Way-finding Research and Critique

When deciding where to design way finding for I decided on the Victoria Quarter because it is the place I find hardest to look around due to the lack of signage. Also they have a theme of black and gold because they changed all of the shop fronts to the colours and changed them all to a certain font. I find this confusing because from a far it is hard to read the signs and because they have changed the colours you can not tell what the shop is from its known colours. There are no arrows or signs pointing you in a direction and there is a map but it is minimal and there are not many. When creating signs I want to keep the same feel of class and elegance and the history but add a few more signs to help people find there way better.

The Victoria Quarter consists of three blocks and was built around 1900. It was designed by architect Frank Matcham. The arcades are filled with mosaics and marble with glass roofs. It is situated between Briggate and Vicar Lane in the centre of Leeds.

In the critique I asked some people 3 questions.

Do you think the signage in the victorian quarter is successful?

Do you like the black and gold colour scheme?

Do you think the typography is successful? 

The feed back included

• There is no signage to show where individual shops are.
• I think the signage is posh and sleek which is necessary as it shows the type of shops.
• The colour scheme suits the more classy shops but they are hard to read from far away.
• I like the colours but it is hard to read from a distance.
• The type suits the target audience but can be difficult to read from a distance.

A shopping Centre I like the signage for is The Metro Centre because they have split the areas up into colours and they have a clear map, they also have a lot of signage and pictograms. They call the different areas the Yellow, Blue, Green, Red and Platinum Mall. I think it is easier to have different names and split up the areas.