Wayfinding

Graduation Project 2009-10

Design Manual for Signage system of MIT Rajbaug Sponsor

MIT Institute of Design Student

Kunal Maithani

Communication Design (Graphic Design)

Industry Guide

Faculty Guide

Prof. Ravi Poovaiah Prof. Arvind Merchant

The Graduation Project Evaluation Jury recommends Kunal Maithani to be awarded the Graduation Degree of the MIT Institute of Design, Pune IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN herewith, for the project titled Design manual for signage system of MIT Rajbaug MEMBERS NAME

ORGANISATION

on fulfilling the further requirements by *

(*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements :)

GRADUATION PROJECT 2009-10 PROGRAMME : Specify as UG/PG PROGRAMME

Chairperson of the Jury

SIGNATURE

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This project was carried out for MIT Institute of Design under supervision of the Faculty of Industrial Design at the MIT, Institute of Design .

I owe my sense of gratitude towards my professors and guides Prof. Ravi Poovaiah (IDC, IIT Bombay) and Prof. Arvind Merchant (MIT Institute of Design) . They have guided me throughout my course and also the project. Thanks for your valuable time and feedbacks. Mr. Prithasv Pushkar for his valuable feedbacks and motivation for letting me take this project and showing their faith over me.

I would sincerely like to thank Prof. Mahendra Patel, Prof. Ranjana Dani, Mr. Samson Mathai, Mr. Suryanarayan Rao (Head of Workshop) for giving me this opportunity to do this project, and also for their valuable guidance throughout the project, without their inputs the project would not have been possible.

Special thanks to all the staff at the workshop at MIT’s Institute Of Design who helped me make my model.

My thankfulness to Mr. Anant Chakradeo (Dean, MIT’s Institute Of Design) Mr. Arvind Merchant (Academic Director, MIT’s Institute Of Design) for all the facilities Institute has provided.

Last but not the least thanks to my friends Ajmal Fazal, Vipin george, Mishal KP and Sudhanwa Chavan for their critical feedbacks.

PROJECT CARRIED OUT FOR : MAEER’s MIT Institute of Design Rajbaug, next to Hadapsar, Loni-Kalbohr, Pune. INDIA Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India FACULTY MENTOR : Prof. Arvind Merchant, (Academic Head) MIT Institute of Design, Pune, India INDUSTRY MENTOR : Prof. Ravi Poovaiah Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India PROJECT CARRIED OUT BY : Kunal Maithani (Graphic Design Student) kunalmaithani@gmail.com

About MAEER : Maharashtra Academy of Engineering & Educational Research (MAEER), Pune established in 1983 is a wellknown educational trust with 54 Institutions delivering KG to PG education. MAEER is truly multi-campus and multi-disciplinary organization conducting university approved academic programs in Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Medicine and Polytechnic.

Approximately 55,000 students study in various institutions of MAEER. The student community represents entire cross-section of the country.

The ethos of value based education system is strictly followed in all our institutions to promote good character building among the young generation.

In recognition of the services rendered so far, a UNESCO chair in human rights, democracy and peace has been constituted at MAEER’s MIT. A World Peace Center has been setup to promote culture of peace in the world.

About MAEER’S MIT : The Maharashtra Academy of Engineering Education and Research (MAEER), was established as a society and trust with the sole aim of creating and developing professional education facilities to train the aspiring young generation and thus to provide dedicated, ambitious and skilled professionals to serve the society and the nation at large. MAEER believes that “The union of Science and Spirituality alone will bring Harmony and Peace to the Humanity” as said by Swami Vivekananda.

Since its inception, MAEER has been striving for the betterment of the society through value based education system. With over 50,000 students across varied disciplines under its umbrella, it has achieved tremendous success in a short span of time and reflects excellence in the fields of Engineering, Medicine, Research, Management, Primary and Secondary Education, Peace Studies, Environment and Pollution control and also towards promoting Human Values and attaining the ultimate goal of World Peace.

MIT have seven campuses in Maharastra, MIT Kothrud, MIT Rajbaug, MIT Alandi, MIT Talegaon, MIT Latur, MIT Barshi and MIT Solapur.

Vision : The management of MAEER is committed to promote the “Culture of Peace” through value based “Universal Education System”,with a firm belief that “Union of Science and Religion / Spirituality alone will bring peace to mankind”.

The trust further believes in what the 13th century Saint Philosopher Sant Shri Dnyaneshwara stated “The whole universe is a manifestation of pure intelligence and consciousness”.

The trust further identifies itself with Albert Einstein’s assertion “I believe in God, who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of the universe, and I believe that intelligence is manifested throughout nature.” The great saints, sagas and seers and the learned scientists of the world have always a common goal i.e. Welfare of the Humanity.

Mission : To harness the knowledge of Engineering Sciences for the welfare of the society.

The MIT Rajbaug campus includes different types of educational school and institutes, from primary education to post graduate studies. The campus also have a Memorial of the legendary showman of Indian Cinema, Late. Raj Kapoor.

The names of school and institutes inside Rajbaug campus are as follows, 1. Vishwashanti Gurukul, 2. Maharastra Academy of Naval Education and Training (MANET), 3. Design Habitat a. Institute of Design

MIT Rajbaug Campus:

The famous Rajbaug farms spread over a vast area of 125 acres on the beautiful banks of the Mula-Mutha river at Loni-Kalbhor, Pune, belonged to the legendary showman of Indian Cinema, Late Raj Kapoor. Rajbaug was formally handed over to Hon’ble Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, Executive President and Director General, MAEER on 4th August 2002, by the Kapoor Family.

This place was a resting place for the late showman who found high solace here and had wished that the land be used for social or educational purpose only. To fulfill his dream, this land will be developed into a large educational campus while still retaining its original serenity. This picturesque area exudes peace and tranquility and seems more closer to Mother Nature in spite of being located in close proximity of the busy Pune-Solapur Highway. It can be the only place for the ‘Sadhana’, the seeking of knowledge.

Gurukul MAEER strongly believes in the virtues of the Guru-Shishya parampara and has nurtured a dream of molding the future citizens of our motherland by equipping them with the latest instruction technology in the ambience of the Gurukul System. This is the sole aim of establishing the project of Vishwashanti Gurukul, which is akin to an ashram on the beautiful banks of the free flowing Mula-Mutha river. Here, immense care has been taken to ensure the emotional, intellectual and spiritual interaction between the students (shishyas) and their respected and revered “Guru”. A unique blend of the ancient Indian Guru-Shishya Parampara with the modern methodology of instruction amongst the state of the art infrastructure is the essence of Gurukul.

Mission Vishwashanti Gurukul’s mission is to provide a resource based education with global opportunities for academic growth and development, and assure that all students are provided the necessary life skills and competencies to function productively in an ever changing society while retaining Indian values and Philosophy.

VISION “To make ‘Vishwashanti Gurukul’ a learning community of motivated students with the staff engaged in realizing the children’s full human potential and imparting world class education to each student which fosters academic excellence, physical fitness, psychological and spiritual health and social consciousness.”

The emphasis of MIT’s Vishwashanti Gurukul will be to make the students proud of their deep-rooted ethos, the ancient Indian culture and train them in the most modern methodology.

MANET: Maharashtra Academy of Naval Education and Training (MANET), Pune, is a part of the glorious Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Educational Research (MAEER) MIT’s Group of Institutions, Pune, India. MANET was founded in 2001 at Pune to impart world- class education in Marine Engineering. Close to 1,00,000 (one lakh) ships ply the vast oceans of the earth. These ships are in constant need of trained and skilled personnel to remain afloat and keep the marine trade ticking. MANET was MAEER’S response to this need for highly-skilled and well-trained maritime professionals.

MANET is situated at a picturesque location in Loni- Kalbhor on the banks of the Mula-Mutha River. It has an experienced and competent faculty, an excellent infrastructure and world class facilities to provide the best possible study environment for budding marine cadets. MANET ‘s four-year marine engineering course is recognized by the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), Nasik. The course is approved by the D. G. Shipping, Ministry of Shipping, and Government of India. The course encompasses all aspects of marine engineering training which includes mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering as well as computer science and basic sciences.

The MANET campus has well-equipped laboratories, workshops, luxuriously furnished hostels, outdoor and indoor sports facilities, a swimming pool and a ship-in- campus. A boat club is available for the cadets to gain proficiency in boating, which is a crucial need for their maritime careers. The campus is ever buzzing excitedly with the activity of 800 cadets on the roll.

The ship-in-campus ‘Training Ship-Vishwanath’ assembled at the MANET campus depicts an actual ship. It occupies a place of pride at MANET. It is an excellent facility that familiarizes cadets with on board machinery and systems with operational and maintenance routine. A 3600 bridge simulator is also installed at MOL training centre MANET which adds the learning features of seafarer activities.

The placement cell at MANET supports the cadets in getting jobs in reputed shipping companies. The cell has a tie-up with MITSUI OSK Lines Maritime (India) Ltd. for absorbing cadets for gainful employment. Barber Ship Management & Mediterranean Shipping is also major recruiters. Three batches of MANET have already joined the bustling maritime profession and are working successfully all over the globe.

Mission: “To Harness the Knowledge of Science and Technology for the Welfare of the Society”

Design Habitat: In pursuance of one of our future aspirations, we at the MIT Institute of Design are now planning to add a further dimension to the programmes of design learning at our campus. The concept of Design Habitat is in fact a logical and organic extension of our stated philosophy that ensures a total generalist ambience to enable design learning to happen on learners’ own volition without being ‘spoon-fed’. It would evolve as an overarching concept around the functional framework of the Design Institute which remains an integral component of the Habitat.

It is into this kind of stimulating and inspirational environment that mentors from various designs related disciplines would be invited to interact with the design learners and challenge their young minds to explore newer territories that should complement and reinforce their ongoing design learning. Here are some of the disciplines from which these mentors would be selected: Biomechanics, alternative energy systems, linguistics (semiotics), performing arts, plastic arts, design anthropology, perception and cognitive psychologies and several more. The mentors would ensure that the level of interaction is such that it eventually leads to a learning that is comprehensive, sustained and focused in depth, and directly -or indirectly- design related.

Distributing the course contents in form of projects is an obvious and time tested method. Each project would be formulated so as to necessitate participation of a mentor and one or two young aspirants pursuing the same discipline as the participating mentor. The team thus formed would be led by a member of the permanent faculty of the Institute. Sometimes the project might be so designed as to need participation of mentors from more than one discipline.

The enhanced scope of activities at the Design Habitat would also mean that we reinforce in phases the present areas of learning at the Institute. To this effect, two new centers of advanced learning are being envisaged for the near future.

The first is the Faculty of Architecture. The major emphasis here would be on humane and logical application of Twenty First Century technologies, arts and sciences toward solving the problems of human habitat in India. The second is a Centre for Theatre and Body Language, Even though it might seem to have been inspired by the old Bauhaus Theatre of the 1930’s, its major thrust would be on exploring the worlds of light and sound effects and ways of communication by means of the human body language.

Aims and Objectives: MIT Institute of Design aims to create a design community which will not only cater to the big industry but also to the small scale and rural industries and handicrafts. It has a social goal of developing, encouraging rural design and products for the needy and the large disadvantaged population in India.

The institute will be dedicated to research as a part of its training in the indigenous design idiom: which visualizes and uses training in Industrial Design and visual communication as a tool of change in order to maintain design as a tool for sustainable competitive advantage.

The institute aims at leveraging India’s heritage, design capabilities, aesthetics and creative genius to become a “Design Hub”. This design enablement would help the country to move away from cost and price based competition to value based competitive advantage.

Our new campus which is known as “Rajbaug” was earlier owned by great performer and dreamer of our country Mr. Raj Kapoor. His family members donated this land to MIT looking at MIT’s contribution in the field of education. We wish to give tribute to this great son of India by starting a school, which can cover all art and design related courses.

The institutes approach to design education will reflect the emergence of knowledge economy and convergence of media, communication, entertainment and information. This school can be a big umbrella under which designers and design managers of tomorrow’s India can be groomed.

The teachers and students who would be a part of this school would act as an instrument for change - into veritable national assets & would evince a great flexibility of approach. The Emphasis would be on functional design rather than only on aesthetics. They would not be so much eager to offer solutions as to help others find them on their own.

MIT Institute of Design graduates will not be satisfied by just being practitioners of design, but would also become passionate leaders in spreading the gospel of design and the role design can play in the transformation of our country into a developed one in 21st century.

Client’s initial brief: To make a design manual for signage system of MIT’s Rajbaug campus which includes Vishwashanti Gurukul, MANET, Rajbaug and Institute of Design.

