Part 1 Of My Dissertation Proposal
Graphic design is everywhere in an urban environment such as a city centre, hospital or university campus. Signage and information graphics are the most obvious of which but somehow manage to get overlooked as being a form of graphic design. They direct us in our cars or on foot, outside or inside, They help make life that extra little bit easier and are taken advantage of by nearly everyone that uses them everyday, this is what makes them great pieces of graphic design in their own right.
In my disseration I shall be looking at how graphic design helps us move within an urban environment, looking at signage, environmental graphics and information graphics, trying to understand just how easy they make life for people moving within urban environments, whether it is a large busy city centre or a small office block or hospital they all contain signage and environmental graphic design and rely heavily on it to help people to their ultimate destination in the shortest amount of time possible.
Signage and information graphics, when designed well are all but invisible to the average person, merely displaying their information in a clear and concise manner and are taken for granted by the people who use them day in and day out, only when these signs are removed from our environment do we realise just how important they are, “Being lost is a fundamental human fear, we need to grasp our environment to a minimal level in order to feel secure” (Signage Design Manual, Edo Smitshuijzen, Lars Muller Publishers 2007)
Wayfinding and navigation is a problem solving process, the problem of navigating from A to B in an often unfamiliar environment, this problem is a near impossible task faced by thousands of people each day in a dense urban environment where many buildings look the same and without street signs every road looks similar. There could be multiple routes leading to your ultimate destination but in this day and age where time is money people look for the route that is most direct, quickest and easiest and signage is designed to lead you along this route.
