For the beginning of my digital sign development I went through the aesthetic brand decisions already made in the existing brand to act as the basis for my designs. The first was shapes, the basic hardware and style for the rest of the signage to be built around. The logo tile is the most frequently used shape and it was difficult to source other tile shapes to apply to different sign types, however from the LCA brand guidelines I found a collection of different mosaic styles and so used these to create the different shapes.
For the course specific signs I have chosen to use the traditional LCA logo shape. Course specific identification signage includes studio numbers and staff offices. To distinguish each year's studio from each other there will be a change in tone from light for level 4 darkening as it gets towards level 6. Staff offices will remain the full tone, same as the level 6 studio spaces.
Different tile types are used for the other types of sign across the college. Small/pictorial identification signage uses the pentagon shaped tile. Longer directional signs with a higher amount of content use the elongated tile. And identification/regulatory signs unrelated to a specific subject use the more squat looking tile as they don't need as much content. The organisation of various shapes keeps a consistent style throughout the system whilst also categorising different variants of signage within it making it easier to identify different signs for different purposes. This can be especially useful if the individual is visually impaired or colour blind, it means that from the basic sign shape alone they can identify the type of sign they are looking at and identify them from a greater distance than a set of signs that are all the same shape. This way also keeps the system interesting, no initially unique shape becomes dull and overused.
Each subject has it's own specific colour; taken from the existing colour pallet provided in the brand guidelines, which is to be used within their individual signage. This will not only bring about a sense of individuality for each course; whilst remaining within the style of the whole system, but also make it easier to identify one department from another. For a student who is new to the building or perhaps attempting to locate a department they would not normally have gone to this colour coding can assist in identifying their destination making it easier to get from A to B.
The colours used for the rest of the college, or the none course specific signage will be in a more muted tone, something that contrasts enough from the course colours to be identified as a whole different set of signs and that is readily available from the brand guidelines colour pallet. Though by all means it shouldn't be a dull colour, it should still stand out and work well with the set of signs. I chose the muted grey blue, it's not dull like the generic grey implemented in the current LCA sign system, but it's also not over powering.
I experimented with combinations of type again when it came to the larger information based orientation sign. As there would be a lot of text present I was concerned that the difference between title and content would be too little, thus making it harder to understand the hierarchy, however once combined I stuck to my guns and used Grot bold and regular. It would be a strange departure from the rest of the system if I adding in an extra font for the sake of it, plus with enough variation in size the hierarchy flowed just as easily with a lot of text as it did with a smaller amount.
For the larger sign it became difficult to incorporate a large amount of text in such an oddly shaped set of signs. Of course it would be impossible not to keep within the theme and style of the whole signage system so I experimented with different ways of layering tiles and then adding text. In my initial sketches I had wanted to create an overlapping sign with bumps and ridges making it stand out from the wall. However this made a strange snaking looking thing that didn't really fit with the other signs, plus it made it almost impossible to add text into each shape with the usable space cut off even further from the overlapping edges.
I eventually settled on a set of individual tiles placed close together. This worked very well as it linked the whole sign back to it's inspiration and origin, the mosaic that was the original logo for LCA prior to the rebrand. Not only does it work with the current brand but also the previous one as well as the rest of the signage.
To add further clarity to the orientation sign I chose to 'high light' the current floor. Popping out a bright colour contrasted with the muted grey it makes it very clear which level of the building you are on. Such a high contrast also aids the visually impaired, although the details maybe difficult to make out it becomes obvious, even from a distance, which floor you are on.
For each orientation sign I wanted to make it pop a bit more with the addition of course colours. To keep the sign tied a separate thing from the courses I used the blue grey but popped out small features with a distinctive course colour. Depending on the placement of the sign and which ever department they are nearest this orientation sign suddenly becomes an identification sign too. Through identifying the closest department it announces to the user you have arrived in art, advertising etc. and makes the act of finding your way easier still, you know where you are or where you're near without having to be stood directly in front of the studio doors. In this way colour links orientation and identification signs together creating a breadcrumbed direction link. When a user views the orientation sign they can see they are close to a specific department, when they see this department colour again they know they have arrived.
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