Wayfinding Systems - Overview, Evaluation

OVERVIEW

final symbols used -

Typeface used over store -

FS ALBERT PRO, this is because the is the font used in the current branding, symbols where designed to fit with this style, curved edges, same weight, same colour scheme, same basic form with a hit of humanity

Environment - 

colour scheme -

Pantone 11-0601 TCX bright white

Pantone Black C

_{Evaluation. Wayfinding}

_{For this project the brief was o create a wayfinding system for a chosen environment, the environment could be anywhere for this I picked waterstones for the subject this is as I always get lost into the store over time this was clear this was the first mistake I made as I didn’t research into how many different genres there was for waterstone properly. There are over 40 subgenres, having this many and such a wide range of different subgenres meant that I should have created a sign for each different one but as I didn’t have time I had to group the together into the main fields. This means that they wayfinding systems wasn’t as overall effectively useful as if the audience was looking for a specific subgenre that would have to think about which categorises it would come under, this causes the audience to think which goes against the principles of god wayfinding sign theory I research. If I was to do this project again I would pick somewhere like Leeds art gallery tat has a smaller amount of signs but I could creatively design I system for.}

_{Having to create the different signs for each different genre took up most of the time in this project because of the amount I had to do even though I did try and simplify it , I wanted to make sure each symbol has a few different options and create a survey to see which reflect each genre the best. This gave me an overall representative symbol as a results but took a lot of time to mock up all the different symbols and think of the different ideas, for the next brief I will make sure I research the area first before selecting to do so this doesn’t happen again.  The research into good wayfinding systems and the primary research into uses them allowed me to see issues that acre throughout the design process and this informed my decisions as I then knew what to avoid (small type, no paths, overly text heavy).} 

_{The range of design ideas I created for this brief made allowed me to experiment with different types of wayfinding and graphic design, my aim was to do something I wasn’t uses to or create a system that was very different therefore I created 4 unique ideas. Focusing on create 4 different ideas rather than just one then really developing it first worked better as the feedback from my crit gave me new views into ideas I personally didn’t like or think would work. This focused me to think about wayfinding as principle along with what needed to be done as the more the ideas need to be full explained for my crit so the audience could understand them, i created mock ups and design sketches for mot of my ideas that showed me how they would look then allowed me to compare the results.  Using a sketchbook worked better for me as this allowed me to jot down my ideas faster, I struggle to produce work digitally at first so I will also create work via sketches first then make them digital after i have a clearly idea what I want to create as otherwise I feel over phased. Having a wide range of design in-depth made sure that the wayfinding I created was the apt for the environment as it had be developed in detail.}

_{Symbols design, this was the major part of my wayfinding so this was the most worked on part as I needed to make sure the symbols where readable, legible, representative yet also aesthetically pleasing. For the first part I asked group of people what they associated with each genre then create simple sketches of these, then I got feedback on which worked best, then I created them digital, got feedback on which worked best, create a set of the most popular then edited them to correspond together more. The constant feedback informed my design decisions which mean the design where constantly changed to fit everyone views rather than just my personal preferences making them more effective. As I spent so much time on the symbol work I was rushed to experiment with colour ect  if I was to do this again I would leave more time for development of the symbol set.}

_{To create symbols that match the signage and branding of the shop I had to study and research the typeface that waterstones uses, this showed me how the company wanted to be represented as a whole and the impression they want to give. To make sure the font and symbols matched I used the same curved terminals, weight and style to apply this.}

_{Production,  I should have experimented more with different materials how I could apply the wayfinding to the environment rather than just using the same system that waterstones already does for the rest of the wayfinding but I keep it the same to keep a constantly house style and brand throughout the shop.}