Project Overview
In 2011 City of Greater Dandenong (Council) engaged A to B Wayfinding to produce wayfinding signage strategy and design for Springvale activity centre. Through robust process of design collaboration A to B Wayfinding has produced Springvale Wayfinding Signage strategy and style guide. The guide consist of a suite of family signs, which includes quad plinth, double plinth, wall mounted, bin mounted, fingerboard, curb & wall markers, site identification straddle & wall mounted signs. Each of these signs are designed to fulfil a particular role and function either to provide a sense of direction, to assist navigation between the key destinations, to provide a point of affirmations, or to welcome people at each of the key destinations. The quad plinth also accommodates a community notice board panel on one side of this plinth.
At present, the Springvale Wayfinding Signs project has been implemented in 3 stages of roll-out involving a total capital value of $190k.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
A to B Wayfinding (A joint venture between ASPECT Studio & Studio Binocular)
Team
Deign Team:
Ian Rooney: Design Director
Laura Cornhill: Design Director
David Stelma: Designer
Angela Arango: Designer
Manufacturers and Installers:
Vitra Signage System Australia (Plinth and Wall-mounted Signs)
DeNeefe Signs (Fingerboard Signs)
Project Brief
In the past decade, the Springvale activity centre has benefited from streetscape improvements and intensified developments within the south western quadrant focusing on Buckingham Avenue. This quadrant has become the emerging core of Springvale's pedestrian and shopping precinct. For new visitors, however, there is a classic false perception that Springvale Road is the core of the commercial precinct. Albeit it may be easy for the locals, finding the core of pedestrian and shopping precinct along Buckingham Avenue can be difficult for visitors at their first arrival due to it is hidden from Springvale Road.
Furthermore, beyond the more legible east-west local road connections, Springvale has myriads of shopping arcades, shopping malls, publicly accessible car parks and rear laneways that collectively work like a maze and can overwhelm visitors. In responding to this issue, Council envisioned that it was important to promote the pedestrian networks in the Springvale activity centre through a comprehensive but easy to understand wayfinding system. The main objective of the project was to make the Springvale activity centre a more legible, intuitive and pedestrian-friendly destination for visitors.
Project Innovation/Need
Springvale Wayfinding maps implement a two-scale mapping system to cover the activity centre precinct in its entirety and the 500m walking radius in front of the viewer. Each of the two-scale maps is designed individually to correspond with the specific location and orientation of the user. This means the precinct map does not always orientate north, as found in a conventional map. Instead it is tailored to correspond to the orientation of the local area map. This is done to assist users to understand the spatial relationship between the two scale maps and to relate the maps directly to what they view in the real space in front of them. This design principle is consistent with the current world best practice including Legible London project.
The local area map includes 3D landmark icons for easy visual cues and it also includes informal pedestrian network. This gives visitors options about the finer grain of permeability and routes to suit their journey. From trader point of view, this also helps promoting the diverse shopping experiences through these varied routes.
Design Challenge
The most pressing design challenge was to create the right amount of information and the most legible look for the pair of maps on the sign. This involved working on of multiple versions, iterations, refinements of the maps, and undertaking a lengthy consultation process with both expert and wider user group/ general audience during the prototype design test. The desired outcome was to provide the right amount of information and to visualise the information in a manner which was intuitive, legible and easy to understand whilst still conveying the necessary meaningful information for the viewers.
Sustainability
The plinth and the wall mounted signs are built in vitreous enamel finish to achieve a superior outcome from the point of view of easy maintenance, longer durability and sustainability. This material is considered robust against vandalism/ graffiti and has a long life span. CGD appoints a local manufacturer; Vitra Signage System Australia to build and install the plinth and wall mounted signs.
Tags
Wayfinding
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the ways people orient themselves in physical space, and navigate from place to place. Consideration given to signage and other graphic communication, clues in the building's spatial grammar, logical space planning, audible communication, tactile elements and provision for special-needs users.
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