Pictograms

We have been given the task of designing a pictogram for an Olympic event of our choice. I began be looking at the different pictogram's used over the years to display the different events. The pictogram must work as a image alone and must be distinguishable from the rest. The design above by Otl Aicher for the 1972 Munich Olympics in Germany. Using a consistent grid system to create a systematic and recognizable design.

Pictograms taken from the London, Los Angeles and Rio Olympics shoing the different shapes styles and sizes rhat can be used to make the design indiviual and recognisable to the identity of the Olympic games.

I have chosen the show jumping event to base my pictogram on as it is complex and would create a more engaging and interesting final outcome due to the extra level of detail needed. I started by sketching the current 2012 London pictogram and began slowly changing each shape to fit more with the gridded system.

These four more finalized designs I have draw to really reflect the grid as much a possible yet remaining recognizable and clear what it is. Overall the designs represent the event in a clear and concise manor and could be distinguished from th other horse riding events. 

I have experimented with three different colour combinations to understand the most competent and informed design. The design must be as eye catching as possible to fully communicate the information as quickly as possible. Using this gridded design has would allow me to create the corresponding designs for each event and is a great way of keeping the work consistent. I am going to take what I have found from this study task into my next initial designs for this project.

Tropical World

Tropical World!
These are the rest of my photos I took from Tropical World in Roundhay Park showing the different rooms, animals, pathways and everything else! From these photos I would like to raise my understanding of the ethos, personality and unique selling point for Tropical World. This will better inform my design decisions and how I might go about creating a signage and way finding system that works in tangent with Tropical World.

Roundhay Park Tropical World

Roundhay Park Tropical World 

while doing some research into different galleries, public spaces and museums I came across Roundhay Rark Tropical World and decided I wanted to visit to see there signage and way finding and see wether it would be a good fit for my project. All these photos document my primary research of the Tropical World signage and information. 

These images above show the orange on brown logo and basic information. I felt the designs felt a little inconsistent and was not at all memorable. The colour combination didn't stand out and felt uncomfortable on the eye and the use of white for the 'Main Entrance' stood out too much compared to the rest of the text. I felt even at this early stage that the designs needed to be improved upon and would be a interesting and challenging project. 

 

The signage was extremely disappointing these laminated paper signs were frequent throughout the Tropical World and seemed to put a downer on what is a very interesting and individual place. The signs with the underlined capital lettering in bold arial type felt abrupt and even a little rude. The designs defiantly didn't reflect the overall feel of the place. This is something I feel could be greatly improved on and a more child friendly and pleasant design would transform the whole aesthetics of the Tropical World.

 
Throughout the Tropical World there were these rather crude and hard to read placards that showed information about the exhibits and fun facts about them. When looking around the exhibits I didn't see any visiters reading or interacting with the designs as the type was hard to read and over complicated and the illustrations were unclear and rather badly drawn. The lighting and placement didn't help this as it was inconsistent and was far too dark at times. I felt this was real shame as the exhibits needed more information and as Tropical Worlds audience mainly consistent of children and families there was such an opportunity for an interactive side of the exhibits. If I do chose to design the Tropical world way finding and signage I feel this is something that could be explored to create much detailed and informative work.

 

Again throughout the Tropical World there was this kind of informative information on each animal shown however once again there felt as if there was no real effort and continuity within the signage and how it was displayed and they could have greatly showed the wealth of different animals they had on display. As you can see here the designs are very harsh on the eye and don't seem very inviting this is evident from the overload of information and lack of colour. The designs are not very child friendly and insisting and a more expansive and expressive use of type and colour would greatly improve these designs.

 

These images just show the inconsistency and lack of direction within Tropical World there seems to be no real way finding around and when seen it is not at all engaging or even informative. These few images show the different places the signage has been used in different contexts and styles. I believe that  creating a consistent informative and more interesting way finding system for the Tropical World of Roundhay Park would be an excellent response to this project and I feel I would be able to creating something of a great value and would be appropriate response to this project brief. My next steps are to try and look at the ethos of the place and what makes it unique and how this could translate into my own designs.

Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin Way finding

I have looked for some example of way finding in the creative industry that is seen as informed and design conscious I found this Way finding for Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts on creative review blog and wanted to analyse how it has been effective.

As the building was recently refurbished by Kuehn Malvezzi there became the need for a new way finding system and signage around the museum so design agency Double Standards created this signage shown. 




The designs use a extremely bold and large typography to create very direct and eye catching way finding this is emphasised by the large floor to ceiling size of the designs as the building is designed to reflect postwar modernist themes the way finding and signage had to reflect this the use of red and black on white backgrounds gives this clear and legible style. The designs reflect the architecture and layout of the museum shown by the abrupt angles and strong shapes.

