Signage Design

Warning Sign
'Alerting the driver to a nearby nuclear power station'


Jock Kinnier and Margaret Calvert redesigned the entire motorway signage system between 1957 and 1967, and since then it has spread throughout the world due to its popularity and ease of use.


Colour and shape are used to denote the type of sign, while simple black and white pictograms illustrate the specific nature of the sign. Warning signs are triangular with a red border, tourism signs are rectangular and use white on brown and can incorporate an arrow, motorway signs use blue while primary route signs are green, both using directional arrows and a clear sans-serif typeface, Transport.


For this task it was clear that if my design was for a British road then it would need to follow their standard, so it was just the element in the centre of the sign that I had control over. Three images came to mind immediately, the shape of the cooling towers, the radioactivity icon and the atom diagram.

Atom

A simplified atom diagram similar to this would work well as it is very universal, but the lines in the image are very thin and wouldn't be visible from a distance.

Radioactivity

This is a well known symbol denoting radioactivity, but the colours would have to be changed in the sign as they do not comply with Kinnier and Calvert's standard and could cause too much panic.

Springfield Nuclear Power Plant

Due to The Simpsons, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is probably the most famous example of a nuclear reactor, and the two chimneys are very recognisable.

My design

My final design incorporates both the chimney shape and the radioactive warning icon set inside the standardised warning sign, which I believe fits the brief well. However, it may suggest that the nuclear reactor is hazardous when it would generally be safe, and so accompanying text declaring 'Nuclear Reactor' may have added to the sign.

'This to That' - Water Rockets poster

From water to powered flight: the process of a water rocket take off and landing.


Following my research I began to start sketching ideas, at first looking for the simplest way to symbolise the rocket and showing its separate components.

Initial ideas

I settled on an angular design, and then looked at page layout. I decided to include a 'You Will Need' box in the top left to show the components and reduce the need to label my diagrams, keeping them as clear and uncluttered as possible.

Draft copy

Once I'd decided on the design I first laid it out on lined paper, which allowed me to ensure that all the elements were the appropriate size to avoid confusion and to add a more professional look.

'You Will Need' box

This is the top corner from the final poster. I used a black and grey palette as I felt that too much colour would overpower the simplicity of the illustrations. Having to label every image would also have overcomplicated the poster, and so I used the 'You Will Need' box to show the equipment and then a diagram showing how the components fit together.

Final outcome

This is the full image, which I believe is simple enough to follow that text is not needed. I was pleased with the final outcome, and I received positive feedback praising the simplicity. One criticism was the layout of the 'You Will Need' box, which seemed to show the water being poured into the pot and so that would be one area to change. The process requires the bottle to be half full of water and so that would be another technical decision to reconsider.

'This to That' - Water Rockets

From water to powered flight: the process of a water rocket take off and landing.


'A common problem faced by information designers is to explain a technically complex process to a lay audience: 

• How do you make a complex subject engaging and interesting to an audience? 
• How do you explain something you may know nothing about yourself? 
• How do you prevent yourself from being bogged down by information?'

The first step was to research the subject area myself, finding credible sources and existing helpful diagrams to give myself a clear idea of what was expected. I had played with similar toys in the past, but wanted to find out the universal design of the experiment. There were a couple of useful diagrams on a NASA site:

These diagrams seem to be aimed at more advanced science enthusiasts, and perhaps don't show enough for a beginner to be inspired to create their own. The first image is useful, but doesn't show the equipment that is needed, just the final layout, while the second shows the stages following the launch. I want my effort to be more helpful for novices and put more emphasis on the correct way to set it up, but also make use of more simplified and less illustrative diagrams.

The BBC show 'Bang Goes the Theory' has a website aimed at inspiring children to learn about science and features explanations of numerous experiments, including the launch of water rockets.

Bang Goes the Theory - Water Rockets

On this page there is a helpful video that explains the whole process, as well as a step-by-step breakdown and a list of equipment needed that is written very simply and is easy to follow. I feel this is a more helpful source of information than the NASA site, but I feel that their diagrams were also useful when collating knowledge from varied sources.

Bibliography

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (no date). Water Rockets [Online]. Available from: http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/rktbot.html [Accessed 16th February 2012] 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (no date). Flight of a Water Rocket [Online]. Available from: http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/rktbflght.html [Accessed 16th February 2012]

BBC (no date). Bang Goes the Theory- Water Bottle Rockets [Online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bang/handson/waterbottlerockets.shtml [Accessed 16th February 2012]

Information Diagrams: Glance Boxes

Glance Boxes


Best suited for:

• Highlighting essential information
• Expressing qualitative relationships

Least suited for:

• Summarise statistical data
• Expressing quantitative information

Answer the questions:

• Who, what and why

Key challenges:

• Simplifying information
• Recognising the need for them

Key techniques:

• Evaluate typography, particularly bold
• Occasionally icons

Example

Drinks can glance box

The glance box on the front of this Fanta can displays important dietary information, presented in a clear and concise manner. Nowadays it is a requirement that all products show what they contain in this way and so often people are looking for it, allowing it to be small as long as it is legible. The white and navy blue contrast well to accentuate the figures, and though it may not be quite as clear as black on white, it also fits into the colourful can design.