Design manual will include design strategy, strategic location, typography, icons, signage language and implementation direction for prototypes.

To build up such a system which can merge very well with the environment.

Specification and Objectives: To design a signage manual for the MIT Rajbaug campus for its existing and upcomming institutes and schools.

The campus is new so most of its institutes and school are still under construction and the rest planned institutes are still to be started. So the challenge was to learn the growth and plans of the campus then as per analysis to build up a wayfinding system.

To study the existing signage system in the campus and evaluvating it.

To study the architectural style and branding of each institute and school to decide the look and feel of the system.

To deliver a system which can unify all the different school and institutes and to carry the visual language of campus.

To build prortotypes with their strategic location.

Design Methodology : Stage One . Data Collection: . What is the brief from the Client? . Is it a new design or a redesign?

Stage Two . Understanding the ‘Design Problem for Investigation’: . Physical factors . Organizing factors . Semantic factors . Functional factors . Influencing factors . Usability factors . Technology Stage Three . Analysis of the ‘topic under Investigation’ . Compare, cross-relate, evaluate . Locational factors . Identification factors . Structuring your factors . Graphical analysis . Experimental analysis Stage Four . Synthesis and problem solving . Converge, redefine, brainstorm, idea generation, alternate solutions Stage Five . Rapid Prototyping, Models and feedback . Mock-ups, sketches, models, scenarios, presentations, user and client feedback

Stage Six . Refine, implementation, prototyping and standards . Detailing, drawings, materials, processes, prototyping . Vision statement, standards, specifications, manuals, roll-out programme . Design and layout guidelines for design manual Stage Seven . Documentation . Printing and presentation.

Project Timeline:

Data Collection : Wayfinding: Wayfinding is the methodology of arranging indicators to guide people to their destinations. Signs are tools that aid in wayfinding. Architectural indicators such as light, color, materials, and pathways also play a large role in wayfinding. A successful wayfinding program is intuitive and self-navigable, and it protects the overall visual integrity of the site. Wayfinding is specific to its place and visitors.

Signs improve and are most times integral to a clearly designed wayfinding program. The function of a sign is to identify, inform, direct, honor, restrict or permit. A good sign system recedes into the background while providing clear information when needed. In addition, sign codes, life safety issues and disabled access guidelines need to be included to meet national and state requirements. Successfully designed signage helps visitors find their way, makes information accessible, provides an enhanced experience and honors donor recognition. In addition, an inclusive assessment of the environment and issues that affect orientation for first time visitors is imperative to a successful signage and wayfinding program.

In 1960, urban planner and teacher Kevin Lynch coined the term Wayfinding in his book about urban spaces, The image of the city. Lynch explains that “Wayfinding” relates to the process of forming mental picture of one’s surroundings based on sensation and memory. Special wayfinding devices are maps, street numbers, route signs, bus placards.

Many wayfinding designers are baby boomers whose political and environmental consciousness was informed by the futile Vietnam conflict and subsequent social ferment of the 1970s. Motivated by a sense of public communal mission and zeal for creative experimentation, they gradually moved the wayfinding field into the 21st century, building upon the foundation of experience established by earlier design pioneers over the course of the previous century.

War — World War II, that is — had an inadvertently positive impact on their careers as well, either by forcing talented Europeans, such as Alvin Lustig, to emigrate to North America, where opportunity awaited, or by providing art and design training to many a veteran, including John Follis of Pasadena, California.

During the 1960s Cold War period, critics, scholars, and designers felt an urgent need to humanize increasingly complex modern urban spaces. The design discipline that evolved in response has been called architectural graphics, signage or sign-system design, environmental graphic design, and wayfinding.

Over time, enterprising firms and individuals, such as Lance Wyman, who won early acclaim for his Mexico ‘68 Olympics symbols, began to specialize in sign-system design. Some firms offered wayfinding design in tandem with other services, including exhibition, product, interior, and corporate-identity design, the latter the precursor of branding services.

The long and notable list of principals of pioneering American firms includes Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, Rudolph de Harak, and Lella and Massimo Vignelli. Their contemporaries in the United Kingdom included founding partners of Pentagram, now a global collaborative, as well as the venerable designer F.H.K. Henrion.

Signage and Wayfinding: A signage program is to help people find their way through an environment whereas effective wayfinding solution often require more than signage alone. Clear well defined path ways and other visual clues, such as prominent landmarks, all aid wayfinding as do printed maps, human guides, and, more recently, portable GPS system.

Wayfinding is an active process, requiring mental engagement and attention to the environment one is trying to navigate.

Place making : Gateways, portals, gathering points and land marks.

Key words on signage: - - -

To move people around better.

Breaking down of information.

Less sign is the best solution.

Signages are not sentences they are single words. In signages we are suppose to break the information into parts as per the heirarchy and priority of the situation so it can be simplified.

Design Principles for Wayfinding: This set of design principles is concerned making information spaces effectively navigable. Navigability means that the navigator can successfully move in the information space from his present location to a destination, even if the location of the destination is imprecisely known. 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.

The first criterion, successful recovery of location and orientation, asks the navigator if he can definitively answer the questions, ``Where am I?’’ and ``Which way am I facing?’’ A response to these questions could be verbal, such as ``I am in ground floor, facing Administration block,’’ or written, by drawing an arrow on a map of the environs.

The second criterion for navigability is the ability to successfully perform wayfinding tasks. Successful wayfinding occurs when the navigator can make correct navigation decisions that take him from his present location to a destination that fulfills his larger purpose. Examples of such decisions are whether to continue along the present route or to backtrack, what turn to take at an intersection of paths, or whether to stop and aquire information from the environment to confirm the present route. Arthur and Passini call wayfinding spatial problem solving, in which the navigator finds a satisfactory solution to a larger task through navigation.

The third criterion for navigability is how well the navigator can accumulate wayfinding experience in the space.

The imageability of a large-scale space is the ability of a navigator to form a coherent mental image or map of it. Kevin Lynch, an urban planner, first investigated how the characteristics of an urban space affected how well people remembered features in it [Lynch, 1960]. Lynch interviewed residents of Boston, Los Angeles, and Jersey City, New Jersey, and asked them to draw sketch maps of their city from memory. From these sketch maps and verbal interviews Lynch compared the imageability of the the cities: how well the sketch maps and interviews reflected the actual layout of each city. Lynch found that the respondents organized their city images using a set of common features: paths, landmarks, regions, edges (barriers), and nodes (intersections).

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.

These last two criteria, wayfinding ability and imageability, have special relevance for information spaces.

Wayfinding in an information space, we have argued, should correspond with information-seeking behavior in an information access environment. Successful wayfinding then implies that the user can use the information access environment to fulfill his information need. In a navigable information space, the problem of being ``lost in hyperspace’’ [Edwards and Hardman, 1993] could then be solved.

In an imageable space, each episode of successful navigation can contribute in building a coherent mental picture of the information environment and of the content therein. Ideally, the user becomes more and more effective in fulfilling information needs every time he navigates through the environment. And in an information space organized on a principle relevant to the user’s task, the mental map corresponds to a conceptual map of the content, reflecting important relationships in the information and the principles used to organize it.

The principles here come from both the study of museum exhibits and the research of environmental psychologists, cognitive scientists, and others who study how humans represent and navigate in the physical environment.

Principles for effective wayfinding include: • Create an identity at each location, different from all others.

• Use landmarks to provide orientation cues and memorable locations.

• Create well-structured paths.

• Create regions of differing visual character.

• Don’t give the user too many choices in navigation.

• Use survey views (give navigators a vista or map).

• Provide signs at decision points to help wayfinding decisions.

• Use sight lines to show what’s ahead.

1. Create an identity at each location, different from all others.

Give every location in a navigable space a unique perceptual identity, so that the navigator can associate his immediate surroundings with a location in the larger-scale space. It speaks most directly to the first criterion for navigability, the ability to recover position and orientation. This principle indicates that every place should function, to some extent, as a landmark - a recognizable point of reference in the larger space.

Source. The idea of places needing an identity for wayfinding is discussed in Arthur and Passini [Arthur and Passini, 1992]. They introduce the notions of identity and equivalence for speaking of the perceptions of places.

Identity is what makes one part of a space distinguishable from another, and equivalence is what allows spaces to be grouped by their common attributes. They argue that identifiable places form the building blocks of our cognitive maps and the spatial anchors for the decisions made during wayfinding.

Applicability and design consequences. Ideally, a space should have just enough differentiability for this principle to hold, but no more. Neon lights should not be necessary. And, if the information space is built around an organizational principle, differentiability may be reflected by that organization naturally. For example, suppose the navigator is traversing a spatial timeline. Then each location corresponds to a point in time, giving a ready-made identity to it.

An example. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this principle is to see what happens when it fails. Those familiar with the original text-adventure game ADVENT will know that the adventurer will eventually find his way into a part of the cave which the game describes as: You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. No matter which direction the player moves, the system will again respond You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (unless the player is fortunate enough to emerge from the maze strictly by chance.)

What to do?

An effective strategy is for the player to drop one of the items he is carrying in the room, then make a move and see what happens. When the player re-encounters a room with an item, the system responds You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

There is a bag of coins here.

Now the room has an identity. The player can repeat this process to map out the entire maze as a directed graph, and emerge on the other side.

2. Use landmarks to provide orientation cues and memorable locations.

Landmarks serve two useful purposes. The first is as an orientation cue. If the navigator knows where a landmark is in relation to his present position, he can say something about where he is, and which way he is facing, in the space he shares with the landmark. A desirable property of a landmark for this use is visibility, the ability to be seen from a large surrounding area. Such global landmarks can help the navigator judge his orientation within a wide area, as opposed to local landmarks, which can be seen only in the immediate vicinity. A system of local landmarks which exhaustively cover the space can also provide the same cues as a single, towering landmark. The second use of a landmark is as an especially memorable location. In his sketch-map interviews, Lynch noted that different respondents marked or mentioned many of the same places. It is these memorable places that can provide instant recognition of one’s location. A shared vocabulary of landmarks provides the basis for verbal or written descriptions of locations or routes. Landmarks associated with decision points, where the navigator must choose which path of many to follow, are especially useful as they make the location and the associated decision more memorable.

Source. Lynch [Lynch, 1960] dicusses landmarks in an urban context at length, and describes their defining physical characteristic as ``singularity, some aspect that is unique or memorable in context.’’

Landmarks were also evident in an exhibit setting. Landmarks such as the large water pump model in Leonardo (catalog number 112) and the octagonal case holding Jacqueline Kennedy’s dinner gown (catalog number O26) were both physically large and visually distinct from their context, meeting Lynch’s requirements as landmarks.

Landmarks can be distinguished spaces as well as memorable objects; for example, the Oval Office exhibit marked the midpoint of the Kennedy museum.

Applicability and design consequences. A system of landmarks helps to organize and define an information space. However, they should be used sparingly; placing too many landmarks in the space belies their usefulness as memorable and unique locations. Landmarks, then, are a scarce resource that can be used not only to assist wayfinding but also to serve the space’s larger purpose. Since a landmark defines a surrounding region to which it is adjacent, it could stand as a exemplar or representative for that region’s content. Landmarks can also head paths emanating from junctions, and indicate what’s down the road. Landmarks are the anchors along which paths are defined and our mental maps are built; they should reflect the top level of the organizing principle of the space.

An example. An interesting use of a landmark is found in the National Museum of Natural History’s fossils exhibit. Near the entrance, a tall (approximately 20 meters high) ``time tower’’ is visible from most of the central area of the exhibit. In a multi-level exhibit with a complex circulation pattern, it is a valuable physical landmark and point of reference with wide visibility. It also displays the time periods represented by the fossils in the exhibit and the corresponding terms associated with them. So, it serves as both a wayfinding aid and a way of communicating information important to understanding the exhibit.

3. Create well-structured paths.

The principle. Paths should possess a set of characteristics to be ``well-structured.'' Wellstructured paths are continuous and have a clear beginning, middle, and end when viewed in each direction. They should confirm progress and distance to their destination along their length. And a navigator should easily infer which direction he is moving along the path by its directionality or ``sidedness.'' A wellstructured path maintains a navigator's orientation with respect to both the next landmark along the path and the distance to the eventual destination.

The exhibits studied can each be thought of as a well-structured path. For those that were spatial timelines, the start of the timeline, its extent, and its end create the path. For those that communicated messages, movement from one message to the next marked progress. Exhibits with memorable introductions and conclusions have well-defined beginning and end-points for their paths.

