Finding KC
Finding KC Capstone Book
Andrew Franks
K-State, ART 580 Daniel Warner
Spring 2019
Table of Contents
1
Topic Research 7 Topic Summary 11 Project Proposal 13 Research and Analysis 14 Redevelopement Goals
15 The Need for Urban Wayfinding 16 Traditional Wayfinding Practices 18 The Need for Change
21 New Urban Wayfinding Practices
23 Kansas City Wayfinding Implimentation 26 In Summary
27 Current State
Ideation Process
2
33 Ideation Process
35 Sketches
37 Mock-Ups
Design Solution
3
41 Design Solution 43 Key Elements 45 Color Scheme 47 Mile Markers
49 Marker Map Head 51 Trail head
Sources and Citations 53 Informational Sources 55 Image Sources
4
Topic Summary
Figure 1
Kansas City is hub of entertainment, culture, trade, sports, and business within the Midwest. Over the years of its life the city has experienced great expansions in its trade and economic sources in addition to its great population growth. With this great trade expansion and development of the cultural downtown districts there has been a great surge of the city’s population moving into the surrounding cities such as Overland park which is now the second largest populated city within Kansas. With this great shift in population density toward the outer cities, Kansas City has expressed a desire to draw back in the populations to live within the city limits and within the downtown districts once again.
This desire has led to a great focus on the city’s efforts toward a “new urbanist landscape” for the city’s primary districts and eventually the surrounding neighborhoods and districts. This New Urbanist movement seeks to create a city with many smaller local living environments that focus on green and natural means of shopping, transportation, and lifestyles. With the addition of a surplus of green spaces and the proactive encouragement of greener methods of travel the city is seeking to enable the use of public transportation, bicyclists, and pedestrian commutes for daily life within the downtown districts. To this end, the city has spent over 6 years on redeveloping the primary downtown districts including the arts, jazz, and commercial districts.
Topic Research | Topic Summary
08
These large overhauls and in some cases complete redevelopments have seen a large influx of public use within these districts that the city seeks to turn into sustained residential developments and the construction of closely connected residential communities within and woven within the primary downtown districts. Thus far, the redevelopments of have been a welcome update to the cities aging districts, however there is currently a greatly overlooked aspect of the cities revitalization is seen within the current level of attention toward pedestrian wayfinding systems. The issue is that is currently facing Kansas City is seen in the treatment of pedestrian wayfinding as a secondary thought to that of other signage and pathfinding. With much of the cities focus resting on the redevelopment of the roadways to include large pedestrian walks and to allow for fewer pedestrian and vehicular paths it is
only natural that a great focus should be taken on the pedestrian wayfinding. This is sadly, only partially the case with Kansas city’s current implementation. With the introduction of the digital kiosks and mobile applications the city has started down a solid path with the goal of creating a strong wayfinding system, yet there is still much that can be done to promote the pedestrian lifestyle and ease the use of walk ways and trails. This lack of attention to the trail signage is not only harming the ease of use for citizens. But it is also missing on a great opportunity to encourage living within the city to make it a priority to utilize these trails in their daily lives. This project seeks to analyze the implementation plans for New urbanist redevelopments in regard to pedestrian wayfinding. Then to determine what steps can be taken to assist the city in development and encourage its goal for a greener lifestyle amongst its residents.
Figure 2
Topic Research | Topic Summary
10
Project Proposal
The Problem After the research into the new urbanist movement in Kansas City an area of pedestrian development that was found lacking and un addressed was the trail wayfinding for the many trails and parks within Kansas City. In a recent survey it was found that 82% of surveyed Kansas City area residents think cities should develop a connected system of walking/biking trails. (MARC Regional Walking and Biking Survey)
The Proposal With the goals of Kansas City to promote and enable new urbanist walkable communities, the encouragement of Pedestrian city use must be engaged. With such a large desire from the public to create a unified system of trails this is a natural course of action to promote and enable the populace to use the city trail systems and engage in a pedestrian lifestyle. As such, the project proposed is to create a wayfinding system for the city trails. The system needs to be one that can easily implement into existing systems and provide consistent communication. Additionally, the new wayfinding system will be non-intrusive to primary level existing park identities so as to not cause a conflict in hierarchy.
