London Wayfinding

March 9, 20100 Comments Tagged: axonometric, design, legible, london, map, signage, wayfinding

The London Subway map is one of the most iconic pieces of graphic design in the modern world. It did wonders in simplifying people's perceptions and understanding of what is quite  complicated rail system. The one shortfall, of course, is that the map bears little resemblance to the actual layout of the stations in London.

London is a notoriously difficult city to navigate. Instead of being organised on a grid like many other cities, it "is just a bunch of villages that grew and grew until they merged into a giant, wriggling blob. Many of the city's roads date back to medieval times and are so twisty and short that locals don't use the term "block"—it's far too regular-sounding to apply to the odd-angled polygons formed by the city's streets". (source)

This is why they are getting a new wayfinding system, Legible London. Slate magazine has an article covering some of the ins and outs. There are, however, a couple of features that are worth mentioning specifically.

The first is the Azometically rendered maps they are using for the project. These maps show  a traditional aerial view of the area as you would expect to find on any normal wayfinding system. What is different is that, in addition to this, they show renderings of the facades of distinctive and known buildings, within the footprint of the building itself. People found it easier to remember places by vision of what they looked like, as well as location. This innovation allowed them to have the best of both worlds.

Another interesting decision was to turn away from the accepted standard of having the top of the map facing North. While this was standardised, and accurate, people found it easier to use the maps when the top of the map was oriented the same way that they were facing.

The final innovation I will mention here is the removal of the good-old "you are here marker". Instead the designers marked a circle to show the distance that could be travelled in a 15 minute walk. Not only did this help the user to distinguish where they were located, but gave them additional information about where the could go.

Wayfinding design is a discipline in which there are many tried and true standards adhered to. The Legible London team have shown, however, that sometimes ignoring the standards can result in a better solution.

Just because there is a standard doesn't mean it is the only way it can be done. Sometimes there are really good reasons for heading away from what is the norm. Like anything, there are Pros and Cons. It is up to you to figure out which will best benefit those you are working for.