Intro
Our second brief is called sign. We were tasked to research and create a new sign to be installed in DJCAD. In this task we were encouraged to use different graphic design techniques to get different reactions from different people. Another focus of the brief was the idea of a ‘signage intervention’ – as many of the people in DJCAD are familiar with the preexisting signage and layout, we were asked to consider creating an unfamiliar environment in a familiar space.
Primary Research
In groups of three we began our response to the brief by analysing existing signage in DJCAD. From looking around Matthew and Crawford buildings we found an incredible variety of signs; from floor and warning signs to handmade signs asking for stuffed toys for art projects.. There was some consistency, but generally speaking the signs were all very different from each other. For example, the signs indicating different floors and lecture theatres were all printed and “official” looking, presentable; and signs for the art shop and some media labs were handmade and multicoloured.
Over half an hour observing (using fly on the wall method) a pin board with many small posters, only four people clearly looked at it; a single, large colourful poster had eight people, double that of the pin board, look at it over the same half an hour period. The signs that got the least attention were the official DJCAD signs, such as floor signs, directions and room numbers, as no one was clearly looking at them throughout the entire half an hour. Of these people, almost all of them were walking my themselves. Because of this it is fair to assume that people not only are attracted to single larger posters, but also less likely to see or notice the posters when walking in groups.
We also observed how people interact with signage outside of the art school. Electronic billboards appeared to get much less attention than venue and music posters. Visually engaging and colourful posters even made some people stop and read, whereas electronic advertisements barely got a glance from most passers by. Interestingly, the least formal posters seemed to get the most attention from the public.
Secondary Research
I did some research into formal and informal language, as in our team of three we wanted to create a specifically informal sign. Informal language typically features contractions and ‘improper’ vocabulary. A poster must be eye-catching to gather a passer by’s attention. However in this case our group decided to create a sign that is ‘semi-eye-catching’. We wanted to create a sign that would not be entirely noticeable at first, but clearly visible to anyone who was looking.
Sources:
- https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/~cll/lskills/VS/poster1.html
- http://awelu.srv.lu.se/genres-and-text-types/writing-in-academic-genres/posters/
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/types-of-english-formal-informal-etc/formal-and-informal-language
- http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/media/lancaster-university/content-assets/documents/procurement/SignageDesignGuidelines.pdf
Development
Our group had to decide on a “space” in DJCAD to install our sign(s), so we decided on this before the actual development of the design. We decided to put our signs outside the lift, as many of the other teams were doing signs focused on getting passers by to look or walk in different directions, but we wanted to challenge ourselves and focus on encouraging people to use and view a familiar space in an unfamiliar way.
We rode up and down in the lift a couple times as research, to see how people walk in, act and use this space. One thing we noticed is that there is almost never any talking between people riding the lift together. We decided to create a “quiet” lift and a “talking” lift, as this idea is safe and unobtrusive or annoying, but has the potential to create interesting social situations, and would be intriguing to see how people react.
Finished design
We used the sans-serif typeface futura, due to it’s clarity and reference to the popular brand “Supreme” which commonly uses this font, making it vaguely familiar to some people. Sans-serif fronts are easier to read, and their modern style makes them fit in better in the DJCAD environment, especially the Matthew building which has been recently renovated. We decided to use informal language, and used the worlds “silence” and “chatting” on the signs. We attached the signs above the elevator buttons, so that people using the lift would see the signs, but due to their informal style they might go unseen by other passers by.
We used a black background, as the final signs were set on the metallic/white walls outside the lifts. We chose to use white for the typeface, but instead of using symbols on the signs we modified the words ‘chatting’ and ‘silence’. Using Adobe we combined a speech bubble symbol with the word chatting and change the fill colour to a neutral blue, and “slumped” the word silence and changed it to grey, to contrast with the “talkative” blue. The blue, silver and white colour scheme also matched the colours on the ‘push to open’ buttons nearby.
The signs were placed shortly after lunch on the Tuesday, and observations were made as soon as they were put up.
Below are the finished signs.
Observation
Our group discreetly observed our posters for a total of one and a half hours, and over the course of the observation each of us took a series of bullet points and points of interest. We alternated between different observation points – some were taken by standing in the lift and riding it between floors (it was important not to instigate conversation or ignore conversation depending on the lift, but to facilitate other people’s reactions to the signs), other observations were taken by standing close to the lift doors and observing as people walked out. Those of note are as follows:
- People whispered/didn’t talk in silent lift as much as they did in chatting lift
- People seemed more uncomfortable in the talking lift
- Most people who did not take the lift didn’t seem to notice the signs
- People in talking lift rarely talked unless prompted by one another
- Two people waited for the silent lift after the chatting lift came
- Three people saw the signs and look the stairs instead
- People in groups of two or more seemed to be happier to talk between themselves
- Groups seemed to talk more in the chatting lift, but groups larger than three or four talked between themselves regardless of which lift
- Students seemed to talk less than members of uni staff
Reflection and Evaluation
One of the issues with out sign design was that there is no choice between which lift you take, there is only a single button to press so it is entirely down to chance which lift you get on, unless you choose to wait for the other. Because of this it would be unfair to state our sign was a complete success, the observations would have been much more interesting if there was an option to choose the chatting or the silent lift. However the signs themselves were well thought-through and the results were clear. We considered typeface, clarity and colour in our sign, and our research heavily impacted our final design.