Applicability and design consequences. This principle informs how the traversal of a pre-defined route will appear to the navigator. The features of a well-structured path should again correspond to concepts relevant to the content of the space. The beginning and end of the path form an introduction and conclusion, and progress is marked by moving from one concept or message to the next. A continuous path should have both shared attributes that define it as distinct from its context, and evolving or changing features that mark its length and connect one part to a subsequent part.

An example. I am from Ahemdabad city so most of time or merely everytime whoever guest come to my house I am suppose to drove them to two places for sure, Akshardham temple and Gandhi Ashram. As a regular visitor I have learned the pathways of Akshardham temple are more defined and simple while the ashram’s are a bit ambiguous and confusing. In the temple we have one defined and structured pathway to follow with very few of options. If the visitor is interested in watching the exhibition then he should take a round of the golden statue and take the only stair available or can go out from temple from their. In exhibition the entry starts with an introductory film of the saint then the exhibition starts with numbers of sets in a series with a linear and continuous growth, before birth, on birth, childhood, adolescence, influences, works, and finaly the wisdom.

While in Gandhi ashram I face difficulty to locate because of ambiguous and breaked pathways.

Another example are interstate highways. The entrances and exits along the highway are clearly marked by signs, and mile markers indicate progress and relative distance to destinations. In this case, the path is structured not so much by diversity of appearance or meaning, but by a system of signs arranged along its length.

4. Create regions of differing visual character.

The principle. Subdivide the space into regions with a distinct set of visual attributes to assist in wayfinding. The character that sets a region apart can be some aspect of its visual appearance, a distinction in function or use, or some attribute of its content that is consistently maintained within the region but not without. Regions may not have sharply defined boundaries, or their extent may be in some part subjective; but a minimal requirement is that there is a generally agreed space said to be within the region, and a surrounding area said to be outside it.

Regions assist wayfinding by providing another set of cues for recovering location. They associate a set of defining features with an area in space, and give a way of identifying a place as being in a certain region. When the navigator moves from one region to another, the shift in the character of the space is another fact that informs him of his location along the boundary of the two regions.

Source. Regions are used in exhibits in two ways. The first is as another aspect of the environmental look principle, from a wayfinding perspective. The consistent environmental elements that make for the visual identity of the exhibit as a whole define it as a region, apart from the rest of the museum. In addition, the distinct appearance of individual parts of the exhibit define sub-regions within that larger region.

The second is the use of enclosures to create regions in an exhibit. Moving from one room or gallery to another through a threshold makes explicit the motion from one region of the exhibit to another.

Applicability and design consequences. Regions allow the navigator to distinguish one part of the space from another and to know when he has moved across the boundary between two regions. These boundaries can serve as demarcations along a well-structured path through several regions. For communication, a region can correspond to some attribute shared by the content within, such as supporting the same message, teaching the same concept, or relating the same event.

5. Don’t give the user too many choices in navigation.

The principle. If there is a story to tell, design the space so that it is coherent for every route the navigator might take.

Source. This principle was explicitly used to inform the design of the Leonardo exhibit. In particular, the visitor was given a choice at the ``Florence in 1470’’ room to proceed straight ahead into the ``Art Gallery’’ to or to veer right into the ``Art Studio’’ rooms. According to Ed Rodley [Rodley, 1997], the exhibit was designed to repeat the messages conveyed in the Art Studio in a display in the Art Gallery, so that even if a visitor missed the ``Art Studio’’ they would be exposed to these messages. This principle was applied throughout the exhibit, with the layout designed to ensure that people encountered the main points no matter what route they took.

Applicability and design consequences. This principle is best used when there is a story you want every navigator to see. This basic story should be communicated by every path the navigator can take through the space.

Opportunities for detours, side-tours, and exploration can branch off of this main path, eventually returning to resume the main story.

This principle, and the underlying assumption of a narrative for the space, indicate that the organization should have a primary path for visitors to follow (for example, as in Figure 4-3). The underlying question that this principle tries to address is, how many choices should be made for the navigator? An answer is, enough for the navigator to learn what the communicators intend.

An example. We can also look at what happens when this principle is not applied. The original Kennedy museum had a plan in which the visitor entered a central area with his desk and had to then choose where to explore from this area (see Figure 5-3). By making a right turn, the visitor could skip the majority of the central area of the exhibit, possibly without being aware of it, and proceed to exit onto the pavilion. Frank Rigg noted this problem in an interview [Rigg, 1998].

6. Use survey views (give navigators a vista or map).

The principle. When navigating in any type of space, a map is a valuable navigation aid. It places the entire space within the navigator’s view, and several kinds of judgements can be made readily: • the location of the navigator, and what is in the immediate vicinity; • what destinations are available, and what routes will take the navigator there; and • the size of the space, and how far the navigator is along his chosen path.

In addition, the survey view provides a ready image of the space, which can provide the basis for the navigator’s mental map. Several researchers have found that giving subjects access to only survey knowledge of an environment can give comparable or superior performance to knowledge gained from route-following experience on landmark estimation and sketch-mapping tasks [Thorndyke and Hayes-Roth, 1982] [Golledge et al., 1995]. The navigator’s mental map, primed with the image of his environment, can be augmented readily with experience gained from actual navigation in the space.

For an information space, a survey view has another role. It not only assists navigation in the space, but because the space corresponds to a conceptual organization of the information it contains, it serves as a succinct expression of meaningful relationships in that information. In more concrete terms, it assocaties the location of every document, image, or object with a message, a point on a timeline, or a concept to be learned. A map of the physical (or virtual) space can thus serve as an external representation of the conceptual map of the content. This conceptual map uses the navigator’s ability to form mental representations of a physical space to store knowledge about conceptual relationships in the information space.

Source. Nearly every exhibit studied had a plan map either on a brochure distributed to visitors as they went in or mounted as wall plaques inside the exhibit itself.

Applicability and design consequences. Although it would seem to always be beneficial to provide a map, there may be sufficient wayfinding aids (such as signs and landmarks) already embedded in the space already to make a map unnecessary. Small spaces with which the navigator is already familiar may not need a map. A map can serve as reference material: available when needed, and able to be tucked away when not.

Maps are more useful when views in the space are insufficient to give information about unfamiliar regions, which is true in enclosed spaces with limited views in each direction.

7. Provide signs at decision points to help wayfinding decisions.

The principle. Place signs, when necessary, at decision points. Decision points are where the navigator must make a wayfinding decision (for example, whether to continue along the current route or to change direction.) A sign embeds additional information into the space to direct the navigator’s next navigational choice. This information should be relevant to both the choices offered to the navigator at that point, and the larger goal of the navigational task. Simply put, a sign should tell the navigator what’s in the direction it points, and the destinations so indicated should help the navigator reach his eventual goal.

Passini describes this principle as part of his theory for wayfinding as spatial decision-making. According to this theory, a navigator begins with a high-level goal, and acquires information from his environment (or uses what he already knows about the space) to make his first move towards a top-level destination. At decision points along the route, the navigator combines observation of local features with previous knowledge of the space to make the proper navigational move.

When the navigator does not have previous knowledge of the space, or a map to refer to, only the local features at the decision point can inform his navigational choice. A sign placed at a decision point in this framework, needs to inform the navigator of the correct route.

Applicability and design consequences. When placing signs, we can ask two questions at the decision points in the space: • Should a sign be placed here? Signs have navigational information that is authoritative and unambiguous. If the cost of making a wrong choice is high for the navigator or insufficient information is available from the view at the decision point for the navigator to make the correct choice, a sign is necessary.

• What destinations should be included on the sign? Considerations that come into play are the destination’s frequency (how often is it a navigator’s goal?), its importance or memorability (is it a landmark, a place that could be used as a point of reference for other destinations?), its immediacy ( how close is it?), and its utility (Does the destination help navigator complete a task?). Each of these argue for adding a sign for that destination.

By design, signs must be in a location to acquire the navigator’s attention, yet space for signage is a scarce resource. The benefits of signage must be weighed against the other potential uses for the space it occupies.

An example. One example of effective signage in action is at an airport. The environment may be completely unfamiliar to first-time visitors, and signs are the main means of directing them to their destination. Departing travelers have a typical routine of leaving from ground transportation or parking, checking in with their baggage, passing through security, and going to the departure gate. Arriving passengers must claim their baggage and proceed to ground transportation or parking. Effective signs in an airport both direct visitors at decision points to useful destinations and confirm their route along the way.

8. Use sight lines to show what’s ahead.

The principle. Give the navigator a more extensive view in a particular direction and a goal to draw him in that direction. In an exhibit space, in which the first-time visitor has uncertain expectations as to its extent and purpose, sight lines are valuable means of giving enough information about what’s ahead to encourage the visitor to move farther. Sight lines give long but narrow samples of unfamiliar space. Based on that sample, the viewer can determine if that direction is of interest or not.

To make a sight line interesting, the designer can provide a ``wienie’’ - a goal to navigate toward. It might be some feature or object that is striking or unusual, something to spark the navigator’s interest. It is the reward for choosing the path that it lies at the end of.

Source. This principle comes from Martin Sklar, president of Disney Imagineering, relating ``Mickey’s Ten Commandments’’ for museum exhibitions at the 1987 American Association of Museums Annual Meeting [McLean, 1993]: ``Create a `wienie’ [ sic]... That’s what Walt Disney called it...You lead visitors from one area...or one exhibit to the next by creating visual magnets. Reward people for walking from point A to point B.’’ Applicability and design consequences. Providing selective views into a larger space is a way of letting the viewer take a representative sample of what’s available and letting him make wayfinding decisions on that basis.

It could be thought of as an alternative to a sign; instead of telling him that the destination is down this path, you can show him where it is (although it might be far away). The information available at a decision point should also depend on what sight lines are offered by each of the choices. Sight lines and wienies are tools the designer has to lead the visitor from one part of the space to the next.

An example. Sight lines were important in the Kennedy museum. At the end of the main corridor, an octagonal case with Jacqueline Kennedy’s dinner gown was visible from the beginning, and served to draw people forward through the corridor. The case was situated in a temporary exhibit space that formerly housed an exhibit on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which apparently was less interesting; once the case was installed, it actually improved visitor traffic into the adjacent exhibit on Robert F. Kennedy [Rigg and Wagner, 1997].

Another example is from the original Kennedy museum, before redevelopment. In exhibit 17, a film clip of a press conference was activated by a floor sensor: the monitor in the exhibit was blank until the visitor stepped in. Visitors would glance into the exhibit, see a blank screen, and move on. Once the clip was made into a continuous loop, traffic flow improved into the exhibit.

Need of wayfinding: JD Power surveys shows that at New York airport, 25% of customer’s satisfaction is related to wayfinding issues, equally divided into three categories: 1- Getting to the gate on time.

2- Where are the toilets?

3- How do I get out of the airport?

Effective wayfinding reduces stress: - User friendly - Stimulate relaxed behaviour to smoothen operational process.

- Satisfied customer will tell their friends.

- Makes customers like to come back.

- Creates equality for the impaired.

Effectiveness of signage system: - Number of visual stimuli (How easy it is to collect your preferred information from the system.

- Presence of other occupants.

- Location of the signs.

- Attentiveness of the occupants - Visibility of sign - Size of the sign - Information quality.

There are three types of signs: 1. Information Signs These are the signs that people use to orientate themselves when they first reach a building: name sign, car park, entrance and the main locations within the buildings.

2. Directional Signs Enable people to find destinations and often include arrows or other directional text. In large buildings they may contain more than one location and care should be taken to ensure that the directional arrows are easily read.

3. Identification Signs These are used for individual locations and usually indicate a particular room or service. The building blocks of wayfinding, identification signs often provide the first impression of a destination. These signs are visual markers that display that display the name and function of a place or space . They appear at the beginning and end of routes at and indicate entrancesand exits to primary and secondary destinations.

The Language of Signs What is said on a sign and how it appears is very important.

- Use words that are readily understood; - Avoid abbreviations which are difficult for visually impaired people and people with learning difficulties; - Be consistent with the terminology; Only give as much information as is needed at that point in time – supplementary signs can be used further along the route if necessary. But also ensure that the meaning is conveyed and not mislead through trying to make the sign too concise.

Sign Style Capitals and lower case should always be used. The use of all capitals can cause difficulty in reading quickly for many people. (The exception of course is for the traditional well recognised: EXIT, TAXI etc); - Typefaces should always be sans serif: such as Helvetica Medium, Arial, Avant Garde, Futura, FF Meta, DIN Pro, etc.

- Try not to use full stops or commas, if you have names on signs print them out as: Mr D Right Colour can be used to divide signs into different departments but be aware that this can cause confusion, as it needs a level of understanding to work out what the sign is telling you.

