When car users become pedestrians again..
After developing a comprehensive new signage strategy & design manual for all the city of Luxembourg’s car parks (almost 20 different structures), Fort Neipperg, the first renovated car park has now opened to the public with our implemented design strategy.
Our user-focused approach has been to establish a clear hierarchy of the information and to prioritise on the more vulnerable, pedestrian user ( the driver / user outside the car). We separated the signage system for drivers & pedestrians for clarity and reduced the graphic interventions & colours to a strategic minimum to maximise their effectiveness. Our main aim was to make the perception of the space and the navigation within the space as intuitive as possible.
Floor level information consists of a range of carefully selected bright colours, in conjunction with illustrations and large scale numerals. They are only indicated on the exit stairs bloc, creating an intuitive ‘visual pull’ towards them.
Client: Ville de Luxembourg, Service Ouvrages d’Art, Génie Civil, Constructions
Concept & design strategy: WW+ Architektur & Georges Zigrand Design Consultancy
Graphic design: Laurent Daubach
Illustrations: Linda Bos
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In collaboration with Luxembourg based architects WW+ we have been commissioned by the city of Luxembourg – Service Ouvrages d’Art, Génie Civil, Constructions – to develop a signage concept & design manual to implement a comprehensive new signage system across potentially 15 public parkings owned by the city ( starting with the parkings Knuedler & Neipperg). A challenging task considering that the buildings have very different layouts and circulation principles.
Our user-focused approach has been to establish a clear hierarchy of the information and to prioritise on the, more vulnerable, pedestrian user ( the driver / user outside the car). We separated the signage system for drivers & pedestrians for clarity and reduced the graphic interventions & colours to a strategic minimum to maximise their effectiveness. Our main aim was to make the spacial perception and the navigation within the space as intuitive as possible.
Floor level information consists of a range of carefully selected bright colours, in conjunction with illustrations and large scale numerals. They are only indicated on the exit stairs bloc, creating an intuitive ‘visual pull’ towards them.
Graphic design: Laurent Daubach
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Hartlepool shows the way
Very robust and beautifully simple coastal path signage between Hartlepool Headland and Crimdon Dene, North East England
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Fair games
Just finished a signage & wayfinding project for the Olympic Games of the Small Nations of Europe, held in Luxembourg this year. Very refreshing to work on a fast and short term project for a change. In collaboration with Luxembourg based Designbureau. Client: Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois
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Ponts & Chaussées
A new bus shelter for Luxembourg-city
Based on an existing JCD shelter designed by Norman Foster we fine-tuned & adapted the design in collaboration with the city and JCD to better fit todays user needs. Over 250 shelters will be installed / replaced the next couple of years across the city’s bus network.
With a user-centered approach the team developed a new back-lit independent totem that regroups a number of information that is easy to read, even from a distance. The same logic applies to the glass panel on the opposite side where we also re-grouped passenger information usually spread randomly all over the shelter.
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Pondicherry shows the way
Some years ago I took this photo in the city of Pondicherry, India. Amazingly low-tech this hand-painted and sculptural road sign shows the way, also by its expressive and truly functional shape. Love it!
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Big in Japan
Road works barriers are rarely a pretty site in Europe, but if you live in Japan it is a whole different story. To the delight of the Japanese kids there seems to be an endless variation of cartoon animals that populate the roadside. Not sure it makes much more sense in terms of safety / visibility ..etc, but I guess fun is a good enough reason and you can’t really spoil a construction site with visual clutter either.
Photo © Pierre Filliquet
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Manufacturing pride
While driving through the Burgundy region in France I came across this beautiful old factory building in the small town of Génelard.
I really liked the confident, almost out of scale, presence of the signage on the building. On top of that the signage is not an after-thought but completely integrated into the architecture. Compared to many of today’s undistinguished manufacturing halls it also tells the story of an admirable industrial pride.
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Chez Jeannette
The more you can do with LED technology the keener I get of the old fashioned neon sign aesthetics. I saw this great neon sign in Paris above the bar of the Café Jeannette, rue du faubourg Saint Denis. I very much like the way it extends into an architectural feature delineating the space of the bar and not limiting itself to just be a sign.
It also made me think of the great Kraftwerk song ‘Neon Lights’:
Shimmering neon lights
And at the fall of night
This city’s made of light…
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No design sign
When you walk around city centres you have to wonder if we need all that signage and graphic design. Often too slick, too loud and too perfect, over-designed corporate identities and graphics take away the human side of things. Maybe there are too many designers around that need to find work (and not enough courageous businesses).
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Accidental map
Within the chaos of one of the many Brussels train stations I found India (and I wasn’t the first one)
- Map of India
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Schiphol airport signage
It doesn’t take much and you would miss your plane if you wouldn’t have this information. Even so, it is amazing to see how many airports don’t include the required walking time to get to the gate.
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Making our cities more child friendly
Brussels pedestrian crossing. Another example of the low budget yet convincing Belgian way.
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