Own Work Analysis

Karin Frisk 

 A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to ‘wayfinding or information board design’ from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs (and crucially please explain ‘why’ and ‘how’ this is).  

I had to do the map workshop on my own, so I did my own research for it. I tried at first to just crank one out with my preset colour scheme. I followed the St Johns campus map and made the shapes for all of the buildings, the parking lots, the roads and the astroturfs, and started colour coding them with my blue-green palette. I quickly realised that alone wouldn’t work. Using only blues and greens really limits the legibility and makes the map blur too much into itself and the different elements are too hard to distinguish from each other. 

I got my family members to comment on the design I had going on and they all agreed that they could not see what the map was trying to show. So I looked for tips on how to improve map designs and I looked for maps made by others, and I found a map of the Oxford city centre that used black, or very dark brown, for the buildings and it made the map instantly understandable. I applied the same thing to my map and it transformed my muddy map into an easily legible map of the campus. 

I struggled in settling on one design for the information board as our client Katy wanted us to come up with less corporate board designs. I made a lot of different boards but in the end I ended up with a rectangular board anyway. It does have a small twist though. The ‘header’ is shaped like a log with a log pattern and texture to it. The text on it would be sticking out with led lights on the back to light it up when it’s dark. This was inspired by several boards I found that had roofs and some of them even have lights underneath. I didn’t want the roof but the idea of something above the board helped to create the log header part for it. 

B. Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for their location, how they link in with the wants of the brief (you may need to go back to your brief and re-read it if you haven’t already) and why you personally think they are successful concepts.  

My board was supposed to be located by the sports arena, and it is still the intended location, but I had a bit of trouble with the content on the board so I used the assets for the Malvern Meadow design. I used four of the flowers from it on my board, and it isn’t really fitting for the location but I really got stuck on what else to add to the board. 

I think overall, the board I created is legible and stands out. I think I did lose my original concept though, as I strayed away from my original colour palette and I didn’t create any illustrations of my own, so I’m not happy with the outcome in that sense. Otherwise, the final overlook of everything I made does look good and it fits the University because of the colours and the style. 

C. User testing 

To be completely honest, I forgot about doing any user testing at all. I’ve had my family and friends comment on my work and just asking for their opinions. Such as with the map I got help from my mom with the colours and with the layout for the leaflet. I don’t have anything recorded but I’ve asked for opinions repeatedly when I’ve gotten stuck with something.