Topic Research | Project Proposal 12
Research and Analysis
Redevelopment Goals Kansas City is hub of music, arts, sports, and work opportunities within the Midwest. A city with over 240 neighborhoods and districts it has thrived and progressed over its 129 year life. However, with progression and development comes the need for change and adaptation, and Kansas City is no exception. With many of the downtown districts in need of repair and the city has set its goals on new developments within the downtown districts in an effort to restore their sustainability and walkability within the various districts. With these current issues as the central driving focus of the change, Kansas City has set their resources towards achieving several principle goals they believe will revitalize these downtown districts and provide the new downtown life and work environments to continue the city in its evolution and progression. These goals include doubling the current downtown population in their efforts to also increase employment downtown while retaining and promoting safe, authentic neighborhoods. And the path through which they seek to achieve these results are through the promotion of sustainability in a new walkable downtown with the creation of “Complete Streets” which are, as stated by the US Department of Transportation, “streets designed and operated to enable safe use and support mobility for all users. Those include people of all ages and abilities, regardless of whether they are travelling as drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, or public transportation riders.” (US Department of Transportation 2015) This New Urbanist approach to their redevelopment will set new standards among streetscape planning, city planning, environmental design, architecture, and wayfinding practices. With the development of complete streets, “Road Diets” and the extension of pedestrian walking paths and cross walks, a large focus must be placed upon the analysis of current wayfinding practices and how they must change to align with the “Complete Street” implementation. (Kansas City Missouri 2011) The importance and effectiveness of these wayfinding practices are key to creating a walkable district as they guide the pedestrian experience through this new environment.
Figure 3
Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 14
The Need for Urban Wayfinding The experience of traveling from one location to another within familiar or unfamiliar environments is often a taxing event without the existence of proper signage and guidance. Whether in the form street signs, maps, cross walks, district labeling, or interactive kiosks, wayfinding manifests itself in many ways. The various implementations of municipal wayfinding systems are an important part of providing a sense of place to the people within the environment. These systems provide much needed basic information, navigation, and identification for people to create an experience that is effortless in traveling from one location to another. Additionally, these various systems of navigation as well as others, such as monuments and directories, allow an experience that enriches a person’s interactions with the environment and provides a sense of space within the greater environment. As observed by the Sign Research Foundation the consistent use of wayfinding allows a city to not only provide proper navigation within urban environments, it also allows for the highlight of complementary destinations and the enhancement of the urban identity through its design and implementation. (Signage Research Foundation 2013) Furthermore, proper wayfinding allows the opportunity for improved public health as “Good wayfinding improves public health trough increased walking and cycling with reduced pedestrian and motor vehicle injuries and fatalities. Air quality benefits when drives are efficient in wayfinding and when more people find it easy to walk, cycle, or use public transit rather than driving.� (Easter Seals Project ACTION 2013) Unfortunately, what has become the normal practices for urban wayfinding have positioned themselves into not being implemented properly in order to support these possible benefits.
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Traditional Wayfinding Practices Traditionally, the focus of wayfinding has been geared toward the traffic of motor vehicles, leaving the wayfinding and navigational needs of the pedestrians as an afterthought. For over 50 years this primary focus of signage and wayfinding toward traffic and vehicular use has often created a lack of connection amongst the systems of wayfinding for the various modes of transportation. Pedestrians regularly find the frequency of their navigational systems more in keeping with that of the vehicles providing them linear wayfinding within a mode of transportation that is far freer and environmentally dependent than that of vehicles. And in some cases this lack of attention toward the walking and cycling populace has forced the pedestrians to rely completely on vehicular focused signage for information and navigation. Of which this signage is often placed much higher than desired and much too infrequent for pedestrian needs. As observed by Antonio Krüger:
User requirements and environmental affordances for pedestrians vary considerably compared to car drivers, and current pedestrian navigation systems do not take them sufficiently into account. One of the major factors is that pedestrian navigation systems have so far been very much based on car navigation systems; on the data level, the conceptual level as well as on the implementation level (Krüger et al. 2004).
The needs of the pedestrian are much more situational than that of vehicles on designated roads. The issue comes in where, unlike vehicular and traffic wayfinding, there is no national standard for pedestrian wayfinding signage. This is partially due to the fact that pedestrian trips are generally very localized and short with the application needing to react situationally to the urban environment in which they are placed. However, this does not mean that
there are not best practices or even a general standard. Most pedestrian wayfinding manifests itself within two forms, directional signage pointing to a destination, or a map localized around the pedestrian’s current location. The latter will often provide much more detail then the former and a great deal more than vehicular signage as due to the nature of pedestrian travel there is a greater allowance for time and attention to the information displayed. But are these two simple standard formats enough? The pedestrian’s entire wayfinding process is not simply an interaction with signage, but rather is an interaction with people and features of an environment. Signs, sounds, landmarks, lighted paths, tactile interactions, and notable sights are several of the ways in which thiws experience of environmental interaction affords the users with an increased memory for direction and aids in turn by turn decisions and the awareness of a person sense of place within their urban location. To this same extent poor or improper wayfinding will affect a person’s navigation negatively in all of the forms that proper wayfinding can enhance a person experience and knowledge. Unfortunately, with pedestrian wayfinding being left as an afterthought to vehicular wayfinding it has inadvertently aided in progressing the regularly seendecentralization of the urban populaces toward outlying sub-urban environments and further encouraged the use of motor vehicles commuting into urban areas and further still made vehicular wayfinding the focus. Fortunately cities have recognized this trend and acknowledged the effects it is having on the remaining urban populace.
Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 16
The Need for Change In the past 10 years there has been an ever-increasing push amongst cities in the U.S. and Europe to provide a greater understanding and direction for pedestrian wayfinding within the increasingly complex development of urban settings. With the constantly rising awareness for environmental conservation and the need of cost preservations amongst residents of these cities, the motor vehicle focused urban transportation is being analyzed and questioned as the most efficient form of transportation within these urban environments. As a result, the New Urbanist movement began to emerge and initiate the change of the 50 year old mentality of urban life. As stated by Trudeau from the Department of Geography at Macalester College: New Urbanism is an urban design movement advocating the creation of compact, mixed-use, and mixed-income human settlements. This movement emerged as a progressive intervention to the conventional form of car-oriented, low-density, separated-use sprawl development that has been transforming the urban fabric of cities in the US and elsewhere since the 1960s. (Trudeau 2013) This new approach toward urban development focuses on not only pedestrian or vehicle wayfinding, but rather seeks a unified approach to urban development that encompasses and provides for the navigational experiences within each form of urban transportation. In addition, it seeks to provide a more seamless transitioning between forms of transportation during the daily activities of the population. However, the pedestrian experience still remains a critical role in this plan as it is the connection between the other various transportation methods as well as a key component of providing an increased urban populace a viable alternative to commuting from outlying suburban neighborhoods.
Figure 7
Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 18
New Urban Wayfinding Practices The transitional period from traditional urban wayfinding practices to a New Urban development is not a simple endeavor but is nevertheless one that must be taken if the revitalization of the urban population is to happen. A primary focus to enable the change toward New Urbanism is the evolution of pedestrian signage design and implementation. When walking the rate of travel is significantly slower than other standard modes of transportation and are able to allocate more time toward reading and understanding directional and informational signage. This allows for a much greater amount of information to be displayed on an individual sign compared to other transportation form. However, pedestrian travel can run the risk of fatigue if the lack of clear information means the possibility or underestimated distances or inefficient navigation. Therefore, while map displays and directional signage are both strong methods of pedestrian information, a larger diversity of navigational methods and elements need to be The listed methods of information display, when combined properly with the complete street system enable a change in the population and encourage travel through walking to destinations opposed to driving within the city or commuting into the city.
Information panels, static or interactive, should be included in areas of high pedestrian traffic, and transportation hubs. Street Signs, while standardized for vehicles still play an important role
Directional signs should be included at points of decisions such as Information provided in aditional mediums Braille, tactile accessibility ramps at crosswalks, QR codes, apps, etc. District identity signage at regular intervals or notable locations. En-route signs can be included at regular intervals in between major more detailed navigational tools Gateway signs or banners at entrances and exits of districts Markers along trails and pedestrian malls to continually keep people oriented and within their designated trail. Intermodal transit information provided at major transportation hubs Pedestrian focused lighting alongside paths and roadways, to provide saftey and to illuminate informational panels. Trees planted between the road and the pedestrian walkways allow for shade and a“barrier� between the pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 20
New Urban Wayfinding in Practice Already there are several notable cities that have begun the undertaking of transforming their urban environments into walkable cities. Spreading across the United States and the rest of the world there a many good examples and a variety of approaches to this new movement of wayfinding. As the goals of walkability and livability become every increasingly accepted goals within cities municipal governments are recognizing they must translate these designs to people and not simply to motor vehicles. Key elements such as complete streets and sustainable communities have proven highly compatible with and a good foundation for good pedestrian wayfinding as seen in their sidewalks, crosswalks, signage, urban vegetation, and even redefined standards for new street networks have been implemented. There are several great examples of properly implemented wayfinding for walkability, a primary example is seen in London. An initiate named “Legible London” has been at work for over a decade now and has sought to evolve and transform London’s confusing, and often intimidating for visitors, street system. Over the past decade they have embraced the complete street concepts and have transformed those streets into a now easily walkable and navigable experience. Figure 8 “Legible London has an explicit public health agenda to increase walking for health as well as to foster economic and environmental benefits.” (Easter Seals Project ACTION 2013) As a result of a study the Legible London project conducted in 2006 the results showed that the majority of residents and visitors found that information presented was inconsistent and the 32 distinct and completely unrelated wayfinding systems within city only managed to confuse pedestrians which led to many taking to the subways, of which 55% of those trips would have been quicker to walk. In light of this study Legible London sought to remedy the inconsistent information by unifying the signage systems and creating on standard for information across a variety of platforms. The most notable of these platforms are the Monoliths in place throughout the city. To date almost every single neighborhood (or borough) within London currently already has at least one of the newly designed Legible London signs. This thorough implementation now brings the total signs put in place by Legible London to over 1,700 signs and rising.
