OUGD405: Studio Brief 1 - Wayfinding (Final Mockups)

I further developed some vector mockups in illustrator to make sure that the user interface was clear and easy to understand before mocking it up in an actual environment.

Firstly I assed what needed to be included within the interactive display and also the overhead signage, since my very first mockups were quite basic and didn't tell the user an awful lot about their route.

Overhead Signage

The National Rail's way finding guideline PDF came in use several times throughout the creation of my overhead signage. This was one of those times as the arrangement and order of places and shop names and their corresponding directional arrows play a big part in allowing the user to understand where they need to go at a glance, because as shown in the example above, if arranged badly could mean the user has to take longer than usual to consider their next move.

Information hierarchy and the positioning of 'way out' information was something else I considered.

Taking all of this into consideration, I altered my previous overhead signage mockup and created something much more clean and easy to read.

One thing that I included in this mockup, but not within my previous ones, is popular shop names. Reason behind this is that on the current signage there is empty space that could be put to better use and I felt that directions to big name shops would be useful information to include within the signs given how frequently they're visited by people. 

The colours of the signage were equally as important as the information on there. I chose colours that correspond with the floor as this makes it easy for people to establish which floor they're on without having to find the next nearest sign to do so.

As for the typeface I used Helvetica simply because of it's large x-heights and rounded letterforms which makes it clearly legible from a distance, which is key for overhead signage as it would be useless to have a typeface that means you can only read the sign if stood within very close proximity. It also has a consistent and uniform feel to it, which not only makes it economical with space, but also means it’s easy on the eye.

Stand Alone Signage

Given I wanted my signage to be universal so that people of all languages could understand the flooring system, I scrapped the original First Floor, Ground Floor and Lower Ground Floor which was originally in place and instead swapped it out to a numbered system. In doing so, would avoid any confusion as numbers are the same universally.

A few things that I thought were problematic about the current signage, is that it was quite hard to read from a distance and although the colours contrasted well enough for the text to be legible, the size and spacing of the text meant it was only readable from quite close up.

To improve this, I increased the leading and made the sign the full width of the stand as I felt the wasted space around it simply to have fancy backlighting was not at all necessary and didn't contribute to the readability of the signage.

Final Mockup

Interactive Display

The idea is that when the display is not in use, it would display useful information such as current offers in shops etc. or potentially any customer notices, like earlier closing times. But when the sensors detect someone approaching the screen it would change and greet them with a language screen.

Then the map of the current floor and all the shops on that floor would be shown and allows for the user to select one or multiple shops that they want to visit and the display would calculate the quickest route to the shop(s) and give them an estimate journey time as shown in the example above. The display would also show other bits of useful, standard information such as the time and weather but also gives the user the ability to send their route to their phone in one quick, simple touch using NFC.

Route displayed on Phone

This feature would be especially useful for those people who're in a rush and maybe only have a certain amount of time to do their shopping as it gives the most efficient route between shops. It would also be useful for people who are inexperienced with shopping at Trinity, which is key considering the amount of foreign people who visit on a daily basis to Leeds to experience the city and given that Trinity is the biggest shopping centre within Leeds, it's vital that these people know where they need to go and aren't left cluelessly wandering around.

Final Mockups

OUGD405: Studio Brief 1 - Wayfinding (Interactive Wayfinding Ideas & Feedback)

Following on from the idea of having digital signage within the shopping centre, I took a look further into interactive signage and how this could be used to create a more useful and efficient way finding system.

Roughly 2 Metres Away

Roughly 1 Metre Away

Currently, their signage is almost impossible to read from a reasonable distance as shown within the pictures above. This shouldn't be the case with way finding, it should be legible enough from a close enough distance so much so that you aren't having to come face to face with the sign simply to find out where a particular shop is. 

A few examples of interactive signage are shown above. The first example couples both standard static signage with digital ones so that permanent information such as toilets can be used on the static signs, but estimated train times to certain destinations, any delays etc. can be updated on the digital signs. This concept is extremely useful given static signage isn't capable of this.

The second example shows a 3D map of the environment, which for Trinity, would be much more ideal, given the several buildings and floors it has, a 3D visualisation of their route would be more helpful than a flat 2D one.

Rough Mockups

The interactive signage route seems to be the most appropriate for something such as a shopping centre, the reason being is that it's an efficient system as it can adapt to things such as people of all different languages, who can quickly change the settings into their own language, speeding up the process of finding their route to a particular store.

