Evaluation

When beginning this project looking at the brief I knew right away I wanted to pick a environment that was engaging and not so obvious at first, something that needed to be redesigned and I would enjoy designing.

 I conducted some first and second hand research into existing way finding in Leeds and around the world. Looking at Massimo Vignellis design of the New York subway system showed me just one side of way finding that was mainly about clarity of information and effectiveness of communication the simplistic modernist style was something that was extremely thought out and had an underlining feeling of assisting the viewer without expression or any tone of voice.  I found a similar tone in both visiting Leeds City Museum and Leeds Art Gallery analysing the choice of type and arrows and pictograms I found the designs to be slightly dull and the information was shown in a clean concise way with muted colour pallets and pictograms designed for clarity rather than expression. I did however think the small details on the orange type for Leeds Art Gallery a refreshing difference and showed a bit of invention and created more character for the building. I wanted then to look at some way finding that was more expressive and more engaging for the viewer I looked at the Kunst Gewerbe Museum in Berlin on Creative Reviews website and how their use of type alone created a dynamic and direct form of communication. The design incorporated large floor to celling letters in red text on white background it really showed the tone of voice of the gallery and felt distinct and memorable. This showed me how way finding can really set the tone for a museum, gallery etc. Thinking about this research I then needed to pick what way finding system I wanted to look at for this project.

I thought of the idea of looking at a zoo signage as there would be a lot of content a more playful and expressive tone of voice and I could create some animal designs that I would enjoy drawing and designing. I looked up if there was any local zoo's around Leeds and found Roundhay park Tropical World as the best alternative. I straight away went there to see what it was like, what signage they had in place and wether it would be a good fit for this project. Looking around I immediately felt they could do with a redesign and that their signage was very dated and extremely inconsistent. Their main form of signage was a A4 laminated piece of paper just saying 'THIS WAY' with an arrow randomly placed at points around the Tropical World.
I then photographed and later analysed all the various signage around the Tropical World. Looking at what information was on show, the different areas within the Tropical World and what kind of direction people would move through. I wanted to pin point what defines the park and how its way finding could reflect this. Firstly I found target market is an extremely important factor in any design as this is who experiences and uses it especially within way finding. Tropical World's audience is mainly for children there is a real sense of an educational and fun place shown by the tone of voice in the information on each animal and the various interactive and fun things set out around the Tropical World to make it more engaging. I want my designs to have a focus on being immersive and exciting for young children yet remaining informative and concise for adults. In terms of the personality and what makes the Tropical World unique was that there is no other place round leeds to see different animals from around the world. On top of this is the quite free and intimate layout with birds and butterflies able to move around freely within the space. Considering these things I felt I need to create a quite personal and intimate design that resinates with kids yet stays very informative and clear at the same time. Really analysing as best I would the ethos of Tropical World defiantly assisted me in my designs and informed my design decisions.

Creative review’s article on the way finding system for Great Ormond Street Hospital was very inspiring and the fact it used animals within the way finding I found a great link to my own designs and a similar tone of voice being engaging with kids. This was one of the first way finding systems I found that was quite expressive in parts and the way the illustrations linked with the type was consistent and felt as one.

Taking a lot of photos in the Tropical World allowed me to have a large catalog of information to work with I created some initial sketches of the animals on display and thought about how they could be used as illustrations, pictograms and signs for my way finding. I found keeping my drawings simple and mainly about the outline of each animal allowed me to look at them as symbols much more effectively. I then drew out twenty five different design ideas that would work within the context and be appropriate then thought about how effective they were what the strong points were and how well they would communicate yet keeping this theme of a more light hearted and fun way finding system. This proved very effective for the overall project creating more that one or two design ideas pushed how I interrupted the project and made me think of ideas I usually never would. After a lot of thought and analysis I chose four ideas I felt through reflection and how well I felt I would create the designs. I then created higher quality outcomes for each idea and tried to work on each of them together and see how they looked more professionally to then take two of the ideas even further and experiment more fully. This process of trial and error and exploring more that one idea defiantly expanded my understanding of context and how effective each design is. 

Working with my two most developed and appropriate ideas I experimented with layout, composition, type and colour to try and find the best resolution. It wasn’t till I had looked at both the designs in context did I find out which would communicate more effectively, photoshopping in my design allowed me to see much more effectively how the work in the space, if the text is the right size and how the colours look and how both adults and kids would interact with them. Doing this also made me consider materials much more and how cost effective each design would be. I found that the idea with the animals talking and informing the viewer of where to go was a much more appropriate design and is more engaging, interactive and fit the ethos and context of Tropical World. If I was to do anything differently within this project I would defiantly think about how I photograph the environment to look at different angles making the job of mocking up images much easier. I would have also looked at conducting more research into various way finding for existing zoo’s and how they work and some existing designs not related to way finding and how they relate to my project. I would also try and raise my levels of feedback as it is a great way of getting new ideas that didn’t occur at first and test out ideas in a more critical context. 

Overall within this project I really enjoyed creating a way finding system as it is something very new to me and I didn’t know to much about I feel my levels of research, experimentation and send analysis within this project let to a well informed and though out design that I personally am proud of. I think I chose a environment for basing a way finding system on that is much more lighthearted and expressive then most and this comes across in my designs. I design practice within this project has definatly improved especially in looking a alternative ideas and developing them.