We developed Legible London to help both residents and visitors walk to their destination quickly and easily. The signs offer a consistent experience and information about distances between areas. They’re also integrated with other transport modes so, for example, when people are leaving the Tube, they can quickly identify the route to their destination. (Legible London Project 2018) With a newly set standard of signage, Legible London has created and implemented a new core system of signs that suit the variety of environments to adjust to the user’s needs. This new system includes many elements such as; Monoliths, Miniliths, Midiliths, Interlith Totems, Finger Posts, and Waymaker Bollards. All these signs utilize high contrasting color schemes so as to be read easily from a distance. Additionally, each sign includes a clear marking along the top in yellow with an icon of a walking man. These maps include many elements that make up great information panels, utilizing maps, complimentary data,
and accessibility considerations. Each monolith includes “Heads-up” mapping with the top of the map oriented the same direction the user is facing. Important information is placed at a reasonable height so it may be read easily by most people of all statures and ages. Additionally, the maps display steps, pedestrian crosswalks to aid those with limited mobility. For scale each monolith has two maps that are scaled on time to walk distances with one displaying the range that can be traveled within 5 minutes on a detailed map and another smaller map with a range of 15 Minutes showing locations of interest and key services such as municipal transit hubs. Finally, each sign includes a scan able code to acquire a live mobile version of the maps, and a numwber that can be called to connect a person to aid in directions as well as information for emergency services. The effectiveness of this unified wayfinding system was documented in an effectiveness report in 2014 when conducting over 600 interviews it was record that both visitors and residents alike found the unified system far more effective in helping finding the shortest with a 50% increase in users confident in finding a shortest route to their destination. And staggering increase from 48% in 2009 to 90% in 2013 stating that the wayfinding systems in place left them “Confident to explore” and encouraged walking to destinations rather than driving. (Steere Davies Gleave 2014)
Figure 9
In addition to the success of Legible London there are many more cities that are well along the path of walkable cities and sustainable urban environments such as Philadelphia, Charlotte North Carolina, New York City, in a addition to over 500 US cities that have all started down the path of sustainable walkable environments. Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 22
Kansas City Wayfinding Implementation This success and research with urban conversions into walkable cities has laid significant ground work for prioritization and methodology within the transition process toward a walkable urban system. Kansas City itself being among these cities with many outcome goals for this development including items such as; increased health for the populace due to physical activity of walking coupled with the reduction of localized pollution as a result of a foreseen future decline in the number of vehicles used on daily commutes. Additionally, the provision of groundwork for many development projected centered around the close knit communities formed to incorporate with the complete streets and walkable cities agendas. This is seen evident in the plans for an upcoming mixed-use project in Kansas City’s East Crossroad District that was announced in May earlier this year. This development project has been noted as the largest single residential development project within the Crossroads District. (Kite 2018) The Crossroads district is a strong example of Kansas City’s labors toward a redeveloped sustainable district as a part of w newly envisioned walkable downtown Kansas City. During the development of the Cross roads and surrounding districts through the past 5 years, Kansas City has displayed a strong standard of redevelopment process. During this process they have taken to the development of many streets that were once littered with areas of disrepair and often limited accessibility as well as streets that contained very poor navigation and little to no pedestrian focused navigation.
Figure 10
The result of this transformative process is a strong and complete street environment with great thought put into of the segmentation of the complete streets pathway elements. The development of easily accessible paths for pedestrians, vehicles, and cyclists show a strong physical aspect of the complete streets concepts. Additionally the sustainability of the streetscape was successful to the point of being recognized with a “Sustainable Communities” award in 2017 from the Mid-American Regional Council. The 20th street corridor of the
crossroads district was given this award for its use of green and environmentally friendly streetscape and the manner it was used methodically and effectively in dividing out the various Lanes and paths for pedestrian walkways, cycling lanes, and vehicular traffic Lanes. Providing each with a fertile sub-environment within the great whole and providing screening pedestrians from motor vehicles. (Musselman & Hall 2017) The Wayfinding of these streets and redevelopments are well thought out in regard to the tactile and pathway navigation of the crosswalks along the 20th street. Each crosswalk is ADA accessible providing tactile reference grips on the ramps for individuals with visual disabilities. In junction with this all crosswalks sign activation buttons are verbally instructive and placed at a height that is easily accessible by people with a variety of abilities, ages, and handicaps. However with all this success there is a portion of the project that is found with elements to be desired. The pedestrian wayfinding signage within these redevelopments is missing a strong visual system for easily portrayed information and to allow the navigational tools to not be lost among the visual noise of the city streetscape. Unlike as seen in great examples of Legible London or in the signage systems seen in Pittsburgh or Charlotte North Carolina, The Kansas City’s navigation system is very narrow and limited in scope. The system
Figure 11
Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 24
