Wayfinding Rationale and Idea Crit

Wayfinding rationale

Defining the problem:

To create a tour of closed down music venues in Leeds, presenting what they are now, in order to revive the rich musical history of the City, and explore the extent of commercialisation at the cost of culture that is currently occurring in the UK.

Contextual references:

The artwork from famous bands that have performed:

The Beatles, The Who, The Clash, Nirvana, The White Stripes, Amy Winehouse, David Bowie, The Libertines, The Sex Pistols

Therefore the artworks of names like Peter Blake, Klaus Voorman, Lisa Orth and Jamie Reid.

The wayfinding systems will address the subjective qualities of graphic design through relation to that of anarchic art in the 70s, as well as collage and abstract composition forming a directional purpose (like arrows etc). Conversely, it will adapt qualities of objectiveness through its clear link to the artwork and culture of the specific music artists.

The visual language will represent the cultural references related to the rock/ punk/ indie / electronic era of music. It will also be satirical and anti-establishment in addressing the negatives of commercialisation destroying the cultural industries. For example, how Sports Direct now occupies a building where The Beatles performed in the 60s.

Client needs or requirements:

-       Appropriate colours used would include bright blues, reds, pinks yellows – vibrancy and band specific for each destination.

-       Quite small – the point is to be an underground scene/ not the mainstream. In addition, the tour would only attract specific people rather than being for a wider audience, it’s intimate like the venues were and in place for anyone to do/ accessible.

-       Interactive, like a searching game, all about the idea of community that art and music brings

-       Typeface would be relevant to venue – so the Nirvana one for the venue they performed in or the Beatles for the late Odeon, Sex Pistols collage style text, and so on

-       Pictograms to represent the venue, era/genre of music could be colour coded, and then a separate arrow path kind of system which uses stickers

Audience:

People from or visiting Leeds interested in either specific bands or the culture as a whole, as such ages could range from older bands to the newer ones.

The wayfinding system will relate to the style associated with the art and branding around the music venues and the relevant artists. Moreover, it will be vibrant and authentic (hand made? NOT commercial/ grand scale / high budget) in order to contrast the big corporations buying out these venues



Idea critique:

• Look into simplifying quite complex themes - could be vector pictograms instead of band posters as people could mistake these 
• Need to find a way to identify the areas, as they are not currently there in some cases, it might be easier for people to walk strait pass - look into creating pictograms that relate both to what is there now and what was there before 
• The concept of the idea is good, with strong reasoning behind it, a topic that is important to address, and to begin to stimulate light on what's happening in this industry
• Type might not be necessary but if incorporated it should be constant rather than varying from place to place - find a medium between various approaches the text within the genres/ bands 
• Maybe try simplify it more, and use own imagery rather than famous bands, although the bands are what will be recognisable to the audience, it is important to find a balance - take bits