Moving to a new home..

This blog has moved to wordpress. You can find my most up-to-date work here at adammcconnell.wordpress.com

Creative way finding examples

I've been hunting the internet for examples of creative way finding systems and they are not easy to come by as most of them are pretty boring signage. I have found a few interesting examples though; 

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Chicago-Design-Museum-Way-findingSignage/5978637

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sifang-Art-Museum/6070819

http://www.behance.net/gallery/ENSA-Paris-Belleville/1949423

http://www.behance.net/gallery/ENSA-Paris-Belleville/1949423

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Haus-5/253260

http://designbuildsource.com.au/accessibility-corner-where-to-now/wayfinding-2

http://thomascreative.wordpress.com/category/signage/

Moniteurs: Berlin Brandenburg Airport

The first way finding system example I looked into was at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport, designed by Moniteurs. Moniteurs is a communication design company based in Berlin, specialising in information & corporate design.
The system is well designed with a lot of planning clearly needed to pull it off, definitely a good example to look into for my own system.

Print:Four (Option A)

Option A of Print:Four allows you to write your own brief. I had several ideas but the one I wanted to pursue the most was to design a way finding information system for the Foyle Arts building. I know first hand just how the confusing the building can be to navigate on your first few trips round so I felt a way finding system is much needed in the building.

Here is my brief below; 

A visit to the Foyle Arts building, Magee Campus at the University of Ulster can be a confusing experience. There is no public access initially and once inside the building there is no internal signage to direct you to reception or the associated floors of Design/Drama/Music/Dance/CT.

A well designed way finding information system would greatly benefit the building offering easier navigation, but also improving the aesthetic of the interior. New students, existing students, staff & visitors could all benefit from a well considered visual navigation system.

The system should offer; ease of navigation, consistency in design, clear visibility.

Print: Two - The Final Image- 'Abstract?'

'Abstract?'

So there it is, the final image I've settled on. The images are abstracted to block forms yet still retain enough information to resemble the original images. I can see them clearly but can you? What do you see?
I wanted a typeface that didn't detract from the imagery and reflected the abstraction, the typeface I chose is called 'White Rabbit'. Big enough to be read but also small enough to not detract from the imagery. 

Experimenting with type

I'm going with the word 'Abstract?' for my final image. I think leaving it as a question is appropriate because although it is abstract, the original forms can be made out. I'm finding it quite the challenge to incorporate the type in an abstract way, I have to be careful to make sure that the type is still legible. Here are my first few attempts below; 

Experimenting further...

Pushing the boat out a bit further I've used the 'Pointillize' & 'Crystallize' filters on Photoshop to give me some very nice abstract images;

9" x 9" Pointillize 1

9" x 9" Pointillize 2

9" x 9" Crystallize 1

9" x 9" Crystallize 2

9" x 9" Crystallize 3

I'm now stuck between a rock and a hard place, should I go with the abstract imagery? If yes, then which one? Decisions, decisions...

Experimenting with grid layouts

 Below are different grid layouts for task 2;

9"x 9" Layout 1

9"x 9" Layout 2

Breaking out of the 3"x 3" proportions with these few;

12"x 12" Layout 1

Couldn't have a spare square leftover so I made a 3"x 6" rectangle to fill the gap;

12"x 12" Layout 2

Or how about a total disregard for the look of the original image? I tried the Mosaic filter in Photoshop, this creates square mosaics from colour values in the image. Here's a few below;

9"x 9" Mosaic 1

9"x 9" Mosaic 2

 I was trying to match up some of the squares to each like they where part of a puzzle;

9"x 9" Mosaic 3

Images from others

Following Task two's instructions I've swapped out some of my images and replaced them with images from other students work. 

The new images are below with links to their originals on Flickr; 

'James Dick'

'Goth Baby Belladonna'

'Chanakuh on Union Square'

 

Images in grid for Task One

Here's my images in a 12"x 12" grid in the order that I had them printed. Not too sure about the amount of space a 12"x 12" grid gives, I might go for a 9"x 9" instead.

9 selected images

So here are my chosen 9 images, all cropped and ready to go onto the wall!

Print: Two- Task One

For this project we will be using the website Flickr to find visually interesting photos under the creative commons to create our own piece of work. 9 photos are chosen, cropped into 3"x3" squares, converted to black & white and then stuck on the wall outside class.
So I have to pick 9 from this lot of photos I came across (Clicking the title of the photo takes you to it's source on Flickr) ;

'Neon Mic'

'Portrait of a boy wearing a mask holding a rifle'

'Group Portrait of three women wearing glasses' 

'Fiat'

'Portrait of Harry Goldie in his boxing trunks'

'A brand new minneapolis no. 6 (nicollet mall)'

'Grounded'

'If You Put That Picture On The Internet I'll Call My Lawyer'

Pink Puffer MC (a Mad Hatter)

'Portrait of a Women'

'Untitled'

'Smryna'

'Stella - XPro'

'Couple with a young female spirit'

'The tell tale signs'

'RCA 40A Ribbon Microphone'

'NH1186'

I started saving photos that took my fancy but then I very quickly started looking at portraits of people. There are loads of old photos up on Flickr that definitely fall under the category of 'interesting'.