sarah's notebook

We have been working on a new wayfinding system  for Scarborough Sixth Form College.  Highly regarded, the College provides A Level courses for around 1000 local students.  The site is made up of a 2 storey main building, which dates back to the 1930s (originally Scarborough Girls’ High School) and five additional one and two storey buildings which have been added at various times to a mix of architectural styles.  Our client wanted a modern scheme which would tie in with refurbishment works and bind the six buildings on the site to create a campus feel.

As well as binding their buildings together, the College wanted the new system to enable students and visitors to find their way around some complex spaces, which had been causing confusion.  The signs also need to work with the College timetable and meet with DDA guidelines.

We began by giving each of the buildings an alphabetical reference, starting with the main building “A” and re-numbering all of the rooms according to building, level and room location.  Each building was also allocated its own bright colour.  Our client wanted a brand-neutral scheme which would not look out of date if and when their logo changed and with this in mind we selected black and white as the main colours and the typeface from the DIN Shrift family.  Following on from this we developed a campus map, identifying each building and the facilities within them, using pictograms to replace words where appropriate.  The map and the new room numbers form the nucleus of the sign system and, along with new toilet signs were installed ready for the start of the Autumn term in 2012.

We went on to look at internal wayfinding, focusing on the particularly complex spaces within buildings A and B, using a combination of directional signs and maps.  The artwork for these will also be used by the College for printed hand-outs during open events and online information.

Central student spaces The Hub and Cafe 6 have their own branding and were each given appropriate treatments.

Finally we are in the process of looking at the external signs.  New signs identify each building entrance using the new colour coding and referencing while directions and notices are being rationalised and use carefully considered language and pictograms.

left: wayfinding focuses on room numbers with key facilities represented by easily recognisable pictograms; right: maps for the most complicated buildings are located in key circulation spaces

left: key rooms are identified with easy to change printed inserts for occupier names; right: colour coded room numbers using the new referencing system

top & bottom left: chunky 3D graphics in painted MDF brand the cafe; right: digitally printed fabric display panels held in tensioned frames define the student hub

left: selection of external signs prior to installation; all other images: first phase of the external wayfinding defines building entrances and simplifies information and notices, panels are fabricated in aluminium with a protective matt lacquer finish - simple, robust and cost effective

Badly designed, out of proportion and often confusing arrows on directional signs are a particular bugbear of mine.  Here are some I’ve spotted recently…

Animal hospital in Northumberland - very confusing having an arrow pointing to a no entry area !! The poor quality of the graphics are a shame as the colours and simplicity of materials work well in their rural setting.

My pet hate — arrows with a tail on the end !!! Shame on the sign company who produced this (it only went up last year) - centred text, mix of caps and upper/lowercase, very poor design on every level.

Happy to report that we have recently replaced this design classic. Thank you to our forward thinking client !

Spotted at a service station in the South West. This was one of the less confusing signs, those immediately off the exit had a choice of six options with an arrow design and layout which were difficult to interpret especially when approaching at speed. Surprised that the operator in question has got away with these signs.

Best practice for incorporating arrows on signs

Hotel La Tour opened its first City Centre hotel in Birmingham last March.  Working closely with the client and in partnership with Manchester based Dragonfly Contracts, Picto were brought on board to develop and deliver a suitable sign package, incorporating branding, wayfinding and information.

The new four star hotel group wanted a contemporary sign solution which would fit with the chic image of their brand.  They needed information to be provided in the right places, without sign over kill.  They also had the main Hotel La Tour brand and the sub-brands of the bar, restaurant, cafe and conference facilities to promote.  Robust finishes, the use of standard components (which could be quickly replaced if needed) and ease of cleaning were identified as essential requirements.

The solution comprises a kit of parts, a mix of state of the art products and some tried and tested favorites, using glass, polished stainless steel, fabric, aluminium and etched glass vinyl.  Graphics are a combination of computer cut, direct to surface digital and silk screen print.  External signs are finished with a protective lacquer, encapsulating the messages.  Back of house we kept it very simple using applied white vinyl onto black foamex panels.

Core directional signs in glass on polished stainless steel fixings. Graphics are applied to the reverse side of the glass for ease of cleaning.