- Sometimes symbols can be used instead of words: for first aid, no smoking, and recognised symbols for disability.

- Arrows are always useful but ensure they are the right type; ISO 7001 recommend using arrows whose ends are parallel with the main stem. Avoid arrows that have a short tail, are thin so making them difficult to see and shaped arrows that are not immediately recognisable.

- Numerals are better to recognise than using words and take up less space.

- The spacing between lines is very important.

Visually impaired people need more clear space to read something easily so ensure that text is not too close together.

- Colour should be chosen that contrast well with the background and is good for visually impaired people to read (as the suggestions at the start of this guide); - Highly polished or reflective material should be avoided to reduce glare; -Braille and embossed signs for visually impaired people should be provided;

unambiguous. They should be positioned between a height of 1400mm and 1700mm. The text should be embossed within a range of 1 – 1.5mm and never engraved.

Where should they go?

General directional signs: these should be placed within a range of 1400mm from bottom of the sign to 1700mm to top of sign. They should be repeated along any long lengths of travel and at any intersection.

- Care should also be taken with arrows to ensure that there is not too much space between the words and the arrow, which would make visual alignment difficult.

Hanging signs: signs that are placed at right angles to the wall or hanging from the ceiling, the bottom of the Always avoid: sign should be 2300mm from the floor level.

- Italics or scripts.

- Exaggerated typefaces.

- Very bold typefaces where the white space inside letter disappears.

- Too much information on a sign.

- Lots of different typefaces on a sign.

What size should they be?

- The size of the character depends on the distance the sign will be read.

- Long distance reading: entrances etc, 150mm - Medium distance reading: identification signs, corridors etc, 50-100mm - Close-up reading: directories, information signs etc, 15-25mm Symbols: if space permits, 100mm Embossed signs: these signs are always read close up and it is essential that they are clear, brief and

Floor Level indicator signs: these should be placed 1400mm from bottom of the sign, opposite lifts, on stairwells and opposite doors from stairwells.

Reception desks: these should be preferably on the front of the desk for wheelchair users and either suspended from the ceiling or at 1400mm from floor level.

Lifts/toilets etc: in a large building it is useful if signs immediately outside the facility is placed a right angles to the wall for easy recognition. This is supplementary to the signage leading to the facility and the usual signage on doors.

WAYFINDING AND VISITOR EXPERIENCE: When towns or cities recognize they have a wayfinding need – usually because they discover that visitors are constantly lost or that potentially popular visitor destinations are being underutilized – their first inclination is to install more signs. This is not surprising of course, since wayfinding is, after all, the practice of helping people to find their way, and signage is the field’s most obvious, long-standing tool.

But while signage may be an important part of the solution, taking such a narrow view of both the objectives and parameters of a wayfinding program will severely limit its potential benefits. An effective wayfinding program will actually consider much more than just signage, and if done correctly, it will have benefits that go far beyond simply helping people find their destination. A holistic approach to wayfinding will look at every possible point of contact with a user of the system, from the time they begin contemplating and planning their journey until they reach their final destination. The result will be something more than just great wayfinding. It will actually play a leading role in shaping the overall experience of visitors, which is a critical component of a strong, valuable brand.

The Experience is the Brand Before we talk more about the relationship between wayfinding, user experience, and brand, some definition may be in order. A brand is much more than just a logo, tagline, and color palette. In its broadest, most valuable sense, a brand is actually an organization’s promise to its customers, who in the case of a town or city would be visitors and residents. When a brand is managed effectively, every contact point with a customer – whether it is a web site, a conversation with a visitors center volunteer, or a directional sign – is viewed as an opportunity to reinforce the brand promise.

And what is the brand promise? In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, sophisticated organizations are increasingly seeking to differentiate themselves by moving away from traditional promises like speed, quality, or value, and instead putting the focus of their brand promise on the “experience” of using their product or service.

Companies are devoting significant resources to improving the experience of using their products. They now look at everything from the design of the product to how it is packaged and delivered, the effectiveness of the instructions, and what kind of ongoing support is provided – all from the viewpoint of the user. Then they create marketing campaigns that feature the promise of this carefully planned and designed experience.

These same principles can be easily applied to the challenge of differentiating a town or city in the minds of potential visitors. In the world of municipalities, examples of experiences that could form the basis for compelling brands might include: a cosmopolitan world of arts and fine dining; a romantic retreat; a journey back in time;

an opportunity to commune with nature; or a familyoriented adventure. The process of selecting the right experience for your community – while too involved to describe in great detail here – will involve a combination of user research (to determine how people currently view you), a thorough inventory of what your community has to offer, and some soul searching on how you want to be viewed by potential visitors. Those who have done this know that it is a challenging process, and that establishing a focus includes the sometimes-painful decision to eliminate efforts that are outside of this area of focus, but the long-term benefits can be substantial.

For example, Two Twelve a graphic design firm, first worked with the Ivy League university in the early 1990s to design a signage system for its renowned Divinity School with Kliment Halsband Architects.

When Yale embarked on a major redevelopment program a few years later, Cooper, Robertson & Partners asked Two Twelve to participate in creating a master plan for the growth and development of the New Haven campus. Our task was to evaluate current and future wayfinding needs.

Upon completion of the Yale University Framework Plan in 1999, we began work directly with the university to implement the wayfinding strategy and develop signage designs.

The new system of signs and maps melds a respect for 300-year old traditions with contemporary simplicity and sensitivity to context. Carefully placed on every building, the signs bring visual consistency to a campus famed for its diverse architecture.

How Wayfinding Supports the Brand: When looked at in these terms, it is easy to see the role that an effective wayfinding program plays in building a community’s brand. The experience is the brand, and wayfinding – especially when defined as more than just signage – is a critical part of the visitor experience. Unlike a theme park or retail center, a municipality does not have total control of the visitor experience, and the components of your wayfinding system are likely to be your primary visitor touchpoints and your best opportunity to reinforce your message. Obviously, they reinforce this message with their appearance and messaging, but equally important is their content (which destinations are highlighted, etc.) and their functionality (do they offer the appropriate level of support and ease-of-use). A place that promises a laid-back, small-town experience might have a more subtle, low-key wayfinding program, for example, than one that promises a high-traffic, fast-paced, family adventure.

To ensure that a wayfinding program lives up to this challenge, it is important to first develop a very thorough understanding of where you have an opportunity to reach out to visitors, and what sort of information they need at each of these touchpoints. A skilled consultant will do this by observing and documenting the behavior of actual users, as well as by undertaking “naive” arrival and navigation exercises, during which they will approach the experience from various user viewpoints. These techniques are essential to getting beyond the preconceptions that the consultant and client representatives may have at the beginning of the project. The way you think your visitors behave – or even how they tell you they behave – might be quite different than reality, and an intense period of immersion in the actual experience is the best way to uncover the truth.

Elements of a Wayfinding Program Throughout this process, it is important to take the broadest possible view of the elements that make up the wayfinding program. These include: • Web site – Do you have a separate web site dedicated to the needs of visitors, or is visitor information buried within the city’s larger site? Does the site offer easy-to-use maps and directions?

• Printed materials – Do the materials you send to potential visitors make it easy for them to plan a trip, and tell them what to expect when they arrive?

• Visitors center – The design of the center and the services it offers should reflect the desired experience, and volunteers should be skilled at providing directions and advice that support this experience.

• Districts or pathways – Creating distinct zones or corridors (highlighting concentrations of arts facilities, historical sites, significant architecture, entertainment/sports venues, etc.) within a city can assist with wayfinding and also highlight the presence of relevant attractions.

• Signage – In addition to wayfinding signage, this could include interpretive exhibits, custom street identification and regulatory signs, and seasonal or event-specific pageantry.

• Other “placemaking” elements – Everything from architectural gateways and landmarks to street furniture and transit shelters can be designed to create a sense of place and reinforce the desired experience.

Typography: As we go about our daily lives, we are completely surrounded by typography. It is everywhere. On signage it direct us, in instructions it helps us, through advertising it influence us, on packaging it describes to us, and through newspapers and magazine it inform us, tells us stories and educate us. In this context type’s central message is to communicate a message in such a way that firstly, the intellectual content is understood, and secondly, it is given a unique “voice�. Essentially, typefaces are an artful representation of words. Each is unique and in a sense each has a personality.

counter space

meanline cap height baseline

Typeface

ascender x height descender

The begining of the design process is the time to explore the type families and select the appropriate type face to suit a specific site and context. Typefaces have specific personalities and suggest certain association; Meta appears crisp and modern ; Bembo seems traditional. While selecting typeface we should be clear with the users and uses: who will read it? How will they read it? Will it guide drivers on a highway , students through university, or diners to a restaurant?

Because signage must often be read at a distance by pedestrians walking quickly or passangers in moving cars or bikes, letterform legibility is critical to the success of a wayfinding program. Two important characteristics of letterform affects the legibility of messages: the x height of typeface, and the counter spaces.

Letterforms: Examine a typeface to see much variation it offers in terms of slant, weight and width. This is particularly important for wayfinding system where message often appear in different settings and scale. Univers is a good example of well designe typeface that offers many different individual weights and letter types.

There are two types of letterform, - Roman - and Italics.

Letter Proportions: - Light extra condensed - Light condensed - Light - Medium extra condensed - Medium condensed - Medium - Medium expanded - Bold condensed - Bold - Bold expanded - Extra bold - Extra bold expanded - Ultra bold expanded

Roman Italic

The Numerals: There are two basic kinds of numerals: aligning and old style. Aligning numbers are the normal , but old style figure can add a lyrical quality to a design as the numbers move above and below the x height datrum lines. Both serif and sans serif fonts sometimes offer these variations.

Light Condensed

Frutiger Lt Std (Aligning):

Light

1234567890

Medium Condensed Medium Bold Condensed Bold Extra Bold Condensed Extra Bold Extra Bold Condensed Extra Bold

Info Text (Old style):

1234567890

1- UPPER CASE – All upper case gives commanding, magisterial, even elegant appearance. Indeed certain sign messages, such as STOP and EXIT. 2-Title Case - helper such as conjunctions n prepositions We don’t read whole word then why emphasize, familiarity to the words.

- Have more distinctive shapes n greater variation among those shapes than capital letters - Form a more distinctive footprint that is easier to read than all cap footprints Think of reading magazine or newspaper in all caps, such text is set in sentence case, it’s more legible.

3- Sentence case – Using upper case for only first letter of sentence. Mostly used in publish design.

4- lower case – All lower case. It gives non dominant, relaxed, friendly and subtle feel to the information.

Design DESIGN Design DESIGN Letter spacing, spacing among all the letters in a word, also known as tracking. The more open the letter spacing, the more space it will take up on the sign face. Letter spacing increments vary with different computer programs. e.g., .Illustrator vs. Quark xpress Kerning, refer to spacing between individual character pairs with in a word.

To aid legibility, signage typography should be set as normal or slightly open, positive letter spacing. Negative or tight letter spacing treatments, while they can add drama and immediacy to the appearance of typography, impair legibility and so are best employed in other graphic design applications than signage. And, generally, once a letter spacing standard is determined for the chosen typeface, the spacing standard should be utilized consistently for all typography throughout the program to foster visual unity.

Scaling should be strictly prohibited.

In expanded version we start perceiving characters rather than word. Good legibility is the first criteria for signage typography. And therefore the range of typefaces used on road signs is pretty wide. We see geometric typefaces and many old and modern sans-serif typefaces.

But which ones are most legible? Early road sign typefaces in the beginning of the 20st century were often designed by engineers with a strict geometric or grid-based approach. Newer designs, such as the new typeface in the Netherlands (see image above), are more based on the tradition of print typefaces. But in my opinion, both approaches have their drawbacks, because typefaces used for road signs have very unique requirements. Many people I have talked to seem to believe that speed might be the most important factor for the design of such typefaces, but that is actually not the case. The speed of motorists only influences the duration in which you can read the text on the signs. But that can simply be compensated by the size of the signs.

What makes road signs so different from books and magazines is the variable reading distance. So if you want to improve the legibility of a typeface used for signage, the most important task would be to increase the viewing distance. If you are about to pass a huge motorway sign that is 50 meters away, legibility is no problem at all—the letters are so large, they could be set in Comic Sans and could still be read without any trouble. Where you can make a different thru type design is the moment when the motorist is at a distance where the text is just about to become readable.