The signage doesn't use arrows to show direction this is something I hadn't thought about in terms of  way finding this allows the viewer much more freedom and feel as if they can do and see what they want. This is something I am going to explore and analyse within my own design seeing how appropriate arrows might be in the context of my chosen place or museum.  As shown here the type can be a little overpowering and this could be perceived as a good or bad thing in terms of the viewers experience.

The large type could be distracting and may take away from the work and become the focal point of the designs, however this could be seen as a real positive with the designs reflecting the strong industrial and to the point feel of the gallery. This kind of thing is important to consider when creating signage and way finding. I personally feel the designs only add to the feeling of the gallery and how it can be interacted with and perceived. The use of a floor design to be walked on and inform the viewer of where to go is a fun and engaging way of getting viewers to interact with the exhibition. The design is something I am sure kids would like to interact with and enjoy as well as assisting the viewer in how to move around the museum. Looking at a very different design has opened my eyes to the possibilities in way finding design.

Leeds City Museum

Leeds City Museum
I have again conducted some primary research into the way finding systems of Leeds City Museum and how they compare to the Leeds Art Gallery. I found that the designs we a little more simple and defiantly were designed for a much younger target audience. This is because primary schools seemed to frequently visit the museum and the whole layout and tone of voice really reflected this.  

 In terms of colouring, type and consistency through out the museum most of the signs were fairly consistent in there size of text and the emphasis on a much more readable and clear typeface compared to the Leeds Art Gallery. The lettering was of a much bigger size also as kids and adults above the age of 50's needed to be able to read the signage with ease. The colouring was fairly muted with mainly greys and whites for the text and background and the occasional use of orange and blue within the designs. 

There was a clear difference in tone compared to Leeds Art Gallery the signage was clearly designed to a much more varied target audience this is evident in the muted colours and more plain and readable type choice. Shown below is the use of burgundy pictograms depicting various important places in the museum these are designed to be readable in any language and represent a word with a picture. I personally am very interested in using pictograms within my designs as the created informed and easy to read designs that rescind with everyone not just people who read the same language additionally kids also can understand them with ease.

 

 


 Again showing the different contexts the signage can be read and interpreted. Here we can see how the signs have been put in a lot of different heights and sizes this is done to increase the readability and keep the viewer informed of everything around them. The job of the designer of a way finding system is firstly to inform the viewer of exactly what is were and how to get there this is the primary function. Then secondly to add character and a tone of voice to the museum. Signage can really change the perception of a place and how it is understood by different people.

Leeds Art Gallery Way Finding

Leeds Art Gallery Way finding and signage.
I have visited Leeds Art Gallery to conduct some primary research into way finding around galleries and different aspects and details of the actual signage along side how easy it is to actually navigate around. 

  The basis of the signage was designed around this orange type with various letters like the W and R shown here. This small detail gives the signage individuality and a its own unique image. 

Along side this orange type there was a this grey and black signage this was more informative and showed more practical things on the signage like were the library, shop and lift's are. This use of two different colours allows the viewer to read
the information differently and understand how it differs from the rest and what it relates to in the gallery. The signage here going up the stairs I feel could be seen as miss informing the arrow should be pointing up in a diagonal the same way the stairs are going. This kind of small detail is something that is vital in signage as it can make the viewers experience worse if they are led the wrong way. 

These images show again the different variations of sign type, size of text and various information that I feel could be more consistent and flow better within the gallery. The use of arrows is not very consistent and could be much more readable if they were all the similar size and shape. This is something I will carry though into my own signage to inform my designs.


 

 

 The gallery is also in tangent with the Henry Moore Institute and they are connected. This is another thing I personally felt was not sign posted enough and could have been much more clear and concise. 
The use of lettering was very different with the two gallery's and this I felt was effective in making each space feel much more individual and a different tone of art.  

 

Type is a way of expressing a tone of voice and different degree's of formality because of this I am going to take type and the use of different and similar typefaces into my designs to try and experiment with the different levels of detail and complexity and how it relates to the way finding process.

 

 
These images show how signage must be used in different contexts and on very different materials and surfaces this is again something I must think greatly about for my designs what differences have been made with the different ways of showing signage. Overall when thinking about the way finding systems for Leeds Art Gallery I was pleasantly surprised with both the general consistency and overall modern and new style of displaying type with a slightly alliterated letter forms. This make the gallery feel much more contemporary and  puts the gallery in a very positive light.