way finding initial designs

After conducting my research into the light and designing my pictograms i then started to design the look of the signs. Working with the already existing signs the light have as they are in the most effective place, i decided to update the look and also typography to give it more of a sophisticated look to make the shopping centre.

Above are my re designs for their signage. I decided to use a black background as it was a simplistic look that is also sophisticated and contrasts against the light stone walls and metal frame that is attaching it to the wall. In my design i used the typeface Helvetica bold, this typeface has very clean letters that are easy to read, and bold enough to read from a distance, this is important to the design as it needs to be readable to those who are trying to navigate around quickly. I also changed the pictogram the parking to a symbol of a car instead of the letter P. The wall sign design was successful as it has the desired look that i was aiming for as it looked professional and sophisticated and also fit well in it surroundings, Unlike the above head sign (bottom image). This was not as successful as the wall sign as it didn't have a professional look, and the black and white did not contrast as well higher as the lettering and pictograms have to be considerably bigger to be visible.

After completing these design i went back to researching other way finding methods that were creative  and are visible for all distances. 

Above are examples of a different method of way finding that i came across, using the floor as a place to put the way finding system. Using the floor is a great way for way finding as it doesn't take up any wall space and can be as simplistic or as complicated as you want to make it, and in todays generation we spend a fair amount of time looking down at our phones as it is so wall signs are easily missed.

To develop from this idea of way finding i decided to create a design that could do used on a large scale and transferred to the floor. The design had to be large as it would not be usable if the shopping centre was busy and there were many people walking about as it would not be visible. 

I decided that a large circle that had the lights logo in the centre and the pictograms around the centre, with arrows pointing in the direction of were they are, would be an appropriate design solution. I decided that a circle was the perfect shape to contain everything as it doesn't have any edges so the pictograms in the circle would flow round perfectly, and also the arrows would be able to point in the correct direction as well as look part of the design. Creating this design had to remove the box around the pictograms as it made the design look cultured and they didn't fit in the circle well. I also re designed the arrows so they would fit along side the circle better, as the stem on the other arrows created a separation and didn't work well along side the circle design.