Not only that, but rather than spending time having to sift through a large list of shop names to find a shop you want to visit and then find the corresponding place on the map, an interactive system would mean simply typing in the name of the shop, finding your route and then following on from there. Or in some cases, if someone is wanting to visit several different shops, the system would be able to create the quickest route to visit these shops in quickly, without the hassle of having to figure it out yourself. Given there's a good chance that a lot of people often visit on their lunch break, this feature would be especially helpful if they're stuck on time, e.g. limited to 30 minute break.

The idea behind it would be that the screen would great you as you approach it, with sensors detecting someone within the vicinity of the screen up to 1 metre, in turn making the screen readily available to find your chosen shop(s). When not in use it would be displaying information as usual, mostly useful information or possibly store promotions etc so that people are greeted with these when entering from any side of any building.

Initial Mockup of Interactive Signage

Another concept I wanted to add into my idea is the ability to send your route directly to your phone, so once you'd established your route you'd be able to tap your phone against a pad next to the screen and using NFC (Near Field Communication) the route would be sent to your phone to allow you to follow your route directly from your phone.

Example of NFC - Apple Pay

NFC allows for data to be exchanged over close range, a common use of it currently is Apple Pay which allows for you to pay for certain things via holding your phone up to the card machine. This would ultimately be the same concept for the route except after holding your phone up to the screen, you'd receive your route directly to your phone as shown in the rough mockup below.

Phone Route Mockup

Feedback:

Overall I received a lot of positive feedback about my interactive way finding system, supporting my argument that it's adaptable and more efficient than a standard static signage system.

One critical comment I did receive about my ideas that they aren't entirely sure how I'd go about creating and setting up this system. I think this is one thing I would look into, what materials, processes etc I would need to go through to make this system a realistic and functional one.

OUGD405: Studio Brief 1 - Wayfinding (Further Research & Ideas)

The main reason for wanting to redesign the Trinity way finding, is not so much because it's bad by any means, but more so because certain aspects of it I feel could be improved to a point of where the signs are much more clear and legible to passers by.


The material they use for their signs is a mixture of glass and a glossy plastic and with both of those sometimes comes glare and reflections which can obstruct people viewing the signage, ideally what I want to have instead to use regular matt signs much like those that are used within National Rail train stations as they are far more clear, regardless of what angle you are viewing them from.

Another thing I thought that could be changed with Trinity's current signage is that they tend to have all one colour signs. Although this is helpful for indicating which floor you're on by having corresponding coloured signs, it can reduce legibility and I often found myself spending more time having reading the signs, rather than it being a quick glance as I'm passing by.

Above is an example of signage that, design wise, I wanted to for not only for it's legibility but also it's aesthetics.

Initial Ideas for Signage

Instead of the whole sign being all one colour, I thought that a small, non-intrusive, strip or square of colour within the sign would work better to differentiate between floors. This way, I can use black text to create a very sharp contrast between that and the white background, improving legibility over the current signage.

As for the shape of the signs, I wanted something relatively simple and bold, typically you would associate squares or rectangles as the most appropriate sign shape since it allows for text to span the whole width of the sign without being obstructed by any curves or anything of the sort.

Currently Trinity use a rectangle with two of the corners rounded off to replicate part of their logo. 

This shape differs from standard way finding signs and so given it's uniqueness and meaning behind it, I will aim to stick to this shape or at the least, a variant of it.

Sketches

Initial Idea

The black type and white background creates a very clear contrast, allowing passers by to read the text quickly without having to stop and stare at the signage. Increasing the font weight of the text means that it also contrasts more, increasing it's overall legibility from a distance.

Developing pictograms for a place such as Trinity is a task in itself, simply because of how legible they need to be so that they're universal so that everyone can understand them. Although this should be a given for pictograms anyway, sometimes within creative areas such as design studios, art colleges etc. you could possibly experiment with more arty pictograms to fit with the environment.

For trinity I wanted bold, high contrasting signs pictograms to ensure full visibility from any angle and within a reasonable distance. Having the signs possibly backlit, such as within the example below, would increase the contrast even further whilst also looking aesthetically pleasing.

As much as I wanted to improve their wayfinding, I didn't want to have a complete overhaul of the current signage system as I think some aspects of it work adequately already, hence why in the example above I tested out the numbering system on what is their already existing signage. The first example is very similar to their current system, but incorporating this numbering system to match with their worded alternative meant it would be universal, allowing anyone of any language to understand which floor is which. The middle example would be the most appropriate example, simply because within the third example, the colours don't contrast as well and from a distance could be illegible.

After putting more thought into this, I figured large, bold numbers, possibly with colour coded floors, would serve better visually as it would be legible from a distance in comparison to their current design. 

