It took me a while to get my initial idea because when we were set the brief it did confuse me. I knew the end goal of this brief was to design our own personal way-finding system that questions how a way-finding system works. However I was unsure how I was going to get there.
So I started small. I knew I wanted to base my project on Leeds Light Night (LLN) as I had been to the one in Leeds in 2016 and I thought it was great however I was surprised at the little amount of people who actually go. I asked my friends about it and they all said they hadn't heard of it until a couple of days before the event so it couldn't have been that big of a deal. However when I went I didn't actually know what or where any of the shows or anything was as there was no apart sign system for it only a map and a key which you would have to download prior to the event online.
I first looked at the zones they had at the moment for LLN and they have 10 different zones, that are all in walking distance from each other, however I also noticed that the theme was earth, air, water and fire so I looked into changing the zones into 4 colours representing those 4 elements - blue, red, brown and white. The idea was to have lines running all around leeds on the floor in each of those 4 colours leading you to all the different events and you could go see them dependant on what element you wanted to see. Also to make LLN better than last year and more interactive I want to make the lines on the floor to be reflective so that the way-finding system I am creating is more subjective and more interactive with the audience. I could even play around with the fact that you need a torch to attend the Night?
Alongside this idea I would also need to create a map marking where each event is and what element it is based on. It would need to include the key information of the event with locations.
The bottom right idea on the right hand picture reminded me heavily of Paula Scher's map design, shown below.
Crit
The first thing that was questioned was changing the zones into the elements because a peer of mine pointed out that in some places there is more than one element for one show and doing it that way it could become complicated as there are 53 events some of which are so close to each other and if you are leading lines to each of those individual events there will be too many lines so it would get too confusing. I was told that I should simplify that idea and make it work so that it is easy and simple for the public to use.
The reflective idea went down very well, I got a lot of positive feedback from that saying that would be good fun for all ages and that because the system leads you to different places that illuminates at night it shows that it is a visual system which includes an informative yet lively way-finding system.
Another thing that was questioned was if I am having lines all around leeds how are they going to stick to some surfaces. For example you wouldn't be able to use the same material that was used on tarmac to then go and use on grass because they need different materials.
Some ideas that I could play around with include :
- patterns in the lines instead of just colours for the elements - makes it more playful
- aswell as the map and lines directing you on the floor to have projections dotted around leeds with 'you are here' on incase you are getting really lost - could even be included as a projection as part of the Light Night
- make the map reflective aswell, linking in the theme and makes it even more exciting
- stencil out some of the lines and hold behind light to see what they would look like
This crit really helped me because it gave me a tonne more ideas that everyone was saying that will give me the freedom to play around with the ideas and see how and which will work best for me and my way-finding system.
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