Pedestrian wayfinding — Ben Acornley
Relationship to clients
According to Acornley, the storytelling approach can be adapted and implemented flexibly depending on the design brief provided by the client. Although the majority of Applied Wayfinding’s customers are city councils, the reasons behind the development of these systems can be vastly different, with some being for the benefit of tourists while are for the revitalisation of shopping areas in town centre. Acornley believes it is the designer’s responsibility to understand the type of experience that those commissioning wayfinding systems want to provide users with
and then consider the best format and approach (i.e. walking map or mobile application) to use in order to achieve this. For example, Walk Brighton (Fig. 24–27), is a wide-ranging wayfinding system developed by Applied Wayfinding in conjunction with Brighton and Hove City Council in order to enhance tourism in the area (Applied Wayfinding 2015). Monolith signs have been constructed throughout the city, including on the beach, and provide an intuitive navigational tool for visitors. Conversely, Leeds Walk It (Fig. 28–30) was developed with the City Centre Management Team of Leeds City Council in order to facilitate better integration between two new major shopping centres, Trinity Leeds and Eastgate Quarters and has been successful in improving the experience for shoppers’ in Leeds. Legible London, by contrast was project with a number of stakeholders spanning transportation authorities, local government and the business community including Westminster City Council, the New West End Company, Transport for London, the Mayor of London and the Crown Estate. The brief was to design a harmonised wayfinding system across the capital in time for the London Olympic Games in 2012. Applied Wayfinding was successful in balancing the expectations of all parties involved in the project to create a system that is deceptively simple given the large and diverse area that it covers. The outcome of this project has significantly contributed to improving tourism and has increased the commercial success of the area that it covers. Wayfinding is far more nuanced than simply directing people to a particular location and, as this section shows, there can be any number of reasons why a local authority or business might commission a wayfinding system. The flexible nature of storytelling makes it suitable for a variety of purposes and can be adapted to encapsulate the character and identity of where the wayfinding system is being developed for.
Relationship with the culture and identity of a place
As described above, urban wayfinding systems are the culmination of stories taken from the surrounding environment, end users and those who have commissioned the project, all of which are intimately connected to the culture and identity of the place where the wayfinding system is located. Acornley summarises this by contrasting two of Applied Wayfinding most significant
Figure 24 (left). Walk Brighton, minilith sign designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
Figure 25 (right). Walk Brighton, on-street monolith designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
Figure 26. Walk Brighton, Brighton iconography designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
Figure 27. Walk Brighton, Brighton base map designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
Figure 28. Leeds Walk It, on-street monolith designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
Figure 29. Leeds Walk It, on-street map designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
Figure 30. Leeds Walk It, Leeds handy map for the shopping area designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/ Figure 30. Leeds Walk It, Leeds handy map for the shopping area designed by Applied Wayfinding http://appliedwayfinding.com/
a non-Roman alphabet by allowing them to relate street signs to information contained within the maps more easily. Furthermore, the combination of white or yellow text on a dark blue background reflects the character of London while ensuring that text is clear to users. The visual identity of Walk Brighton differs considerably from the look of Legible London, reflecting Brighton’s character as
a vibrant city whose location by the sea has made it popular with
Linked appearance of typography
tourists. The pale green colour in the design shown in Figure 24
Figure 31 (above). ‘OXFORD STREET’ on a map of Legible London designed by Applied
was taken from the fences situated along the beach. Moreover,
Wayfinding
the maps located along the promenade are longer than those in
the town centre thereby reflecting the topography of the beach.
Figure 32 (below) ‘OXFORD STREET’ on a
street sign, London
Acornley indicates that the amount of information contained on
the maps is significantly less than those designed for the Legible
Applied Information Group, Yellow Book: A
Prototype Wayfinding System for London
London project. The maps in Walk Brighton are relatively fixed and enable tourists to roam around Brighton’s beach, town centre and parks freely. The separate wayfinding systems designed for London and Brighton are a celebration of the distinct cultural and historical identity of each city something which is clearly reflected in the design and usability of the systems created by Applied Wayfinding and is something which should be aspired to in all wayfinding projects. By doing so, these systems can contribute to the sense of place and a city’s individual identity as discussed in Chapter 2.
Discussion
Acornley utilises storytelling throughout many stages of the wayfinding design process including research, cartography and visual development. His approach to storytelling shares similarities with the three ways of using this method for developing wayfinding systems identified in Chapter 2: understanding user personas and journeys, developing a holistic Acornley utilises storytelling throughout many stages of the wayfinding design process including research, cartography and visual development. His approach to storytelling shares similarities with the three ways of using this method for developing wayfinding systems identified in Chapter 2: understanding user personas and journeys, developing a holistic
be reflected in the visual design of the wayfinding system such as through the typography, colour palette and even the shape of signs as demonstrated in the Walk Brighton project (Fig. 24). People’s behaviours when journeying through a particular environment can then be distilled into user personas which influence the appearance of maps and other aspects of the system.
Thus, the storytelling approach has the capacity to contribute to wayfinding systems that are entirely unique both in terms of visual design and user experience from those which exist in other cities. Applied Wayfinding have conducted projects for numerous cities throughout the world and, as such, it can be surmised that their customers wish to have a method of wayfinding that reflects the distinct feel and identity of their city. A thorough understanding of the individual requirements of particular types of clients (i.e. city councils and transportation authorities) is also an important additional element to the field research undertaken. Moreover, Acornley stresses that providing visitors with an immersive and interesting experience of exploring a city will make them more likely to return. By using storytelling approaches designers can create urban wayfinding systems which enable pedestrians to navigate the city with confidence and build detailed mental maps of the city while the system itself can also contribute to the projection of a distinct identity which is the goal of all cities around the world.
Summary
» Storytelling is to pick up the features of place » Stories are collected from environments, users and clients » Storytelling approach should be developed flexibly adjusted for
each city » Storytelling can be used in many phases in designing: research,
mapping and visual development » Visual outcomes reflect the features and identity of the place