that is provided consists of information panels provided at several key decision points or at major street intersections. Each of these are all digital interactive information panel displays. While this is a more technological form of traditional signage and allows for a greater array of maps, databases, and localized information to be provided to the user there are possible Issues that come into consideration with this limited scope. While in its current state, this new navigation system offers a fresh take on the existing wayfinding systems for pedestrians within the city that are limited in scope and in disconnect from each other. Without the addition of additional support design elements such as pedestrian “pointer signs” or other environmental supports the new kiosks stand on their own. This disconnect then creates wide six to eight block gaps in the system that can lead to forgetting directions or lose of orientation. The kiosks do come with a linked mobile phone app that can allow for access to the kiosks database and maps, however, with the little physical implementation if a pedestrian finds themselves without access to this technology or coverage for their device, there is no secondary backup system in place. While there is possibly too great of a stress upon the technological aspect of these signs, this newer information panel is a good step in the process of converting the downtown districts of Kansas City into a more unified whole while allowing the maintaining of the individual district’s identities. However current pedestrian wayfinding systems are going to require some sort of unified system at the conceptual and implementation levels. As seen with Legible London, the monoliths for information panels on the streets vary in size and stature based upon the environment it is placed in and the information it is conveying to the user. So far Kansas City’s implementation of the interactive information panels is sleek and minimalist in design. However, the current digital panels offer limited screening from the sun which raises concerns to possible hindrances and issues
Figure 12
to those with limited eyesight, or to those with limited technological experience. Additionally, without any strong contrasting elements or colors the panels themselves can be lost in the plethora of visual elements on the streetscape. Ranging from the newly implemented plant life or the currently existing traditional vehicular wayfinding signage this visual clutter leaves strong elements of visual identity to be desired in the pedestrian navigation signage. Finally, a stronger implementation of pedestrian focused lighting along the wide and pedestrian paths would provide a safer environment for pedestrians after sunset as well as enhance the user’s experience in Navigating through these newly redeveloped districts.
In Summary While the current labors of the city are a strong continuation of the complete street implementation within Kansas City’s iconic districts, the implementation of pedestrian wayfinding signage must be considered more closely. In order to provide a more effective and consistent means of communicating information to pedestrians during their experience, the inclusion of a broader product range for navigation must be a step investigated. Although, while there are some persistent issues with the implementation of pedestrian signage that may require re-implementation
or adaptations in the future, the implementation of complete streets within the crossroads, Westport, and river market districts thus far has started a strong path forward toward more all-inclusive sustainable communities. With the adaption of pedestrian wayfinding signage in junction with the existing and growing number of complete streets a stronger connection can be made amongst the many iconic districts of the downtown Kansas City. The importance of wayfinding in such districts is not only crucial toward providing viable and consistent information and to pedestrians living and visiting the city. Rather, it is also crucial to encouraging populations that have previously left the urban settings into sub-urban environments to return and once again to live within the downtown districts creating the close-knit communities that Kansas City seeks. Continuing down this current path, Kansas City has shown a strong understanding of the complete street systems and how the road diets allow for the inclusion of cyclist friendly lanes and stronger flow of pedestrian traffic. However, with the majority of pedestrian wayfinding still reliant upon traditional vehicular implementation of wayfinding, the need for an interconnected system grows ever more important as development continues. With plans laid for future developments amongst various other districts within the downtown regions, Kansas City is on a plan for continued integration and support of a walkable city.
Topic Research | Research and Anlysis 26
Current State The current state of the trails systems is on a decline and nearing the 12 year low for citizen satisfaction. The limited available signage for trail systems and in some cases the difficulty of obtaining information on the trails is left to volunteers and inconsistent. The result from this lack of attention by the city to the trails has left the citizens very dissatisfied with the systems and with the services provided by the city.
Citizen Satisfaction with Biking and Walking Trails Table 1. Data collected from OpenData KC
2005
37%
2006
40%
2007
40%
2008
36%
2010
36%
2011
44%
2012
46%
2013
53%
2014
55%
2015
53%
2016
51%
2017
50%
12 Year Average
45%
Topic Research | Current State
28
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Existing Signage One primary reason why the trails themselves are seen in such low satisfaction by the population of the city is due to the poor, improper, or non-existent signage and guidance when on the trails. While the trails surface themselves are often very well maintained, the majority of this work is done by volunteers through Urban Trails Co. and the availability of any mapping for the trails is limited to online access. Which does very little in helping the populace when on the trails. Especially if they do not have mobile access to the internet or if their signal is weak the limiting of trail mapping to online is not conducive to the accessible trail experience. Additionally, the existing maps are a poor example of clear mapping. They consist of an abundance of poorly filtered information that clutters the mapping and does not keep markings on the map solely relevant to what the pedestrian and cycling trail users need to know when on the trails. The need for
Figure 16
Figure 17
a unified trail wayfinding system is strong The images seen are photos taken of trail heads for various tails within KCMO as of 2019. With such a broad interpretation on what constitutes a trail head and how key information should be displayed for the trails the lack of direction or consistency is a key element that leads to user confusion and lack of satisfaction with the plethora of trails available to the population within and around Kansas City.