Directions are provided around the main public spaces, the conference facilities and to the bedroom floors. The Hotel’s corporate typeface Futura is set in white on a black background.  Suitably stylish pictograms depict the toilets.  Clear unambiguous arrows are ranged with the type according to direction.  The sign system runs through to safety information, smoking policy, tariffs, door instructions and glass manifestation, with the client totally committed to retaining the integrity of the scheme right through to the smallest detail.

top left: manifestation in conference hospitality area; bottom left: seamless polished stainless steel pictograms; top right: glass branding sign; bottom right: minimal A4 frames display statutory information

Cafe Ezra is given its own treatment, with branding helping to define it as a venue within the hotel.

top left: window graphics define the street side entrance; top right: easy to change fabric menu boards; bottom left: flexible glass A3 poster displays; bottom right: internal branding

The Hotel is a short walk from Birmingham New Street station with a glazed elevation facing the busy Albert Street, catching the attention of slow moving traffic at peak times.  Hotel La Tour and its sub brands are featured around the perimeter of the 8 storey building.  Directions are provided to the Hotel entrance which is situated towards the bottom end of a pedestrianised street.

left: stainless steel monolith directs pedestrians; top right: entrance graphics; bottom right: external door instruction

To recap, I spend a lot of time talking toilets with clients…how to find them and how to sign them (see An Obsession with the Loo, posted September 2011 and Obsessing with Toilets Again, posted March 2012).

I think this obsession may be a typically British thing.  I also hold my older brother to account as the subject featured many times during our childhood !  On top of that, in the mid nineties I started working for a London-based Company whose head office was originally the world’s first showroom dedicated to toilets, owned by Thomas Crapper & Co (its now a Laura Ashley store).

When I’m out and about I’m always looking for interesting treatments.

Clever branded pictograms at Pizza Express direct and identify. No mistaking where you are !

Large format built-up stainless steel symbols define these toilets at Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre. Abstract images lead visitors into a shared entrance.

Public toilets at Morpeth Bus Station - confusing and inconsistent. The paper notice on the accessible door states that its the "DISABLED TOILET & BABYCHANGE". I'm really disappointed as I thought the signing of UK public facilities had moved away from this kind of thing.

UK DDA guidelines state that pictograms on toilet doors should be a minimum of 100mm high (note most standard signs that come with ironmongery systems are at least half this size).  Signs should be located on toilet doors at a consistent fixing height of between 1400mm and 1700mm from ground level.  There is no legal requirement for graphics to be tactile or include Braille, although I find many clients who are operating public buildings favour this specification.

Picto were invited to work with the project team led by Red Box Design Group and Sir Robert McAlpine to develop sign packages, comprising wayfinding, information and manifestations, for two new primary schools in County Durham.  The £7.2m Brandon and £6.4m Esh Winning new builds are part of the County’s Primary Capital Program.  This case study focuses on the project at Brandon.

Brandon is a small village south west of Durham City, with a population of circa 2900 and strong roots in agriculture and coal mining.  The new school was to replace an existing Victorian building, located next door to the original site and providing education for 390 four to eleven year olds in the district. The single storey structure has been designed to provide a minimal carbon footprint combining passive measures, such as siting to maximise natural daylight, with the latest technology – biomass, solar thermal, earth tubes, solar PV – to minimise consumption.

Along with Esh Winning, Brandon Primary School is the first school in the Country to be awarded a BREEAM rating of Outstanding.

The layout of the internal space is very simple therefore requiring a minimal amount of wayfinding. This provided the opportunity to do something very nice with the small number of signs that were needed and three dimensional letters were selected.  The letters direct to classrooms and community rooms and define the hall, dining room and nursery.

Image: Three dimensional letters are 100mm high x 18mm thick sprayed MDF, spaced off the wall by 18mm.

The typeface used throughout the scheme is Lucida Grande, selected for its simple sans serif design. Graphics are generally white reversed out of solid colour backgrounds.  Door signs are tactile and Braille graphics on a teal background.  The use of tactile and Braille signs is not a legal requirement in the UK, but the School were keen to adopt this system to help educate their fully sighted pupils as well as assist those with differing levels of partial vision.  Classroom signs incorporate the facility for teachers names printed onto card inserts, simple and cost effective for the School to maintain.

As a consequence of the high quantity of natural daylight achieved in the building design applied vinyl manifestations were required to all the full length glazed panels to meet with building regulations (refer to Glass Manifestation: Possibilities & Opportunities, posted December 2011).  Over 60 linear meters was needed around the perimeter of the School and 80 linear metres within the corridors and internal courtyard spaces.  From the outset we suggested that this could be used as an opportunity to do something special, rather than simply opt for the standard dots or squares and a number of options using different types of applied vinyl and designs were put forward for consideration.