After all my practical and theoretical research it became clear to me that the regular way of designing a typeface on paper or on screen was not really appropriate. Because designing a typeface for a large viewing distance is not only a question of type design, it is also question of the feasibility of testing. To increase the viewing distance of my design I needed to experience my typeface in this blurry state where it is just about to become readable and I needed to test it when the visibility is decreased, for example by an over glow effect thru the headlights of a car.

All those stylistic details that define the overall look of these typeface disappear under difficult reading conditions. What matters most is the skeleton of the letters. On one hand these letter skeletons should be very generic, so they easily match the visual patterns we have learned and seen so many times in our life.

But on the other hand, they also need to be somewhat unique. The most generic letter forms do not necessarily create the most legible letters, because too generic letter shapes are harder to differentiate. So in my design I used average proportions as a starting point but I also tried to stress the individual character of each letter.

The “a” is a good example of this approach. The prominent stroke ending on the right may not be necessary to recognize it, but if it is there it helps to distinguish the “a” from other characters.

Below is another example: Under difficult reading conditions, details such as the usually rather small crossbars of “f” and “t” get easily lost. Making these parts more prominent can significantly improve the legibility under difficult viewing conditions.

Certain letters can easily be mixed up under difficult viewing conditions. Designing those letters in a way where they are easily distinguishable makes the typeface more legible and increases the maximum viewing distance.

Here are some examples.

The missing horizontal crossbar of the Dutch road signage font (orange) makes C and G harder to distinguish. In blue are C and G in my typeface. The difference between the letters is easily recognizable.

Another typical example: capital I, lowercase l and the figure 1 should better be designed in a rather unique way.

The stroke width is another important factor of a typeface used for signage. “The bigger the better” doesn’t work in this context—quite the opposite is true. Modern retro reflective sheeting of road signs create an over glow effect which affects the legibility. But this problem is not limited to road signs. Backlit signs in airports, hospitals and office buildings also suffer from this problem. The typeface design should compensate for this over glow effect. This can be achieved by using a thinner stroke width and by opening up the counters of the letters.

Road signage typeface in Spain and Italy; Middle: Transport Bold (United Kingdom) Why not serif font?

A sans serif alphabet would appear to be a natural choice. Serif typefaces, their main disadvantage are not legibility but the difficulties encountered in organizing a simple system for specifying letter spacing and assembly.

The serif tend to create open encounters and to make the layout of word with the correct interspaces less determinable by mechanical means than the spaces between sans serif letters.

Mostly use typefaces in signage systems are as follows: - Akzidenz Grotesque - Benton Sans - Caracters - Din Pro - Frutiger - FF Info - FF Meta - Helvetica - Interstate - Univers Akzidenz Grotesque: Akzidenz-Grotesk is a grotesque (early sans-serif) typeface originally released by the H. Berthold AG type foundry in 1898 under the name Accidenz-Grotesk. It was the first sans serif typeface to be widely used and influenced many later neo-grotesque typefaces. Max Miedinger at the Haas Foundry used it as a model for the typeface Neue Haas Grotesk, released in 1957 and renamed Helvetica in 1960. Miedinger sought to refine the typeface making it more even and unified. Two other releases from 1957, Adrian Frutiger’s Univers and Bauer and Baum’s Folio, take inspiration from Akzidenz-Grotesk.

Mostly used for vehicular or highway signage.

Desfgtr

It was very hard to decide and analyze from the selected typefaces which are the best typefaces for signage system. Some of them are specialy designed for signage purposes. After analyzing the font by printing it in 252 font size and comparing it visualy with rest of other selected font I have made my conclusions.

Akzidenz Grotesque one of the oldest typefaces, with very rational look and feel. The strokes of font are very balanced and uniformed though comparing it to other selection of font looks heavier on visual weight. Construction of letter s has a very tight counter space and tail of letter e and g are very close which make the font too heavy after looking it from a distance. Head of letter t looks very heavy and extra as compare to the rest.

Benton Sans: Benton Sans is a realist sans-serif typeface family begun by Tobias Frere-Jones in 1995, and expanded

by Cyrus Highsmith of Font Bureau. It was a reworked version of Benton Gothic developed for various corporate customers, under Frere-Jones’s guidance. In developing the typeface, Frere-Jones studied drawings of Morris Fuller Benton’s 1908 typeface News Gothic at the Smithsonian Institution. The typeface began as a proprietary type, initially titled MSL Gothic, for Martha Stewart Living magazine and the website for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. As Benton Gothic, there are 7 weights from Thin to Black and only 2 widths.

When working for retail version of the font, the family was harmonized and given the new name called Benton Sans. In 2002-2003, Cyrus Highsmith added additional widths, weights, and italics to the typeface family, and the face was released for public use under the name Benton Sans. The extra weight and widths also served as optically-corrected replacements for

Franklin Gothic, Alternate Gothic, Lightline Gothic.

Like News Gothic, Benton Sans follows the neogrotesque model.

Distinct characters are the two-story lowercase a, the two-story lowercase g, and a blunt terminus at the apex of the lowercase t. The tail of the uppercase Q is distinct for being located completely outside the bowl.

The character set is compact, and descenders are shallow. The typeface differs from other realist sans-serifs in its organic shapes and subtle transitions of stroke width, all contributing to a less severe, humanist tone of voice. Benton Sans has a wider, less compact character set than News Gothic. The typeface includes text figures (old style figures) providing a refinement not available in News Gothic.

Benton Sans font family originally consists of 26 fonts in 8 weights and 4 widths for all but Extra Light and Thin families, which only include the widest width. In 2008-12-18, The Font Bureal Inc. announced the expansion of the font family. The expanded family has 128 fonts in 8 weights, and 4 widths for all weights, with complementary italic and small caps.

Desfgt Construction of letter g is very traditional and the font has very high interspacing with very thick strokes as compare to other selected fonts. Head of letter is heavier.

Din Pro: Back in 1936 the German Standards committee Deutsches Institut Normung (DIN) proposed DIN 1451 as the standard type of lettering for road signage. As the original manual states ‘the purpose of this standard is to lay down a style of lettering which is timeless and easily legible’. The Din Text series was based on the original standards but was completely redesigned to fit typographic requirements and includes condensed and compressed versions. Completed in 2002, it was first released and published in Parachute’s IDEA/Trendsetting typography vol.1 catalog (2003) and was an instant hit. The Din Text Pro series is an improved version which was completed in 2005 and enhanced with more weights, multilingual support and opentype features in all different styles. It has lowercase ascenders that are higher than the capitals and italics (just like the first release) that are not a mechanically-oblique version of the upright weights, but rather true designed italics.

Currently, this is the only professionally designed DIN-based series of super families, which along with its contemporary and popular square-like version Din Display Pro family, offer a powerful set of 56 true weights, all in 4 different families. Each one of these weights supports simultaneously Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. They contain, on an average, 1269 glyphs and 21 opentype features (Din Text Pro supports Greek polytonic as well).

This is a set of very useful daily symbols for packaging, branding and advertising. Symbols for public areas, environment, transportation, computers, fabric care and urban life.

Destgrl Very stylized typeface with an extra inter spacing.

Constuction of letter r seems heavier on top and letter s seems very fat.

FF Meta: FF Meta is a wonderful typeface designed by Erik Spiekermann, the font family was released between 1991 and 1998. A very readable typeface in smaller point sizes but also with enough detail to display in large point sizes. A large size billboard with information about houses in Amsterdam, you can clearly see the power of Meta with the readability from a great distance to this billboard.

Desgal A very stylized font with a traditional g and thin and thick strokes. The stylized angular stroke of font are not good for using the font on dark background as they tend to merge with the background. Construction of letter a and s looks very heavy from distance.

Frutiger: Frutiger is a sans-serif typeface by the Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger. It was commissioned in 1968 by the newly built Charles De Gaulle International Airport at Roissy, France, which needed a new directional sign system. Instead of using one of his previously designed typefaces like Univers, Frutiger chose to design a new one. The new typeface, originally called Roissy, was completed in 1975 and installed at the airport the same year.

Frutiger’s goal was to create a sans serif typeface with the rationality and cleanliness of Univers, but with the organic and proportional aspects of Gill Sans. The result is that Frutiger is a distinctive and legible typeface. The letter properties were suited to the needs of Charles De Gaulle – modern appearance and legibility at various angles, sizes, and distances. Ascenders and descenders are very prominent, and apertures are wide to easily distinguish letters from each other.

The Frutiger family was released publicly in 1976, by the Stempel type foundry in conjunction with Linotype.

Frutiger’s simple and legible, yet warm and casual character has made it popular today in advertising and small print. Some major uses of Frutiger are in the corporate identity of Raytheon, the National Health Service in England, Telefónica O2, the British Royal Navy, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Banco Bradesco in Brazil, the Finnish Defence Forces and on road signs in Switzerland. The typeface has also been used across the public transport network in Oslo, Norway since the 1980s. In 2008 it was the fifth best-selling typeface of the Linotype foundry.

Frutiger is also used by DHL Globally and by DPWN Deutsche Post in Germany.

Frutiger was also produced by Bitstream under the name ‘Humanist 777’.

Desagt The construction of letters seems very balanced and uniformed as same as font Univers but with very perfect inter spacing this time. The letter e and g have got their perfect tails with good space around to look very clean and balanced from distance. The head of letter t with a sharp angular cut make the letter very balanced as compare to the font with straight strokes. The font’s primary function was to serve airport signage so the font suited very well for my campus signage too. As I have prefered function over the architectural style or an emotional aspects of the place so that I prefered the font for its rational and neutral look and feel.

Colour: Within signage & wayfinding design the way of color and contrast are important factors to effectively communicate a message. Colors have different meanings and work in various ways in contrast together. This article will explain the meaning of color and will show various examples of contrast.

Contrast between the foreground and background is one of the most important factors for the ease of reading. If coloured text is used on a bright background the contrast will be weak, for optimal contrast results is white text against dark colored backgrounds. In signage & wayfinding design color is the combining factor to harmonize the sign with the environment. Color programs will distinguish signs from each other and can offer an indication of the message without having to be able to understand the language of the sign.

Swiss painter and designer Johannes Itten created a color wheel that is a organization of 12 color hues around in a circle showing relationships between the colors. The colors are presented in the following way: • Primary colors: Blue, red & yellow • Secondary colors: Green, orange & violet • Complementary colors: Red–orange, red–violet, yellow–orange, yellow–green, blue–violet & blue– green.

The color wheel can be a basis for the color scheme for the design you are about to create. Using the wheel you can easily find the combinations between the colors and see what works best. See the opposite colors and combine the colors into a signage color scheme.

Meaning of color: Black is not actually a color but is often used as background surface in sign design, black can offer a attraction in a visual crowed environment.

Meaning of black: Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery.

White as background surface has the ability to absorb dark lettering into its surroundings, in order to make white work good in sign design use a matted surface with glossy lettering. Meaning of white: White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.

Red is a signal color, as background red is mostly used for warning signs. Meaning of red: Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Yellow in sign design is used as background, yellow has a function of sending out a message and works good in a spacial environment, it stands out.

Meaning of yellow: Yellow is the color of sunshine. It’s associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Blue is one of mankind favourite color, but for design blue will not always have the best results, try using various hues of blue to find the best matching results. Meaning of blue: Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability.

It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.

Black background: In sign & wayfinding design contrast will let you read the signs at ease. Below you will find various examples of good and bad contrast in order to make the design work.

With a black background the lettering tends to stand out more onto to background than with other colored backgrounds. Black is one of the few surfaces that lets other colored text work great together. Beware of too small lettering with too high contrast (white lettering), these will lead to less legibility of the text because of overwhelming background. With large lettering white on black works great. Also yellow on black is a good combination.

Advisable work areas: Airport signage, office building signs, visual overwhelming environments, hotel signage, indoor usage.

White background: White background surface gives the most workable combinations, but beware of that white can absorb its environment. Black lettering tends to be squeezed into the background making it hard to read. Lower contrast lettering gives better results like blue, orange and red.

White backgrounds can be used specific sign projects where design plays a bigger part than the actual wayfinding. For instance using silver lettering on a white background can give fabulous results, due the shadow of the silver lettering the text becomes readable on the white surface.

Advisable work areas: Museum signage, office building signs, pylon signage, retail signage, hospital signage, indoor & outdoor usage.

Yellow background: Yellow background works best in visual crowded environments, for architectural and psychological factors yellow is often used. Yellow with black lettering sends out a clear information message which is needed in such an environment. Using yellow also makes in easy to use orange, red and green which all work great together in a signage system.

Yellow is a much used background color for airport signage, originally started by Paul Mijksenaar for Schiphol Airport signage, nowadays yellow is seen in many airports around the world. Yellow in combination with black lettering gives ease to read and at the same time a clear information message in its surroundings.