Figure 18
Topic Research | Current State
30
Figure 13
Existing Online Mapping Figure 14
Figure 15
The existing mapping seen in figures 13–16 is a strong example of the inconsistency of the provided mapping for the park trails and inner-city trails. While some of the trail mapping, such as Riverfront Heritage Trail display an acceptable execution of displaying filtered information, others created a visually cluttered and confusing display of information. With elements such as trails colors that barely contrast the base map, un labeled trail segments, or even a lack of notation of key points such as parking and trail heads. The difference in the style of mapping can cause a large adjustment time for the user even if they know where to find the maps online. Simple the different styles mean the user must readjust to the layouts, keys, and even base map differences. This is a poor level communication that is not providing a proper representation of a city such as Kansas City.
Figure 16
Topic Research | Current State
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Ideation Process
Ideation Process
34
Sketches During the design process quick sketching ideas and conepts frequently helped to quickly parse through various directions. During this stage the primary design investigations where over form and concept of the signage. Seeking to deliver a concept with a simple and adaptable form, some of the more complex form directions were decided against to avaoid a conflict of heirarchy between the trail wayfinding and existing park identites and district identies. The direction chosen is a minimalist geometric form that will allow the wayfinding to serve its purpose in clearly communicating information while being able to adapt and support existing identities.
Concept Directions This snippet is from a series of sketches for investigating initial directions on trail head forms and conceptual premises. With the desire for a system that would not conflict with the environment the direction chosen was toward a simple rectangular sign frame. Pages of Sketch in Series: 7
Mile Marker Structures This is a snippet from the conceptual sketches on mile marker form. Initially the direction investigated two separate sign posts for mile markers and in trail mapping. However, to enable a further adaptability, keep with the minimalist designs, and reduce the foot print of signage on the trails the form of an optional trial map was pursued. Pages of Sketch in Series: 3
Trail Head Structure In this series of sketches the form investigated was the trail heads. Taking into factor the size of the signs, optimal veiwing distance, construction and possible veiwing obstructions of enviroment. Pages of Sketch in Series: 4
Layout Directions After narrowing the concept to a minimalist approach and creating a combined mile marker and map, the investigations continued into layout. Iterating multiple forms and layouts for the system this series sought narrowed down the tertiary signs and helped to find the initial layouts of signs. Pages of Sketch in Series: 3
Ideation Process | Sketches
36
Mocking Testing After the initial sketching phases the layouts and typography started to be assembled and tested. As this is a larger scale physical project, the best way to test the effectiveness and success of design elements was to print out mockups at full scale and test the user interactions. During this process the layouts went through many rounds of group critiques and individual reviews both with designer peers and non-designers. This was done to test both interactions and the initial response time to adjust to a new system.
Type Sizing This stage of process was focused on testing first-hand the sizing and typefaces for the trail head and mile markers. Using the standard gauge of 1� of text height enables approx. 10ft of legible reading the sizing was tested and found the optimal sizing for the text. Additionally, the typeface Helvetica was chosen instead of a serif alternative during this process for its solid sans-serif nature which allowed for an easier reading experience for those with weaker eyesight.
Layout structuring During this process several iterations of the layout were tested and reviewed for overall effectiveness in communication and ease of use. Both group and individual feedback was obtained on the organization of the layouts and dozens of iterations tested. After narrowing down the layouts full scale mock ups started being produced to provided further feedback on their effectiveness.
Ideation Process | Mockups
38
Mockup Mounting One of the most helpful tools during this stage of process was a stand built of chipboard that allowed itself to be mounted to a wall at 1:1 scale height for the trail signs. This enable a series of tests both on user interactions and on the hierarchy of design elements.
6ft
Mounting Angle Additionally, during this process of mockups the final angle of the map mounting was determined for the mile markers. Choosing an angle that allowed for full un hindered sight of the map topper at eye heights from 3–6ft. These heights were tested at 1:1 scale and the angle was verified to be easily and fully legible.
3ft
Ideation Process | Mockups
40
Design Solution
Design Solution
42
Trail Head Sign Scaled to provide map at average eye level and for easy legibility of supporting information.
4.8ft
The Key Elements The design and layout of the system is created to be adaptable yet minimal in its approach to implementation and public education. With only three primary elements the system is discreet and easily learned when traveling from one park, trail segment, or system to another.
Mile Marker The most common source of information for trail use including a key information.
Mile Marker Map Versatile map toppers provide key locational information at complicated or intersecting trail segment locations.
3ft
Design Solution | Key Elements
44
Color Scheme For a project such as this a large set of colors must be accessible to accommodate the many trail segments within many of the trails. A selection of easily distinguishable colors have been chosen for the trails segments to work in contrast to the mild tones of the base map and to remain visible when in or out of direct sunlight. The primary sign colors provide easy legibility for text when in sunlight. Additionally, the subdued primary colors keep the signs and post from overbearing their surroundings and becoming and eyesore within trail settings.