Externally a pattern of etched vinyl horizontal striping was adopted, following the aluminium transoms used between the glazed panels, incorporating the Brandon Primary School crest and where appropriate defining entrances with lettering.  Internally, the Schools’ preference was for something which would tie in with the teaching ethos of sustainability.  We developed artwork based on leaves, which matured in their design through the age groups, starting with a very simple design for the youngest pupils and increasing in complexity for the older ones.  The leaves are reversed out of etched privacy screens applied to classrooms and appear as solid shapes between corridors and external teaching and play spaces (see top image).  The nursery features a handprint design in etched vinyl with random hands in translucent red.

Image: Etched vinyl manifestation is used as a 1.2m high privacy screen along the facade of each of the twelve classrooms all of which are fully glazed. The leaf design runs horizontally along the top of the screen. The shape of the leaves become increasingly sophisticated as pupils progress through the different age groups. Door signs are located on the glass, next to door handles and fitted to the DDA recommended height.

In line with Picto’s desire to provide a unique piece of environmental graphics for each primary school signing project that we are involved with, the school motto “Progressing Developing Achieving” was incorporated as a 3D supergraphic at the heart of the building next to the main hall.  The growing trees are representative of the Schools’ respect for the environment and are based on an initial design by one of the pupils.

Head Teacher Anne Charlton comments:

I am delighted with the quality of the signage provided for the school. The process was made less daunting as I felt our needs were listened to and acted upon. The support and advice I was given was also appreciated. The ideas for the manifestations and the school motto would not have occurred to me, but they are a talking point for everyone who visits the school – they look fantastic.

Images: External signs are power coated aluminium with applied vinyl graphics and protective lacquer finish. Simple and robust with concealed fixings. Pillar box red matches the pupils uniforms. Manifestation onto glazed entrances incorporates horizontal stripes with the School crest.

In the early 1990′s polytechnics were preparing to become new universities and in my first job in the sign industry I was busy preparing schedules and specifications for branding and wayfinding for amongst others, Kingston University, City of London Poly, University of Humberside and Polytechnic of East London.

My interest in using pictograms for wayfinding was in its infancy and for one of the above clients I was trying to find a nice shower symbol.  This was pre-internet and I did nt have access to any of the nice glossy books or digital collections that exist now.  My main reference points were the film artwork archives of my employer and the set of symbols provided with their CNC system (the only shower symbol available did nt fit right with the design of the project).

Around this time the SDS (Sign Design Society) was emerging and I had been allowed to go to one of their early meetings where I was introduced to Anthony Williams.  Anthony was one of the founding members and the first Chairman of the SDS.  He trained as an architect, was a contemporary of Jock Kinneir, and had developed a special interest in signposting and symbols through his work for the DHSS (Department of Health & Social Security).  Through his practice, Anthony Williams and Partners, he developed the original HTM 65 sign scheme – Health & Technical Memorandum 65 Signs – standardising signs for the first time across hospitals and health facilities, using Kinneir’s Rail Alphabet, re-named Health Alphabet (the original brown hospital signs).  Now semi-retired he was involved in a project at Reading University researching the use of symbols in information design.

Exasperated at a lack of access to information (hard to imagine now !) one of my colleagues suggested I contact Anthony to see if he could help.  I plucked up courage and wrote him a letter asking if he could suggest any sources I could look at.  About a week later a large brown envelope arrived with a hand written note hoping that the enclosed would be of some use – he had photocopied numerous pages of his research into symbol collections which included showers for me !  Plenty of examples and I remember pouring over them examining the differences in the designs.  Twenty years later I still have the original copies which I treasure as part of the library that began to build up through necessity on all aspects of signs and wayfinding.

Shortly after I joined the SDS.  At that time you had to submit a paper with your application which went forward for consideration.  On the basis of always write about a subject you have experience of, I wrote mine on the challenges of signing the new universities.  It turns out Anthony was responsible for vetting the applications and sent me a further hand written note congratulating me on my paper (I still have this too !).

Treasured references from Anthony Williams research on symbols, now part of my own reference library

Copy of Health Technical Memorandum 65 - A design manual for hospitals and other health buildings old and new. Department of Health and Social Security and the Welsh Office, 1984 (now out of print). Anthony Williams 1927 - 2006

We are back to report on the completion of the new Education Centre at St Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh.

To re-cap, St Columba’s is undergoing a £26m phased redevelopment led by architects Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall (JDDK).  17 Boswall Road is a listed building dating back to 1815, which has been fully refurbished and extended to provide office and learning facilities.  Our brief was to develop a sensitive sign scheme which was clear, understated and non-institutional, initially working off floor plans to establish an over all strategy and suitable budget.  Our first blog focused on the challenges of providing wayfinding in a complex and historic space (work in progress, posted October 2011).

