Design: Identification of museums

Résumé du document

This assignment is divided into three parts. The first part consists of observing museums and how the route signings are. In the second part, the task is more specific where we have to choose one of the four visited museums and make an analysis concerning their disadvantages and advantages in route signing and the design of them as well. The last part is based on the improvement of the different issues, in this case the Boijmans museum and, with our professional designers help, try to solve the different design problems and give them advices or new ideas. The choice of form and colours of direction signs is crucial because they need to be understandable, simple, easy to read and the most important, when it comes to this subject, to follow them. Plus their design and positioning should be consistent. In the past, signs were made of wood and handpainted, but through the years, the concept of making signs has changed from wood to plastic, metal, digital signs and more colourful, because these kinds of materials last much longer and offer a better way of information to the people.

Extraits

[...] Part Design audit A - Of the Boijmans Museum Environmental factors It is difficult to totally define if there is a general market trend in Holland within museum signs or if is only a sign trend in Rotterdam. Since Rotterdam is one of the most moderns city in Europe It could be that the museum in this cities want to take advantage of the innovative image of the city. What we could observe at the museum was the powerful usage of colours in the inside signs: for example on the arrows, the information desk and so on. [...]

[...] It's not necessary a deep change, but a revision of this fact. The accessibility and the understanding of the signs is one of the biggest advantages. Signs are easily understandable, because they are very simple and need the application of gestalt theory for part of the spectator to be understood. That make them interesting, because the mind of the spectator plays unconsciously with the lines, building imaginary the concept the designer is trying to transmit. As we said before, the colour is an important fact. [...]

[...] These offer us broad opportunities to improve our creativity. It wouldn't look bad with the style of the museum, because the art offered is very heterogeneous, from renaissance to surrealism. This fact should be accompanied by an increase of the investment in design, because new technologies are not cheap yet. The new technologies are necessary also for not to disconnect from the young people, that are everyday more customary to this kind of elements. The introduction of these facts should be made in a long term, because it's expensive and it's better to insert them progressively. [...]

[...] One example: (Approaching from Utrecht/Gouda: from the A20 take the Ring Oost exit (A16 Dordrecht/Breda). Take the Centrum exit. At the traffic lights at the end turn right towards the centre. Follow the Maasboulevard (the river Maas is now on your left) for 4 kilometres: keep on the Maasboulevard, which is later called Boompjes. At the intersection from which you can see the Erasmus bridge on the left, turn right (Schiedamse Dijk). At the first traffic light take a left-hand turn onto Schilderstraat and Witte de Withstraat, which becomes Museumpark. [...]

[...] We are invaded for thousands of ads everywhere. It's true that the use of black and white could be very showy, but only when the remaining objects of a part are strongly coloured. It's the case of some ads in the newspapers or magazines that use a lot the colour. Thus, one of the priorities of our company is to introduce the colour in the route signing. This change should be made in a short term, because it's important to impulse the success of the museum. [...]