Research Overview

My Negotiated Production study has been focused on information design, more specifically wayfinding design for children. I would like to take my project forward by designing graphics for a children's trail.

During the first semester, I focused on gathering researched. I looked at various areas, such as adult wayfinding, children's wayfinding, wayfinding for buildings and for the outdoors. After undergoing this research, I found definite patterns emerging. Bright colours and the inclusion of characters being some of the recurring imagery for children's wayfinding.

For, at the start of the semester, I looked at wayfinding in children's hospitals. In the Royal Children's Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital (see more here) characters were painted across walls to provide a calming, welcome distraction, while they also appeared on directional signs. This was because children are more likely to interact with images rather than words and they therefore notice characters first. Characters were also integrated into outdoor wayfinding for children, such as trails. During research, I noticed that there seemed to be a “main” character, which was used to direct the children around certain areas, while also popping up to explain certain facts. Hoveton Hall Garden's used a dragonfly, Harry Hover, an “instant success”, Bridgend'sHeritage used a colourful owl character, while Whinlatter Forest used a squirrel and took the Stick Man character from a popular children's book. My research shows that children interact well with characters, so this is something that I would consider in the production of my work.

During primary research at Whinlatter forest, the cohesion of information design was realised to be crucial. The Stick Man trail had signs marking its start and finish to avoid confusion. During this trail, there was also constant markers for encouragement and to avoid the hiker from getting lost. The Squirrel Scurry meanwhile did not have this and therefore confusion arose (see more here). The importance of use of colour for signs was also highlighted. A trail should use their own unique colours, making sure that they differentiate from any other surrounding signs to avoid confusion. This was again where the Squirrel Scurry trail became problematic, as it used red, as did an adult trail. If the colour and brand of these signs were unique then they could have also been easily spotted from a distance. Bright colours stand out amongst the green and brown of the surrounding wood, so contrasting primary colours proved to be the most successful. Dark greens and browns could have become lost, blending into their surroundings, and an information board or sign should be easily recognisable.

I found that activities and interactive elements were also important in keeping the attention of young children. The London Transport Museum used stamps, children where given activity sheets for numerous forest trails etc. This helped to keep their attention throughout the day.

Simplified maps were also important so that children would be more likely to understand them, while most designers also used obvious, understandable shapes.

To see more of my research please look through my blog.