The package of signs for the Education Centre includes entrance identification, wayfinding, glass manifestation and donor boards using glass, painted aluminium and stainless steel components to compliment the materials used in the interior fit-out.  Graphics are predominantly white reversed out of a warm grey background for good contrast and meet with DDA guidelines for type sizes and layout.  The chosen typeface is Myriad to meet with St Columba’s brand guidelines.

The senstive use of terminology will be especially important throughout the finished site.  For the Education Centre, the client has chosen to describe specific areas using names of islands in the Firth of Forth — Inchcolm, Inchkeith and Fidra.

Images below — left: Vinyl graphics and manifestations to glazed entrance (revealing stunning views of the Firth of Forth in the background) right: Three dimensional letters define the entrance to the lecture theatre Fidra. All photography by kind permission of Sally Ann Norman.

We have since received very positive feedback from Alison Allan, Project Lead for the Hospice:

Picto were involved early in our process and were able to guide us through the pitfalls of signing a listed building.  We are delighted with the high quality end result.  I really think that the hands on approach suited our project and gave us confidence.

Phase 2 of the rebuild is now on site.  This has started with the demolition of existing buildings to make way for new state of the art palliative care facilities.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to attend the second SEGD (Society for Environmental Graphic Design) International Symposium at the V&A Museum.  This years theme was Design Innovation Collaboration and provided a stimulating day of presentations and networking with fellow SEGD members and guests.

For me the highlight of the event was a conversation between Malcolm Garrett, Ken Grange, Mike Dempsey, Dinah Casson and Alex McDowell on their personal choices for what has been the most influential piece of British design in the last 64 years.  The timeframe of 1948 – 2012 was selected as the period between the two Olympic games hosted by London, corresponding with a the Museum’s exhibition British Design from 1948: Innovation in the Modern Age.  Their choices ? Sometimes surprising, but in context extremely entertaining (ask me about it next time you see me !).

Top image: Malcolm Garrett (left) and Ken Grange (right) discuss the development of Jock Kinnear and Margaret Calvert’s road sign system as part of a converstation on British design since 1948.

Knop Law Primary School opened on a brand new site in September 2010, following the relocation from old buildings nearby.  The project has received numerous accolades for its design, including an RIBA award.

Picto worked closely with architects ADP (formerly GWK) and contractor Sir Robert McAlpine, starting the process 18 months in advance, defining the brief and ensuring a suitable budget was allocated within the project costs.

The end result is a suite of signs which are eye catching, colourful and informative.  The package includes external branding and directional signs, traditional sign-written graphics, three dimensional location graphics and a series of door signs incorporating tactile and Braille messages.

The typography and layout of all the signs was designed to meet with DDA guidelines.  The typeface Century Gothic, selected by ADP so that the perfectly circular “o”, “p” and “a” could be used around the circular glazing for the sign-written graphics.  Where possible easily recognisable symbols have been used to enhance messages.  The colours were chosen to match the palate used for the interior finishes and have been applied to provide good contrast.

External signs feature graphics with a protective lacquer finish and tamper-resistant fixings.  The school logo was modified so it could be cut in solid vinyl colours for the main building sign.  Using solid vinyls keeps the cost down and provides a longer lifespan than other manufacturing techniques.

Three dimensional location graphics: 25mm thick MDF spray painted 2 colours on spacers, simple and cost effective !

Information signs feature tactile and Braille graphics and use pictograms where appropriate. Classroom signs feature paper inserts to display teacher names.

Traditional sign-written graphics wrap around the glazed panels. External directional sign with protective lacquer finish and concealed fixings.

Signs may incorporate tactile (raised) and Braille information to assist people who have visual impairment. The use of tactile graphics reaches a far wider audience, but in our experience the addition of Braille is a minimal extra over cost and creates a good impression.  We regularly use this specification in buildings accessed by the general public although it is not a legal requirement in the UK.

— Keep messages short and jargon free

— The minimum letter size for tactile information is 15mm cap height

— The minimum size for tactile pictograms is 100mm high (where possible)

— Use a simple sans serif typeface and range messages left

— Specify a Braille notch at the start of this part of the message

— Locate signs at the same height and position, pictograms for toilets should be mounted on the door itself with all other signs going to the side of the door on the wall (we generally try to make this the same side as the door handle although this is not always possible).

Tactile signs with Braille mounted onto toilet doors at Gateshead Leisure Centre

Tactile and Braille signs — summary of recommendations for fixing and layout