The wayfinding system has been designed so that it can successfully
take someone from A to B. In Graphic design, there is the constant question of
whether or not designers should be designing in a subjective or objective
manner. The aim of this wayfinding system was to deliver an immersive
experience for the users, sharing an insight into the previous mod subculture in
Leeds. Similar to the work of Guy Debord, the map is designed in a way that
allows for individual interpretations of the surroundings and the decisions on
what way to go will be different for each person. Wim Crouwel believes that “as
a designer [he] must never stand between the message and its recipient”, but
this factor of the wayfinding system needs to allow for an element of
subjectivity to reflect that the information on the Mod subculture is not
completely factual, it is based on shared experiences.
The overall design of the wayfinding system follows the
principles of objective Graphic Design, using a consistent visual concept so
that the users can easily follow the directions and understand the concept that
is being communicated.
The part of the brief that required a set of pictograms to
be fully developed to represent each of the locations has been successfully
achieved. The pictograms are designed in a consistent way to fit with the
overall design style of the wayfinding system. The development of the final
pictograms started with detailed line drawings and then removing lines and
filling in sections lead to a fairly abstract interpretation of each of the
locations. As all of the buildings being used have distinct features, the same
design style could be applied to each of them without the user finding it
difficult to guess which building is being represented.
A deliverable that confidently shows the concept of the
wayfinding system is the 3D computer generated mock-up as it shows how the sign
would look in context, the scale at which it would be and also the information
that would be at the precise location.
The peer feedback critique highlighted that a limitation of
the final outcome is the amount of locations that could be included in the
wayfinding system. The way that the information was found out relied solely on people
publishing their personal experiences in an online forum and images in an
archive. With a longer amount of time, something could be developed so that the
Wayfinding system could constantly be updated by everyone’s visit. The scanning
of the QR code would be improved if once opened, people could add images or
writing on their own experiences at the particular location. This further
development would help to take the concept of interpretative experiences and
user interactions and make it the most successful it could be.
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