The arrows used on the signage are always important, as they need to be equally as legible as the words on them. Typically the examples on the left hand side are most common, but one thought I had would be to possibly have digital signs that could alter information when needed, hence the other dotted examples, as these would be made up of small dots to create the arrows and also the words on the signs. 

The idea of having digital signs would mean information could be changed at a moments notice, making the signs much more versatile, for example if there was a fire, they could display directions to the nearest fire exit etc.

OUGD405: Study Task 03 - Public Information Video/Research

Task:

Watch one of the listed public information films listed and identify and analyse the following aspects:

- Message

- Key facts

- Tone of voice

- Audience

The information film I chose was 'Stupid Git, John Altman', it is an informational video about drink driving, which essentially gets across the message that you think you can drink drive, and although that may be the case, it's not always the drunk driver that causes an accident. Sometimes it's other pedestrians or even other drivers that make a stupid mistake and cause an accident. Not only that, but even just a few drinks can often impair the drivers ability to drive safely.

Key facts to take from it are that taking the risk of driving whilst drunk can result in a range of consequences, ranging from something as small as only having your license taken off you, to potentially hospitalising a pedestrian or several pedestrians.

The tone of voice for this informational video is somewhat aggressive in terms of the language used, words such as git are used which, to me, suggests aggression. The voice actor sounds like he's been within this situation before, talking about the people (not the driver) who causes the accidents 'stupid gits' to suggest they're in the wrong for causing the accident in the first place. But he also talks as in a condescending way, suggesting that even though the driver can think he can handle his drink, only after a few pints, it can still ultimately impair the driver's ability to drive properly.

The film was aimed more so at younger drivers since, especially around christmas time, a lot more younger people are out drinking and driving around. The narrator himself sounds like he's street wise, as I suggested before, almost as if he's been in this situation before. 

Stupid Git, John Altman

OUGD404: Study Task 8 - Typesetting

Task:

Re-typeset Lewis Carroll's - A Mouses Tale using a postmodern approach and a modernist approach.
Modernism and postmodernism pieces of work differ from each other massively, in a sense they are they almost opposites when it comes to style of work and the techniques used. A modernists work would have depth to it and also some form of meaning to the design with informed design decisions throughout every step of the design process. Whereas postmodernist designers are more about antiform, taking chances with their work and creating more of an anarchist feel, with no real meaning to what they've designed.

An example of a modernist designer would be Massimo Vignelli, who are obsessed with ensuring their work effectively portrays what they're trying to say, he works with things such as grids to make sure his work is as legible and readable as possible.

The quote below essentially sums up modernism within a few sentences:

“I don't think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word 'dog' with any typeface and it doesn't have to look like a dog. But there are people that [think that] when they write 'dog' it should bark.” - Massimo Vignelli

An example of a well known postmodernist designer would be David Carson, someone who's work appears to be much more chaotic, almost as if the end product is showing the process he went through as opposed to what would be normally considered a final piece. As you can see from his work, he is someone who disagrees with Vignelli and instead believes that if a word such as 'Dog' was typed out, it should appear as if it's barking at you.

Below is an example of the poem 'A Mouses Tale' typeset in a way that a modernist would potentially set, ensuring full legibility and readability whilst being contained within a grid.

Whereas below is my take on the poem, but with a postmodernist approach, scrapping the idea of sticking to a grid and instead making particular words and sentences portray the meaning of those words.

OUGD404: Study Task 7 - Folds

Task:

Examples of folds, analysis of production, scale and appropriateness. Provide evidence of practical investigation into awareness and usage of a range of folded publications and related pagination issues.

Produce & print an A4 Black & White guide to producing the folded publication, which is used for the guide.

This leaflet has been folded in such a way that allows for it's original, unopened size to be small enough, almost like a handy business card whilst being able to be opened up to reveal useful information. A high gsm stock has been used for this fold, given it's delicacy, anything with a smaller gsm than something along the lines of card wouldn't retain it's shape as well, nor would it fold as smoothly.

Both of these booklets are more posterzine like than a fully fledged booklet, which makes them much different to a typical booklet. Allowing for much more complex layouts such as the one on the right, with different angled photographs to match with the angled folds. In comparison to the previous example of a booklet, this one uses a lower gsm stock so that it can be folded several times without it springing back out again due to the thickness of the paper.

Display Leaflet Option

Booklet Option

The fold I chose to do was one that could possibly double up as a small booklet, whilst being able to stand up as almost a leaflet as shown in the pictures above.

Guide to Producing the Booklet