Also for traffic signs yellow works good as background color in combination with black lettering. In a outdoor situation, yellow stands out from its background giving a clear message. In many European countries yellow is chosen as background color.

Advisable work areas: Airport signage, road signs, public spaces, indoor & outdoor usage.

Red background: Red is often used for warning signs, red sends out a signal of warning, danger. Many of the warning signs consist of a red background with yellow or white lettering, by using pictograms as warning the signs are multi-language and don’t need explanation, even if you cannot read the text.

Red is a very powerful color which stands out in a visual crowded environment. I have seen various other signs produced with red but in my opinion red is a signal color. Works great with black, white and yellow lettering.

Advisable work areas: Warning signs, public spaces, indoor & outdoor usage.

Blue background: Blue is one of mankind favourite color, as is represents sky, heaven, trust and faith. The color blue is good recognized with white lettering as information sign.

In the Netherlands all highway signs are with blue background as well as the railway signs.

To use blue in sign systems beware of create enough contrast in order to make the signs work best. For instance with light blue a higher contrast lettering will be needed such as black and for dark blue white lettering will work best.

Advisable work areas: Highway signs, railway signs, hotel signage, retail signage, public spaces, indoor & outdoor usage.

Purple background: Purple will not be your direct usage of background color for signage color systems, but purple is a fashion color which is asked by clients to use. Purple works great with lighter colored lettering such as white or yellow.

Purple can be used in signage systems but beware of its architectural environment, as purple is a very powerful color it can easily fade into the background making the sign unreadable.

Use the color wheel to create the hue of colors around the color purple. Purple represents royalty and spirituality, it was Pantones color of the year 2008.

Advisable work areas: Museum signage, hotel signage, retail signage, indoor usage.

Silver background: Silver (metal) is an often used color as background in sign systems. With metal signs you are able to gain a robust look & feel for the signage system. Metal has a different surface when looking at it from different angles, making it not always a good contrast with the lettering.

On a silver background almost all colors work well, even white. In future articles I will go deeper into using silver as background.

Metal signs are frequently used in office signage, with black lettering it will create a very stylish look and feel.

Advisable work areas: Office signage, nameplate design, public spaces, indoor & outdoor usage.

Typography & color contrast: Not only is the contrast important also the chosen typeface will make the difference in a good or bad sign.

When using too bold weighted typefaces the text will look like its expanding of the sign, when using too light weighted typefaces the text will fall back into its background. Medium or Regular weights are usually the best options to choose for a good and readable sign.

Positive and negative contrasts are often combined on one sign. Since light text on dark background always appears bolder, this can create an unwanted differentiation. A good signage typeface should compensate for this effect by offering different stroke weights to be used for positive and negative contrast.

Arrows: Arrows play an important role in navigation system. They are the key element in a signage system. There are many types of arrows available according to the requirements. Many of designers make their own stylized arrow inspiring from the typefaces, structural forms, icons or environment. Though there are standard arrows available too, like the Helvetica parallel, Helvetica perpendicular, Optima style and many other as per the typefaces. The issue face with too much of stylized arrows are their understanding. Stylized arrows expect a visual intelligence from their visitors while standard arrows are much safer and universal in their approach. As arrows only function is to provide a sense of direction to visitor so many of basic forms are also used like triangle. But sometime the issue noticed with triangles are their three pointed nose which lead to ambiguity if the tail is not widen enough. There are many cultural parameters to be taken care while deciding or making arrows. There are few forms which could be culturaly contradicting to the meaning or the value of the form.

The helvetica arrows feature uniform stroke widths for the head and shaft, same as uniform stroke width of the Helvetica typeface.The function of long shaft arrow is to give assurance and flow to eye view. The difference between Helvetica parallel arrow and perpendicular is in the head construction. The parallel arrow has parallel cut to the head strokes which gives good directional sense to a viewer while in Helvetica perpendicular arrow the head strokes have slant cuts which increase their visual weight and so forth provide a good ledgibility. The Optima arrow features slightly curved, thick thin strokes similar to those of the Optima typeface. The helvetica style arrows are compatible with sans serif typography, where as the Optima style arrow is compatible with serif typography.

The size of arrow depends on the functional usage of sign board and also on the selected typeface. Size of arrow is also decided as per strokes or visual weight of typeface. There are many standard guidelines for deciding the size, cap height, 120-150% of cap height or x height of typeface. It also depend on the environment and circumstances of the usage. The highway arrows or road side arrows (exterior) are expected to be bigger because of uncontrolled availability of visual elements in environment. The arrows should be alligned to the baseline and upper margin should be higher than bottom margin.

Helvetica parallel arrow:

Shaft

Head

Helvetica perpendicular arrow:

Materials: A) Metals: Metals in both structural and sheet forms, are among the highly utilized sign materials. Additionallly certain metals can be melted and cast in to complex forms, including hardware components such as sign bases and as medallions and plaques.

All metals hav good to excellent structural properties, although they are oxydize or corrode to a greater or lesser extent. Metal can take a range of surface finishes, from a mirror polish to a coarse brushed grain. Metals can also be painted, although stainless steel, bronze, and brass are so attractive in their natural state they rarely are.

Typical metals used for signage include: 1. Alluminium. Used for sign faces, plaques, cladding, trim and light weight to medium weight structure, as well as for castings. Considered one of the “white” metal, aluminium is lighter shade of gray than stailness steel.

Other characteristics include: good appearance ; good durability ; light weight and medium to high expense.

Aluminium also typically benefits from clear or opaque protective coatings, although such coatings are not necessarily required.

2. Carbon steel. This metal is typically used for concealed medium weight to heavy weight sign structures, not for appearance. Other characteristics include: high durability; heavy weight; and medium to high expense. Carbon steel also requires rust inhibiting paints or coatting.

3. Stainless steel. Stainless steel is typically used for sign faces, plaques, cladding, and trim (it’s generally too expensive for such structures). Another of the “white” metals, stainless steel is the darker shade of gray than alluminium. Other characteristics include: excellent appearance (it’s rarely painted); excellent durability; heavy weight; and the high expense. Because it does not rust, or rusts minimally, protective coating is also not required.

4. Bronze, brass, and copper. This copper alloys (also called the “yellow” or “red” metals) are typically used for sign faces, plaques, trim, and castings. Like stainless steel, they are too expensived for structures. Other characteristics include: excellent appearance; good to excellent durability; heavy weight; and high expense.

These alloys also require protective coating - although often they are intentionally oxidized to a rich brown or green patina before coating.

5. Alluminium Composite Panel (ACP). Available in selected colours and composites.

6. Galvanized Iron (GI). Rare rusting but colour coating is an issue. Heavy weight.

B) Plastic: Plastics have numbers of unique properties that can be exploited for signage, such as transperancy, formability, break resistance, and relatively low weight compared to other sign materials. As such plastics are another coomonly used sign material, although they are used primarily for exposedfinished components, not structural component. And because certain plastic allow light to pass through them, they are almost always used for internally illuminated sign faces. Plastics and plastic resins are also mouldable by various proceses into an infinite variety of shapes, an invaluable features in signage design and production. Plastics in sheet form are most commonly used in signage, although plastic resin liquids and pellets can also be cast into various sculpture forms.

The two primary sign plastics are acrylic and polycarbonate (commonly called polycarb), both of which have the glasslike properties of transperancy and translucency; but, unlike glass, they don’t chip and shatter. Infact, polycarbonate is the clear bulletproof material used to shield bank tellers and presidential limousiness.

There are some technical differences between acrylic and polycarbonate, but they are both used for sign faces, plaques, cladding, and trim. Due to their capability to be transparent or translucent, they are widely used for the faces of internally illuminated sign boxes and letters. They are also widely used for vacum formed sign faces that have graphics in relief, as well as for clear protective lenses on signs such as directories or menu boards.

Acrylic sheet, in particular, is available in a fairly wide range of colours and textures, from completely transparent to opaque, and both acrylic and polycarbonate can be painted to a custom colour. These are several manufacturers of acrylic and polycarbonate sheet, each with its own trade name and line of colours, textures and other features. Grades with UV inhibitors should be used for exterior signage, as both acrylic and polycarb tend to yellow with exposure to the sun. Both feature a good appearance, medium to high durability, light to medium weight, and medium to high expense. Mosts plastics, including acrylic and polycarbonates, do not require any applied protective coatings, but they do tend to scratch more readily than other sign materials.

Other plastics used in signage include styerenes, vinyls, phenolics, and photopolymers, all of which have their own unique properties.There are sevaral manufacturers of signage matrials (which typically come in sheet form, some of which are flexible) made from these types of plastics. Many are sold under trade names and utilize proprietary manufacturing techniquesthat result in unique produts, such as expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sheet thats half the weight of solid PVC sheet, but is very strong for sign panel use. Other specialised plastics used for signages include metallized or hollographic films and sheet; photosensitive plastic sheets, which yield raised tactile and Barille graphics when exposed to light and chemically processed; and plastics resins sheets with all kinds of decorative materials or glass fibers for strength.

C) Wood: As sign materials, wood and wood products are less commonly used today than they were a few decades ago, having been replaced to a great extent by new materials on the plastics front. Nevertheless, wood and products made from wood, such as particle board, are still used for some signage, including sign faces and plaques as well as for light weight structures. Wood products come in both structural and sheet forms, from cheap pine two-byfours and plywood to fancy lathe turned postsand exotic solid hardwood or veneered panels. All wood products can be painted or clear coated, and can take a range of surface textures, from smooth to highly textured. Typically, the more lowly and unattractive the wood product, such as medium density fiberboard (MDF), the more likely it is to be used simply as substrate panel, to be covered up with paint and graphics. On the other hand, richly grained hardwood can be exploited for its attractive appearance in signage design, as it is fine furniture and cabinetry. In many cases, surfaces of low quality wood products are leminated with a veneer, which is a thin layer of high quality woodoften with unusual graining.

Other characteristics of wood products range from poor to excellent appearance; low to high durability; light to medium weight; and low to high expense. Wood products, particularly in exterior application, must be protected with opaque paint with clear sealer.

D) Fabrics: Fabric is a sign material that has the unique property of flexibility; consequently, it is typically used for exterior signage application such as awnings, billboards, banners, and flags. In the case of awnings and billboards, the fabric is stretched over a rigid frame; fabric banners and flags are freer to move with wind, so they can lend animation and a festive quality to a site.

E) Masonry: Masonry is not very common material for signage but thanks to its inherent monumentality, it can be used to great effect. Masonry materials for signage include stone, brick, and precast concrete varieties that are typically used in architectural applications.

CASE STUDY: Airport Signage Airport signs & wayfinding systems are guides to show visitors the way. From finding the toilets, gates, transfers or even the coffee corner, signs are needed to show the way. Airport signage design is not a easy task and creating a wayfinding system in a airport which will have to guide thousands of visitors takes a in-dept case study of the visual environment, travelers stream, detailed prints of the building and much more. In this photo showcase I’ve collected images of Airport Signage from cities all over the world, using the photo website flickr.

Airport Signage Design When designing signage for an Airport or a other public building you have to take a good notice of the visual surroundings the signage will be placed in. The background colors of walls and windows, the amount daylight let in the building, the lighting and more environmental elements are important when designing signage for an airport. In a visual crowed environment it is important that signage design stands out to its background, for a maximum effect. Use a color system with not to many variations and be consistent with the color usage. Think about using illuminated signs to enhance the readability of the signage and always use mockups of the signs to test if the signage is working in the visual surroundings.

Color, typography design and use of pictograms Design high contrast signs to ensure good readability and legibility of the signage. Colors that work well are a dark background with a light colored text and pictograms. For example a black background with white illuminated lettering will ensure a high contrast which has a good readability from a distance. Other common color combinations are a yellow background with black lettering. For typography use a sans type like FF Info by Erik Spiekermann or Frutiger by Adrian Frutiger. Use a font that has a high x-height which will increase the legibility of the signs. Use only one font in all visual communication levels of the airport signage. For international airports it is vital to use symbols to indicate the facilities in and around the airport, always strengthen the symbol with written text in the native language and preferably in English language. This will ensure that most of the visitors can read the signs.

Designed by Erik Spiekermann and Ole Sch채fer, FF Info Collection offers a large variety in type weights and pictogram sets with a good legibility suitable for airport signs.

abcdefghijkl mnopqrstuvx yz ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQ RSTUVWXYZ &1234567890 ($%!?.,@*)

Arrow design Arrows are one of the most important design features of a wayfinding system for airports; with a pointing arrow you will be able to guide visitors to their destination. Choosing an arrow within a design can make or break the design, don’t overdue the arrow but gently incorporate the arrow into the sign in balance with type.

