COP3: Research- Signage and Wayfinding Design, Chris Calori and David Vanden-Eynden

A complete guide to creating environmental graphic design systems

- Environmental Graphic Design, that is, the design of graphics in the built environment (pg5)
- Signage and wayfinding- which orients people to a site and helps them navigate it
- Interpretation- which tells a story about a site (about the meaning of a concept or theme or object)
- Placemaking- which creates a distinctive image for a site
- Primary objective of a signage programme is to help people find their way through an environment, whereas effective wayfinding solutions often involve more than signage alone (pg6)
- Wayfinding is an active process, requiring mental engagement and attention to the environment one is trying to navigate (pg6)
- Signage and interpretive exhibits can create a sense of place, as can gateways, portals, gathering points and landmarks (pg7)
- Purpose of EGD to communicate meaningful information via words, symbols, diagrams and images
- Due to this expressed communication function, EGD plays a key and increasingly recognised role in how people use and experience the built environment (pg10)
-EGD is concerned with the graphic communication of information in the built environment, which is just about anything built by human intent (pg 24)

PROBLEM <--> DESIGNER <--> SOLUTION

Design Process Model

Methods for defining sign types vary, but the two basic approaches are to type signs by:

Physical characteristics- such as size, shape, material, mounting method, graphic application technique
Communication function- such as whether the sign communicates identification, direction or another kind of information
(pg41)

- All design drawings must be dimensioned (pg52)
- It's wise not to rely on the use of colour to communicate important information (pg51)