Base Map Colors
Map Base Hex: #d7d8d2 C: 15 M: 10 Y: 15 K: 0
Park Lands Hex: #d1e9d6 C: 18 M: 0 Y: 18 K: 0
Water Hex: #c0e7f1 C: 22 M: 0 Y: 4 K: 0
Road Ways Hex: #ffffff C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 0
Primary Sign Colors
Trail System Base Color Hex: #2e76bc C: 82 M: 50 Y: 0 K: 0
Sign Base Color Hex: #31353d C: 76 M: 67 Y: 55 K: 52
Text Hex: #ffffff C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 0
Primary Trail Segment Colors
Hex: #53c7e2 C: 59 M: 0 Y: 9 K: 0
Hex: #56953b C: 0 M: 49 Y: 86 K: 0
Hex: #b56ba3 C: 30 M: 69 Y: 6 K: 0
Hex: #68bb4d C: 63 M: 1 Y: 94 K: 0
Hex: #ed4a35 C: 0 M: 87 Y: 86 K: 0
Hex: #ec9385 C: 4 M: 51 Y: 41 K: 0
Hex: #426932 C: 75 M: 37 Y: 100 K: 27
Hex: #883e3a C: 32 M: 81 Y: 72 K: 29
Extended Trail Segment Colors
Hex: #o3a990 C: 59 M: 0 Y: 9 K: 0
Hex: #b59e4d C: 31 M: 32 Y: 84 K: 3
Design Solution | Color Scheme
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Trolly Track Trail
1.5 Mile
Report Vandalism or Maintenance call 311
Emergency Location Code
18 008 In case of emergency call 911
Mile Marker As the most common medium for information display to the trail users, the mile marker is a simple black post with the trail color, name, distance, and directional guidance. The combination of colors allows for the display of information in various lighting settings and angles. The icons are designed at a scale that allows for clear understanding up to 30ft away and as icons that replace the former text-based rules, the difficulty of language barriers is counter acted and allows for a greater ease of display for the basic rules.
Trail segments are color coded for easy sight when in use.
Mile indicator and directional arrow assists in guiding trail users.
Highly visible icons allow quick and easy recognition of city-wide trail regulations. Maintenance hot line is provided on all signage to enable a clear line of communication between the city and population. Implemented signage identification system to aide emergency personnel and city maintenance teams reach trail segments accurately.
Design Solution | Mile Marker
48
Cliff Drive Nature Trails Trail Hours
5:00am to Midnight
Bus Stop
Cliff Top
.40 Mile
Trail Head
Trail Map
Parking Lot
0.46mi
Lozier’s Lane
0.57mi
Cliff Top Trail
0.07mi
Rock Wall
0.26mi
Disc Chucker
0.42mi
Foam Pit
0.40mi
Anges Valley
0.64mi
Wright Way
Mile Marker Map Head The construction of the mile marker posts allows for an adaptive implementation with the option for a mounted informative map sign to affix atop the post. Depending on the trial segments some may require more simple mileposts yet if trail work is added the ease of adding a map to the post allows for financial savings to be had when updating trail segments.
Heading of trail systems name that the trail segment is within. This is a helpful reminder of what trail system the user is currently occupying. This is helpful if multiple trail systems are in close proximity.
Quick a important information is provided first such as the trail system this segment is located, trail hours, and legend.
Clear legend of trail segments provides quick identification especially when paired with the trail names written along the route. This also assists those with a limited ability to distinguish color to identify the trails.
A small overview map provides a sense of location to the trail user in relation to the trail system as a whole.
Design Solution | Mile Marker Map Head
50
Trail Head The construction of the trail head allows for easy spotting of the sign while remaining minimally intrusive to the surrounding nature and sights for the amount of information it has to display. Containing the majority of the information displayed on the mile marker post and the mile marker map topper, the trail head sign also calls further information for display. Providing a brief history of the trail system and its founding the users can continue to learn about the city’s heritage. Additionally one of the primary location marked on the map is bus stops. This helps to promote the pedestrian lifestyle that the city is striving for in their redevelopments.
The trail system name holds a strong presence to enable quick location of the trail heads and trail system.
Key information on trails operating hours, regulations, and allowances.
Implemented signage identification system to aide emergency personnel and city maintenance teams reach trail segments accurately.
The history of the trail and any pertinent historical information of the surrounding city district.
Large, eye level map that allows for an overview of the entire trail system and locations of interest around the system. An important call out is the bust stops to help promote the new urbanist goals of the city.
Large legend of icons and trails. Large enough that they can be read easily from a comfortable distance by multiple people simultaneously.