Sign design using a grid Always use a grid to design Signage & wayfinding systems in order to maintain balance and flexibility in the design. In a future article I will go in dept by explaining how to design signage using a grid.

Below you will find a showcase of airport signage designs. High contrast illuminated signs, using clear lettering.

Bureau Mijksenaar has been proven to be a world leader in airport signage design, Paul Mijksenaar has designed airport signs for John F. Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia, Sardinia’s Italy and Schiphol. His designs can be marked as clear high contrast signs. At Mijksenaars website you can find more detailed information about these projects.

Making sure people find their way quickly and easily that’s what designer make in their do best. Whether its signage for busy airport or park they makes places more accessible, easier to comprehend and safer. In 1991 Mijksenaar set the new standard for wayfinding when they redesign the signage for Amsterdam, Schiphol airport. The signs and pictograms that are directly recognizable for passengers all over the globe. For Mijksenaar all good wayfinding start with the psychology of the traveler. Looking inside the airport it looks visually much unorganized. The whole travel process is very stressful. It starts off with packing your bags, making sure your tickets are at hand worrying about traffic jams on the way to the airport. To prevent stress you must ensure that the way you present information to people is in line with their expectations based on experience. They try to make the pictograms and messages self-explanatory. In an airport nearly all the pictograms you see are international.

Another example of the traveller’s psychology, all the information signs are positioned so they facing the traveller while advertising is positioned at the sides, so so advertising is positioned at the sides, so you see it as you are passing by but it doesn’t obstruct the view of the information signs. It’s another principle from psychology, about separating information.

With user focused solution for airport facilities Mjksenaar devised different crystal clear colour scheme such as blue sign for shops, yellow for arrival and departures and green for emergency exits while red for how to fight with emergencies. The most important aspects of good signage can be summed up in the “four C’s”: 1. Continuity, meaning repeating the information until the destination is reached.

2. Conspicuity, meaning the signs should catch the eye.

3. Consistency, sticking to your terms. A “restaurant should not become a “snack bar”.

4. Clarity, meaning the message should be lucid.

Understanding the existing signage system: MIT Rajbaug comprises of three different institutes or school and a memorial. It has three different managements handling their respective ar eas. The campus doesn’t follow the same visual language for their each institution. Most of signages used in institutes or schools are not designed properly. There is no single visual language followed in the campus.

The other issues were of legibility, structures, material, language, design layouts and placements. There were different materials and graphics for the same category of signages. The existing systems dosent follow a uniform grid for their layout. Some of the existing system looks very temporary in nature which damages the branding of institution. In Gurukul the existing room identity boards with wooden structure have too much of structural material so that visitor’s eyes get stuck on the structure rather than the information. The material used for writing informations are executive bond papers of 70 gsm with plastic cover over it which causes unwanted reflections over information. The language used in some of Gurukul signages was too mature for school.

In MANET the identification board for class rooms have incomplete informations which creates confusion and ambiguity among visitors. And because of using different materials in same heirarchy the visual language get changes which also lead to confusion. In MANET for room identification there were two types of material being used, acrylic and stainless steel.

Though the campus is just started and still under construction but surely there is a scope of developing a system which can be followed and continued with the development of the campus. The other issue realized was the landscape design of the campus.

Synthesis and problem solving: To start with problem solving I started with the client, understanding the environment and key characteristics about them. A well-known educational trust with 54 Institutions delivering KG to PG education. They are in almost every specializations and streams. MAEER is truly multi-campus and multi-disciplinary organization conducting university approved academic programs in Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Medicine and Polytechnic. Approximately 55,000 students study in various institutions of MAEER. The student community represents entire cross-section of the country.

The ethos of value based education system is strictly followed in all institutions to promote good character building among the young generation. The name of their different campuses across Maharastra are as follows, - MIT Kothrud - MIT Rajbaug - MIT Alandi - MIT Talegaon - MIT Latur - MIT Barshi - MIT Solapur - MIT Aurangabad MIT Rajbaug: For knowing the key elements of the campus I have interviewed many students and staff members of the campus from different institutes, some face to face and other through social networking websites like facebook and google buzz. Then taking the key words I build up a brain map for the campus. Using the same process I have build up brain maps for each institutes. Which helped me to get a mood board for the visual language of the campus.

Brain maping:

Mood board: Inspiring from the mind maps I started converting the verbal language into a visual language. There were many key characteristics among the students on which I developed a mood board. The characteristics like in the campus most of the students are residential students, their hair cuts differ as per their institution, the culture of each institute is different from one another. MANET’s student is known for groups, uniform, discpline and masculine environment while students of design are known for their hairs, attire, creativity and freedom. Same with the architecture styles of each institutes, they all have different architectural styles.

The mood board helped me to create a visual language for the campus. After having the visual library I started developing the forms inspiring from the mood board.

The information architecture:

MAEER’S MIT

MIT Kothrud

MIT Talegaon

MANET

MIT Talegaon

MIT Rajbaug

MIT Latur

MIT Alandi

Gurukul

Bharadwaj Middle School Ground Floor First Floor

Jamadagini

Boy’s Hostel Admin/ Lib/ Art Centre Second Floor

MIT Solapur

Design Habitat

Vasisth

Institute of Design Admin/ Lib/ Lab

Institute

Ground Floor First Floor

Architecture Hostel

Second Floor Third Floor

Rooms (Office/Class room)

Departments/ Studios

Cabins

Cabins

MIT Barshi

Rajbaug Memorial

Signage system summary: External Signage boards -Toll Point - Higway Turn - Campus Entrance (including you are here) - In campus navigation (Vehicular) - In campus navigation, Gurukul (only pedestrian) - Institute identification - Building identification Internal Signage boards - Information board (entrance or stairs) - Navigational signage boards - Secondary identity boards (class rooms) - Tertiary identity boards (cabins)

External signage system summary: S. No. 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Description of use External navigation (vehicular zone) Identification board Navigation panel (vehicular) Navigation panel (pedestrian) Institute Identity board Building identity board

Position

Structure height 366 cm

Letter height 9 cm

Plank height 137 cm

Plank length 160 cm

488 cm

10.2 cm

30.5 cm

106.6 cm

243.84 cm

6.2 cm

15.2 cm

117 cm

Inside Gurukul

182.88 cm

4.6 cm

12 cm

81.3 cm

Building mounted (top) Building mounted (eye level)

NA

13.5 cm

Toll point

Campus entrance Inside campus

Internal signage system summary: Sl. No. 1.

2.

3.

4.

Description of use Information panel Navigation panel Room identification Cabin identification

Position entrance and stairs Ceiling hung Wall mounted Wall mounted

Height from Plank ground height 91 cm 91.45 cm

Plank length NA

46 cm (from 10 cm celing) 152 cm 33 cm

76 cm

152 cm

28 cm

7.6 cm

33 cm

Explorations: Form explorations.

In initial stage I inspired through many key words which I got through brain mappings and observation.

For instance, the architectural style of institutes, hair cuts of students, radial planning of the campus, basic regular signage structure, dome structure, residential self dependent students, basic shapes, writting equipments, logo symbol of institutes, literal image identities, etc.

After better understanding of place and production process I sticked to the dominating dome structure of MIT campuses which is simple to reproduce and easy to relate. I explored many three dimensional and two dimensional structures through using dome or its components. The idea was to keep exploring the forms then narrowing it by production processes. At the end I have to come up with a simplest form so that it can be easily reproduced and has minimum of production complexities. The aim is to build a structure which has minimum components and joints, occupy minimum space and easy to install.

Explorations:

Explorations:

Explorations:

MANET

MANET

MANET

MANET Hostel

Gurukul

MANET Hostel

Gurukul

MANET Hostel

Gurukul

Rajbaug

Rajbaug

Rajbaug

Design Habitat

Rajbaug Design Habitat Bharadwaj Jamadagini

Gurukul

Design Habitat Institute of Design MANET Design Habitat

4.6

5.6

3.2

Gurukul

MANET Hostel

5.6

MANET

MANET

Rajbaug

6.4

Institute of Design

3.3

Rajbaug Design Habitat Institute of Design Design Hostel

Explorations:

MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug

MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug

MANET

MANET

MANET Hostel

MANET Hostel

Gurukul

Gurukul

Rajbaug

Rajbaug

Design Habitat

Design Habitat

MA

Explorations:

MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug

MANET MANET Hostel Gurukul Rajbaug Design Habitat

MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug

MANET MANET Hostel Gurukul Rajbaug Design Habitat

MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug

MANET MANET Hostel Gurukul Rajbaug Design Habitat

Explorations:

MANET

MANET

MANET

MANET Hostel

MANET Hostel

MANET Hostel

Gurukul

Gurukul

Gurukul

Rajbaug

Rajbaug

Rajbaug

Design Habitat

Design Habitat

MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug

Design Habitat

Structure of board: Inspiring from most prominent part of architecture of MIT campuses I developed the external sign board structure with a dome as its structural element. The dome was kept on top which can be related to any of campuses of MIT. The alignment and size of dome was kept in such style that it becomes a graphic element rather than structural element. The size of dome is one third of the panel board and was kept left aligned to balance and focus the message or typography of sign board. The height of pipe structure attach to the dome is of same height of panel height, 6 inches. The pipes are welded at the standing pole structure from the half of top most panels and leaving the same space from panel to dome, 3 inches.

The structure of signboards are made up with circular pipes only and not rectangular so that the roundness of dome can be carried throughout the structure.

Taking this structure’s ratio of proportions as my key source I have developed the other external signage structure as per their required heights.

Material: For structure: For the signage structure material I have chosen galvanized iron for the standing poles and stainless steel for the dome and its supporting component. The chosen material maintains the peace theme of structure and also emphasizes the message more than the structure itself. No paint has been used on any of structural pipes the materials has its own excellent appearance.

For panels: Corian is a solid surface material made from acrylic resin (PMMA) and mineral filler (aluminium tri-hydrate). It is used as a decorative material in a variety of applications in both commercial and residential environments. Corian offers design versatility, functionality and durability. Supplied in sheets and shapes, it can be fabricated, using conventional woodworking tools, into virtually any design. Its key characteristics are weather resistant, UV and heat proof and repairable.

I have used the same material throughout the campus, exterior and interior. The material is available in two sizes 6 mm and 12 mm. Twelve mm is the selected size for the signage usage. The material has already been tested in various signage installations in market with positive feedbacks.

Construction of structure: The structure is made of mild steel pipe and stailness steel. The standing pipe will be in two parts of mild steel (MS), thick at bottom and thin pipe over it, welded at joints. The height and thickness ratio of pipe is 48:1 and the diameter ratio of thick and thin pipes are 1:1.6. The two standing pipes will be connected to each other through pipes of same diameter so that they can remain parallel and steady. The connecting pipe should remain at back of panels. The top most connecting pipe should be at centre of top most panel adjacent to stainless dome pipes of above structure. The dome structure will be made in stainless steel of 1:2.64 comparing it to thin MS pipe. The height of stainless pipes from welded area will be equal to panel height. The dome will be aligned to right side of pipe and will be in proportion to panel’s height, 1:2.6. The inside pipe of dome will be welded in centre of dome (outer pipe) with width in propprtion to dome width, 1: 1.96.

Exterior structures: On next page exterior structure can be seen with proportion to each other.

1. Highway signage (navigation) 2. Campus entrance signage (identification) 3. In campus vehicular signage (navigation) 4. Inside Gurukul pedestrian signage (navigation)

External signage structure (in proportion):

MIT Rajbaug Campus Gurukul MANET Design Habitat MAEER’s MIT Rajbaug Campus

Rajbaug

MANET MANET Hostel Gurukul Raj Kapoor Memorial

Boy’s Hostel

Design Habitat Institute of Design

Art Centre

Middle School Jamadagini

Raj Kapoor Memorial

Gurukul Staff Quater

Vasisth

Gurukul

MANET Hostel

V3 V2

ATM

Bharadwaj B1. Middle School B2. Boy’s Hostel B3. Art Centre

V1

Jamadagini

MOL MANET

J3

J2

J1. Primary School J2. Boy’s Hostel J3. Refectory

J1

You are here

Vasisth

B1

Solapur Highway

B2

You are here

B3

V1. Secondary School V2. Girl’s Hostel V3. Recreation Centre

Institute identity board: The dimension of board could vary as per the branding of each institute. We follow different guidelines and grid for each institute. So the design layout for institute identity board can be provided in two options, vertical layout and horizontal layout.

