a carpet that shows the way into and out of the store.
The escalator left me right in front of the main door and this is where my experience for this analysis ended.
The design project for Topshop was created by Danziel and Pow and on their website you can see photos of the store when the project was launched back in 2011. They also provide a mini sketchbook in which they give the idea of what it's like to develop a project like this. Some things have changed in the signage of the store in the last 3 years, but the feeling of the project seems to remain the same. About the project, Danziel and Pow's website says:
"We created an illuminated navigational signage and store directory package which is playful, while clearly assisting customers to circulate the space. Contrasting light and dark floor tiles create clear routes into the store, encouraging customer footfall to all corners of the store and echoing the ceiling architecture above."
From what I can see, this project not only works really well as a wayfinding system but it also adds personality to the shop, helping to consolidate the branding of Topshop as a modern, young and cool retailer.