Information Diagrams: Diagrams

Diagrams


Diagrams are used to accurately and effectively depict a concept or a set of instructions. They are often characterised by images that combine accuracy with simplicity, often using black and white to avoid the confusion that could arise from delicate rendering, but colour can be used in colour coding to match certain elements. Often there are little or no written instructions to allow as many people as possible to understand the concept and to reduce reproduction costs.

Pen instructions

The instructions are clear and defined, and are universal due to the lack of language used, and there is no confusion created by colour. However, I'm not sure from this image exactly what the diagram is there to represent and so the communication is not strong enough and more information should be provided.

Information Diagrams: Maps

Maps


Best suited for:

• Expressing geographical relationships
• Labelling topics by place

Least suited for:

• Topics for which location or path is insignificant
• Listing specific details

Answer the question:

• Where

Key challenges:

• Simplifying information
• Accurately and predictably depicting geography

Key techniques:

• Visual data metaphors
• Drawing techniques

Examples:

University of Worcester map

This is the map that is supplied by the University for new students to be able to find their way through the premises and accurately depict the locations of the buildings on site. Unfortunately the pictorial form of the map has detracted from its function, creating an attractive image that is not especially useful for its desired task. A map like this would be far more effective as a direct aerial view to show the layout from above, with far more graphical illustrations, rather than this 45 degree view.

'Map' on bus prices leaflet

Although this is not a true map, and takes a playful take on the concept, it uses this in a creative and effective manner. Geographically, the map doesn't not show anything but instead depicts a path, from one location to another. The use of colour is also eye-catching, as is the stylised illustration of the bus, and combines to create an attractive piece of Publication Design even if the map is not useful as a stand-alone diagram.

Information Diagrams: Graphs

Graphs


Best suited for:

• summarising statistical data
• expressing quantitative relationships

Least suited for:

• listing specific data for immediate use
• expressing qualitative relationships

Answer the questions:

• how much
• occasionally what, why and how

Key challenges:

• accuracy and integrity
• finding information

Key techniques:

• visual data metaphors
• evaluate typography, particularly pointer boxes

Examples

Pie chart

Pie charts are a convenient way to publish data in the form of percentages, making comparison very easy between two data sets. In this case the colours used have had a detrimental effect on the chart, as the green and blue are too similar to easily distinguish from a distance.

Recycling bin

Although this is not a true graph as it does not plot one set of data against another, the design is reminiscent of bar charts and I find it an interesting choice to convey the information. It is a very eye-catching piece of design, and is more likely to evoke interest than if the same information were just laid out in a list or table. The use of colour also reinforces the data and makes it more memorable.

Information is Beautiful

Information is Beautiful is David McCandless' site where he utilises Graphic Information Design to visualise confusing or varied data and to accompany news stories.

Hours spent watching television/time taken to create Wikipedia

His work is thought provoking and interesting, as well as being visually attractive, and each piece can stand alone as a piece of design. My favourite article from the website is that visualising the true effects of nuclear warfare, a fear that has been drummed into us for many years, perhaps only loosely based on fact.


http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/how-i-learnt-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb/

'How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'

I like this image as it combines logical and easy to understand information with attractive and simple illustrations, and is much easier to follow than would be the case if the statistics were just recorded numerically.

Bibliography

Information is Beautiful (no date). Visualisations [Online]. Available from: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/ [Accessed 13th February 2012].

Research: London Underground Map

The original London Underground maps were overlaid onto scale maps of the city. Although there were benefits to this system as it showed exactly where the routes would take you, it wasn’t the most practical design. The close proximity of stations in the centre of London means that it is cramped in the middle of the map, and the rest seems too large.

Harry Beck was an engineering draughtsman at the Signals Office who proposed a new design for the map in 1931. The Underground Group’s draughtsman Fred Stingemore had been finding it increasingly difficult to fit new line and station in geographically, until Beck reworked the map based on diagrams of electrical circuits.

He stated that it was his desire to ‘tidy it up by straightening the lines, experimenting with diagonals and evening out the distances between stations’. The new design proved to be a great success and similar maps are now used for rail services around the world, including the Paris and New York Metros.  

Harry Beck

Original Tube Map

Beck's First Published Design

Bibliography

20^th Century London. (no date) Beck, Henry (Harry) [Online]. Available from: http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=conInformationRecord.67 [Accessed 9^th February 2012]

Make Mass Air. (no date) design:London Underground, maps, geographical and anagrams [Online]. Available from: http://www.makemassair.co.uk/stuff/design-london-underground-maps-geographical-and-anagrams/ [Accessed 9^th February 2012]