For horizontal layout, the maximum length will be 10 feet and minimum 7 feet, with 11.2 cm margin on both sides, bottom margin 21.5 cm and uppermargin 25 cm. The typeface minimum height should be 13.5 cm and maximum 15 cm. The text should be embossed within a range of 1.5 – 2 mm and never engraved. The typeface are not needed to be embossed on the background material but through laser cuting methods the type blocks can be build and later glued to its background.

For vertical layout, the maximum height of panel is 5 feet and minimum 4 feet with same margins on its either side 11.2 cm and bottom margin 21.5 cm and upper margin 25 cm. If required for long name institutes two text line can be provided of same height with 8 cm vertical space between them. For MAEER’s the standard height will remain 6.8 cm for all panels with 4.6 vertical margin.

For extra large names which couldn’t fit in to the provided grid abbrevation of college names are to be used.

25 cm

47.2 cm

6.8 cm 4.6 cm 13.5 cm 21.5 cm 11.2 cm

9.6 cm

51.5 cm

11.2 cm

Building identification board: The panels are to identify the buildings. They will be colour coded as per the institutes brand manual. The panel will be building mounted at four feet height from ground level. The primary message will identify the building name and secondary will be about function of building. Corian material to be used of 12 mm thickness with venyl sticker over it. The border colour line will identify the building family colour.

Dimensions: Length of panel 120.65 cm Height of panel 58.5 cm Primary text height 9.4 cm Secondary text height 7.4 cm Bottom margin 13 cm Top margin 15.8 cm

Jamadagini Refectory

Structure of information panel (Interior):

Earlier colour pallete:

The information panel will be at entrance and stair’s area giving a wholistic information of the place, about rooms and people. Information panels will be the first interaction of visitor inside building about its layout. In the panel visitor will get required information about the root or floor he need to visit. The panels are decoded in visual language for simplifying and fast understanding of information.

In my earlier understanding of location I thought giving a colour code will be helpful for visitor or students but after rectifying I realized giving a colour code to a floor would help only when a floor would have an identity or specific function but in present scenario the structure is mixed. So I thought rather than coding each floor I will code each departments.

Graphic analysis: The given colours are decided as per their identity and hue values. In my first stage I have decided my colours individualy after brain storming each departments behaviour. But the ealier colour pallete looked too jazy when presented together in a same board. Then I followed hue value of all colours together so that it looks of same family.

After giving colour code to each departments the other difficulty was to sub classify information further in to post graduation and under graduation classes. I have already used eight colours for classifying primary level information so for secondary classification I have used forms. I have represented under graduates with circles and post graduates with square. The tertiary level classification was to understand year of class visitor interested to visit. So I represented years with number of forms.

Scenario could be if a visitor interested in visiting graphic studio of post graduates, he has to search for the graphic colour first and then narrowing it further by looking two square beside name label.

Dimension: The dimension for panel will be as per architecture layout of building. Presently the architecture layout of buildings can be divided in either two or three parts. Gurukul buildings can be divided in two wings, left and right while Institute of Design’s building has different layout compare to others. Design building should be divided in three parts, left, centre and right wing. Though the orientation for centre and right will be through same pathways, right wing. At each upstairs the information will be deducted of earlier floors. So the height of panel will be reducing at each up floors but the width will remain constant as per decided grid.

year 1 2 3 4

Post Graduates Under Graduates

The same format can be use for every buildings.

For every building plan either with two wings or with centre the same margin grid can be use. The number of name label can vary as per requirement but the margin can be standardized. The proportion of board and size typeface are standard only the elements are to be added or reduced as per requirement.

Foam board to be used for the panel with venyl sticker pasted over it and nailed to wall.

6.6 cm

2.26 cm

0.2 cm

15.2 cm

45.4 cm

0.8 cm 0.8 cm

8.6 cm

6.2 cm 0.8 cm

7.1 cm 3.5 cm 3.8 cm 4.2 cm 5.0 cm 2.2 cm

Ground Floor

2.0 cm

Right

001 Dean

006 Stationary Shop

010 Workshops

001 Administration Office

007 Data Centre

011 Head Incubation Centre

002 Transportation Studio

008 Computer Lab

011 Faculty Cabins

004 Product Studio

009 Library

005 Washroom (His)

3.0 cm 1.o cm

Center

Left

First Floor

101 Projector Room

106 Computer Lab

109 Director Academics

102 Pre Discipline

107 Printer

109 Faculty Cabins

103 Graphics

108 Graphics

104 Graphics 105 Washroom (Her)

Second Floor

201 Design Management

205 Computer Lab

208 Drawing Studio

202 Director Design Centre

206 Projector Room

209 Foundation UG

202 Faculty Cabins

207 Pre Discipline

210 Pre Discipline

301 Animation Studio

304 Computer Lab

307 Film & Video Studio

302 Animation Studio

305 Editing Studio

308 Faculty Cabin

303 Gym

306 Film Shooting Studio

309 Canteen

203 Retail & Exhibition Studio 203 Interior & Space Studio

Third Floor

2.14 cm 2.2 cm 2.5 cm

4.2 cm

1.0 cm

Coding: Foundation

Staff

Library

Post Graduates

Communication Design

Design Management

Projector Rooms

Facilities

Under Graduates

5.6 cm 1.0 cm

1.0 cm 1.4 cm 1.76 cm

Year 1 2 3 4

Industrial Design

31.0 cm

3.6 cm

1.2 cm

8.6 cm

Navigation panel (Interior):

Graphical Detailing:

The position of navigation panel should be visible from a distance. It should be idealy facing the visitor rather than perpendicular to eye view. Considering the parameters I chosen suspended or ceiling hung panels for navigation inside buildings. The material use for fixtures will be stainless steel and Corian material from Dupont for panels. The stainless steel sheet of 1.5 inches width will go through in between panels of 12 mm size so that it does’nt obstruct the view from either sides. The number of panels will vary as per the locations so the height of structure. The height of panel is four feet and margin between ceiling and panel is one and half feet. The margin left between two panels is 0.25 inches.

The colour and numeric codes are to be followed as per information panels. After dividing the building plan in left and right wing the panels are to be divided as per layout. The panel of left wing room shouldn’t be on right wing. As it increases unwanted information and creates visual tension. The arrows size is x height of typeface. The colour band will simplify the experience of pathfinder for directly jumping to its preferred information. Numeric code on colour band will help the visitor to remember room number more easily. Visitor sometime may not even need to look at description but colour and numeric code will be enough for him to navigate till his destination.

Back side of panel is to be use for reverse navigation, two way navigation system. The viewing distance for panel is 10 meter.

Icon creation process:

Explorations:

002 Product Studio

002

PG Sem Three UG Sem Five

002 Product Studio

002

002 Product Studio

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

002

007

007

007

007

007

ICT Laboratory

Staff Room

ICT Laboratory

Science

ICT Laboratory

Mrs. Neeti Patwardhan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mrs. Neeti Patwardhan

Dr. Nagesh Solanki

Mrs. Neeti Patwardhan

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Suresh Welingkar

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Mr. Prabhu Naidu

215 ICT Laboratory

223

Mrs. Neeti Tripathi

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

002 Product Studio

002

002 Graphic Studio

002

002 Animation Studio

002

007

07

007

007

Class 4

Class 4

Co ordinator Office

Staff Room

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mrs. Rama Shinde

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

002 Executive Director

002

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi Dr. Purnima Thakre

115 Class 4 Chandra

Dr. Sunil Karad

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

UG Sem Five

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

115

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

IMAGE AREA

002 Foundation Studio

002

002 Graphic Studio

002

002 Film & Video Studio

002

007

007

007

007

Staff Room

Staff Room

Class 2

Executive Director

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mrs. Alina Thilak

Dr. Sunil Karad

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

215 Class 11

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

Dr. Purnima Thakre

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

Mr. Sajid Khan

125

115 Class 4 Chandra

115

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi Dr. Purnima Thakre

002 Transportation Studio

002

002 Transportation Studio

002

002 Retail & Exhibition Studio

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

002 Interior & Space Studio

002

002 Interior & Space Studio

002

002 Interior & Space Studio

002

007

007

005

007

Class 4

Class 4

Class 1

Staff Room

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mrs. Kanika Jaiswal

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Dr. Purnima Thakre

115

Mr. Ankit Bhalerao

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Chemistry Laboratory

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

PG Sem Three

PG Sem Three

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

UG Sem Five

115 Staff Room 2

Mr. Suresh Raina

Mr. Sajid Khan Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

002

107

107

007

007

Class 4

Staff Room

Staff Room

Executive Director

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Dr. Sunil Karad

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

Dr. Purnima Thakre Mr. Sajid Khan Mr. Prabhu Rastogi Dr. Purnima Thakre

002 Science

Mr. Sajid Khan Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

PG Sem Three

220

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

Dr. Purnima Thakre Mr. Sajid Khan Mr. Prabhu Rastogi Dr. Purnima Thakre Mr. Sajid Khan

003

116

Identification board Secondary (Interior): The secondary identity boards will be of corian material 12.5 inch length and 13 inch. The panels will be nailed to walls and over nails the venyl sticker will come. If required the gap of nails can be filled with putty. The panels will be wall mounted at five feet height from ground. The location of panel will be as per the direction of pathways. For instance left wing will have board on right side of the door so that visitor can see the board first .

The colour code will be followed as shown in information panel. Here icons will also be introduced to the visitor, the graphic elements I have designed for sub classification are actually called fifth element. They differ from icon, icon’s primary function is to make visitor understand about the functionality or identity of the destination while fifth element is an addition to the layout and its function is to enhance the place. The fifth element are graphical representation of place. I have designed it as per my classification of information architecture. In Gurukul I have divided it in three levels as per the school classifications, primary school, middle school and secondary school.

For Design institute I have designed it for each section of design.

They have numeral code on top left the first digit (number) represents the floor code while the rest two digits on medium weight represent the room numbers. I have chosen this system because it is simple as it consist of numerals only and presenting the first number in light weight make it easier for visitor to understand the coding system. The second element in layout is the function of room or identity of the room. The layout is as per heirarchy of the information. The third component will describe the owners of the destination. The name of person or the group owning the place. For design institute it will be the classes who own that place while in Gurukul it will be the faculty names who own the place.

001

003

Director’s Office

Mathematics

Mrs. Rama Shinde

Dr. Nagesh Solanki Mr. Suresh Welingkar Mr. Prabhu Naidu

207

204

Teacher’s Cabin

French

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Sajid Khan

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Mr. Prabhu Rastogi

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Dr. Purnima Thakre

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mrs. Ashwini Patwardhan

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

Mrs. Neelema Tendulkar

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

Mr. Anant Rao Daolekar

305

301

Editing Studio

Animation Studio

PG Year 2

PG Year 2

UG Year 3 / 4

UG Year 4

305

001

Foundation Studio

Projector Room

PG Year 2

PG Semester 5

UG Year 3 / 4

Tertiary identity boards: The panel will be the tertiary level information adressing the person and his designation. It will mounted at five feet height from wall and prior to the entry of cabin. The dimension of panels are 10.5 inches in width and 3 inches on height. The panel will contain a left aligned colour band representing the department of person. On top will be his name and below will be his designation.

0.25 cm 0.75 cm

2.65 cm

27 cm

2.55 cm 1.36 cm 1.o cm 1.5 cm

Prof Anant Chakradeo Dean

7.62 cm 1.1 cm

1.0 cm

Mrs. Gauravjit Kaur Rajpal

Mr. Sajid Saifuddin

Head of Department French

Physics Teacher

Bibliography: The wayfinding Handbook, David Gibson Signage Design Manual, Andreas Uebele Wayfinding Book, Edo Smitshuizen Signage system and information graphics, Thames & Hudson

Reference: www.designofsignage.com www.designworkplan.com www.mijksenaar.com www.youtube.com www.fd2s.com www.thefutureofwayfinding.com www.arrowsandicons.com www.segd.org www.icograda.org www.fontshop.com www.ilovetypography.com

Retrospection: Looking back the last six months has been a great learning for me. It was a great opportunity to learn and interact with IDC faculties and students. In these six months I have approached many streams of design. In IDC I got opportunity to attend many seminars and discussion which are great inspiration and learning for me. I have enjoyed and learned a lot with IIT students on many other subjects too. Opportunity to sit at IDC and IIT library was a great learning experience. In this six months I have developed as designer and person with the kind guidance of IIT people. The energy and knowledge observed in this six months will remain an inspiration for me throughout my career. I have learrned many new things which wouldnt have possible without this project.