Introduction

The second project of ‘Picture Symbol Icon’ was to create a signage intervention within DJCAD with the aim of changing the way people interacted with the building. We had to work in small groups to create a new sign to place within the art college and observe people’s reactions and response to the new installation.

Initial Research

To begin our research, we decided it would be best to explore the building and the existing signage within the building. We found there were different sign types each with its own purpose and style, from the DJCAD red and white information and direction posters, to warning and exit signs. Through our initial observation, we discovered that although there were signs in every direction you looked, no one was paying any attention to them. This started the notion that our sign intervention had to grab the attention of passersby in order to create a response.

 

Our first piece of research involved creating a mini intervention by one of the lifts, by placing a handwritten sign above the button stating ‘THE LIFT IS NOT BROKEN”. From a 20 minute observation, we discovered that the sign had a significant effect on the people who saw it, with one person almost deciding not to use the lift and one person even left completely baffled. We concluded from the experiment that the people affected by the sign associated the handwritten sign with ‘out of order’ or ‘broken’ due to the style and placement next to the lift doors.

Our second experiment involved placing a ‘Help Yourself’ sign on a general waste bin to observe people’s reactions to the odd placement of the notice. We discovered that no-one noticed or acknowledged our sign over the course of half an hour, even after moving the bin to the centre of the room. This felt very strange as we at least expected people to see the sign but they reacted as if it didn’t exist.

Finally, we made a small ‘treasure hunt’ with arrows to follow to an open pack of biscuits. Over an hour, only a couple of people noticed the arrows and only one person followed them, leading us to believe that our signs didn’t have anywhere near as much control over people’s behaviour as we thought they would.

Idea Development

For our final sign intervention we wanted to elicit some form of response in order to change the way people moved through the building. For this we started to come up with ideas for large scale or brightly coloured pieces before moving away from 2 dimensional wall mounted signs.

We decided to make our sign a 3 dimensional installation to ensure that people saw it in passing and had a higher chance of reacting to our stimulus. A variety of ideas were fired across, from upside down boards to signs made of food before deciding that including a person as part of the sign would be an absolute way of grabbing attention. This initial spark developed into an interactive sign experience, involving a talking element to be manually triggered by the people passing by.

The talking aspect of our sign would incorporate the functionality of existing signs into a brand new format. When triggered, the sign person would state information such as directions, opening hours or facts about the building which could be obtained from existing wall signs. We felt this would challenge the idea of what a sign could be and how information is relayed to us from our surroundings.

We then explored more options for interactivity and looked into QR codes as a way of getting people to completely stop in their tracks and steal their time. This was then incorporated into our idea, with the intention of it featuring somewhere on the body of the person acting as the sign.

Designing + Making

Moving onto the design process, we knew that we wanted to include a QR code, a person and a manual trigger for conversation in our sign intervention. Starting at our most certain point, we created our own custom QR code which linked to a newly created Instagram page. This page didn’t feature any content, but instead just acted as a destination for scanners to reach since we were more concerned about the initial interaction than the final experience for the people walking past.

We then printed out the code on transfer paper and ironed it onto a t-shirt which could then be worn by the willing ‘sign’ participant.

After a quick conversation, we all agreed the simplest and easiest to interpret trigger we could make was a big, satisfying push button. As a result, a very basic button was constructed from cardboard, a spring made from paper and an aerosol cap. When pressed, this button would ‘activate’ the sign and the QR code wearing person would speak.

To complete our intervention, a simple wall graphic was created to encourage people to push the button and reassure anyone intimidated by the display that the button was intended to be pushed. It contained large, easy to read lettering and a clear graphic representation of a button being pressed.

Observations

With all components completed, we assembled the display in a reasonably busy corridor with the button and graphic mounted on the wall, with the QR code wearing speaker standing to the right of them. The rest of the group headed along the corridor to discreetly observe people’s reactions. It was at this point we decided to give the linked Instagram page a purpose, and used it to log all of the interactions that occurred throughout the experiment. We then set a timer for an hour and a half and began the intervention.

Over the course of the experiment, most people walked by without going anywhere near the button, choosing instead to continue their journey uninterrupted. However, there was still a reasonable number of people who chose to press the button and so triggering responses such as ‘Keep going straight for the Matthew Building’ or ‘Smoking is not prohibited in the building or the immediate vicinity’. They were then asked to scan the QR code, where they would discover an Instagram page featuring all previous interactions.

We were impressed by the number of people who interacted with our ‘sign’ and that every single person who walked past was aware of it, even without pressing the button. We found that everyone who pressed the button, was made to feel slightly uncomfortable due to the bizarre way of being told information they most likely already knew.

Outcome

This project was very interesting and made us start to investigate more than just the aesthetics of graphic design but also the way in which we interact with it and how it makes us feel or behave.

Our intervention, while admittedly lacking in well thought out graphic design still managed to capture attention and create a memorable experience which we felt made it successful. Being a very new experience, it was hard to get into the project however I have learned a great deal from it that I know I can carry forward into my future design work.