Design Solution | Trail Head 52
Informational Sources
CDC‐Healthy Aging Research Network. 2013. “Community Wayfinding Grey Literature Compendium.” Novemeber 15. Accessed Novemeber 15, 2018. Easter Seals Project ACTION. 2013. “Pathways to Better Community Wayfinding.” National Aging and Disability. November. Accessed November 20, 2018. https://www.nadtc.org/wp-content/uploads/ NADTC-Pathways-to-Better-Community-Wayfinding.pdf. Farrell, Micheal. 2007. “Best Practices in Bicycle and Pedestrian Wayfindingin the Washington Region.” Washington: COG /TPD, May 15. Kansas City Missouri. 2011. “20th Street Streetscape Plan.” KCMO Crossroads Arts District. May 09. Accessed Novemeber 18, 2018. http://kccrossroads.org/20th-st-streetscape-plan-050911/. Kite, Allison. 2018. “Mixed-use project planned for East Crossroads would be ‘largest’ to date.” The Kansas City Star, May 23. Krüger, Antonio, Andres Butz, Christian Müller, Christoph Stahl, Rainer Wasinger, Karl-Ernst Steinberg, and Andreas Dirschl. 2004. The connected user interface: realizing a personal situated navigation service . New York, USA: ACM. Legible London Project. 2018. Legible London. Accessed November 25, 2018. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/boroughs/legible-london. Musselman & Hall. 2017. Crossroads District Wins “Sustainable Communities” Award with help of 20th Street Streetscape by Musselman & Hall. March 3. Accessed December 1, 2018. http://www.musselmanandhall.com/news/2017/3/2/1st-fridays-enjoys-20th-street-reconstruction-and-streetscape. SASAKI ASSOCIATES. 2005. “KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN CORRIDOR STRATEGY.” Kansas City: SASAKI ASSOCIATES, ERA, June. Signage Research Foundation. 2013. Urban wayfinding and planning implementation Manual. Sign Research Foundation, and the International Sign Association. Steere Davies Gleave. 2014. Legible London Evaluation 2013/2014. Municipal Wayfindng Evaluation, London: Transportation for London. Transportation for London. 2018. Maps and & Signs. Accessed Novemeber 21, 2018. https://tfl.gov. uk/info-for/boroughs/maps-and-signs. Trudeau, Dan. 2013. “A typology of New Urbanism Neighborhoods.” Journal of Urbanism: International Research. St. Paul: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, May 28. US Department of Transportation. 2015. Complete Streets. October 26. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/complete-streets. Visual Workplace Inc. 2014. “Best Practices for Wayfinding and Directional Signage.” Visual Workplace Inc. October 10. Accessed November 21 , 2018. http://www.visualworkplaceinc.com/2014/10/ best-practices-wayfinding-directional-signage/.
References | Informatinal Sources
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Image Sources
Fig. 1. KCMO downtown redevelopments. Available at Fig. 2. Things to do, Berkley River front. Available at: https://berkleyriverfront.com/things-to-do/ Fig. 3. Kansas City Power Lights District. Available From: https://www.visitkc.com/2017/03/08/special-big12mbb-hours-kansas-city-power-light-district#sm.0001adkq9jehecrgrzg1lh3nrg08y Fig. 4. Street Scape Damage reports. Available at: https://kccrossroads.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20th-St-Streetscape-Plan-050911.pdf Fig. 5. Street Scape Damages. Available at: https://kccrossroads.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20th-St-Streetscape-Plan-050911.pdf Fig. 6. Street Scape markings. Available at: https://kccrossroads.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20th-St-Streetscape-Plan-050911.pdf Fig. 7. New Urbanist City Redevelopment Concept. Available From https://livablewny.org/category/national-international-news/page/5/ Fig. 8. Legible London Navigational Minilith. Available from: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/legible-london-evaluation-summary.pdf http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshilshah/3823135957 Fig. 9. Legible London Project, Available from: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/boroughs/legible-london Fig. 10. Musselman & Hall, 20th St Streetscape. 2016. Available from: http://www.musselmanandhall.com/ news/2017/3/2/1st-fridays-enjoys-20th-street-reconstruction-and-streetscape Fig. 11. Vireo, Crossroads 20th St Streetscape. 2018. Available from: https://www.bevireo.com/crossroads-20th-street-streetscape Fig. 12. Citizen Satisfaction with Biking and Walking Trails https://data.kcmo.org/Government/Citizen-Satisfaction-with-Biking-and-Walking-Trail/dp4c-vshv Fig. 13. Hodge Park Trail print map. available at: https://urbantrailco.com/the-trails/hodge-park-trails Fig. 14. Kessler trails map. available at: https://urbantrailco.com/the-trails/kessler-park-nature-trails Fig. 15. available at: https://urbantrailco.com/the-trails/ Fig. 16. Line Creek Loud Mouth Trail System. Available at https://www.linecreekloudmouth.com/blog/kansascity-trails/
References | Image Sources
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