Studio Brief 1: Wayfinding in Leeds

Trinity Centre

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Trinity is the biggest shopping centre in the city of Leeds, with over 100 shops, bars and restaurants. Trinity spreads across 3 floors, so a successful wayfinding system needs to be in place to direct the customers around easily. In a number of locations throughout the building, there are hanging signs (Figures 1 and 2)showing the exit routes, car parks, nearest streets and where the escalators/stairs are. 

At entrances and near the escalators there are free standing signs (Figures 3 and 4) which display all of the important details about the shopping centre. They show maps pf each floor and a list of shops and where they can be found. The signs are easy to read and understand. Each floor is colour coded, so that the list of shops can match the same coding and customers can easily find what they are looking for. 

The toilet sign is displayed in the same way (Figure 5), but the individual symbols are also stuck onto the walls (Figure 6) to very clearly show that this passage leads to the particular facilities. I think it is interesting how the majority of the information within the shopping centre is symbol based. It shows how powerful symbols are and that words are not a vital part of wayfinding.