Storytelling in Urban Wayfinding

Storytelling in Urban Wayinding Shiho Asada Dissertation submited in partial fulilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Information Design, University of Reading, 2015 1 Formating and printing: Shiho Asada Images: Figure 4 is recreated by Asada based on the original igure prepared by Montgomery. The rest of igures are found from books or online. The sources and URLs are included in captions. Proofreading: Andrew Baird Words: 11,823 2 Abstract This dissertation aims to explore the possibilities of applying storytelling approaches to the design of urban wayinding systems. In recent years, storytelling has received increasing atention in the private sector while it has also been studied extensively across academic disciplines ranging from literary studies to urban design. The Context chapter considers historical and modern interpretations of storytelling as well as providing an insight into the diferent types and roles of wayinding systems. It then debates the idea of using storytelling approaches to the design of urban wayinding systems by reviewing research on storytelling in closely related ields. Furthermore, methods of using wayinding as a means of projecting the cultural identity of an individual city are also addressed. Interviews were conducted with two experienced designers, one working on pedestrian wayinding and the other on digital, in order to identify how the storytelling approach can be used in practice. In the Case Studies chapter, the views of the interviewees on issues such as the interpretation and application of storytelling, the design process and cultural identity are discussed in the context of urban wayinding. Although their approaches to the use of storytelling difer quite considerably in some aspects, they both focus on how to convey the narrative of a particular environment. The dissertation concludes that storytelling is useful at integrating various elements into a single system and cultivating a sense of place amongst those who use it. 3 4 Contents Abstract 3 1 Introduction 7 2 Context 10 2.1 The many faces of storytelling 10 Literary usage 10 Storytelling as a means of community development 11 The storytelling approach in the private sector 11 2.2 Urban wayinding 12 Types of urban wayinding 12 Urban wayinding in city design 14 2.3 Can storytelling be used in the design of urban wayinding systems? 18 3 Case studies: storytelling in urban wayinding in practice 23 3.1 Research method 23 3.2.1 Pedestrian wayinding — Ben Acornley 25 The meaning of storytelling 27 Reasons for using storytelling 27 Storytelling in the urban wayinding design process 28 Relationship to clients 34 Relationship with the culture and identity of a place 35 Discussion 38 Summary 40 3.2.2 Interactive wayinding — Sami Niemelä 40 The meaning of storytelling 43 Reasons for using storytelling 43 Storytelling in the urban wayinding design process 44 Relationship to clients 46 Relationship with the culture and identity of a place 46 Discussion 47 Summary 48 4 Conclusion 49 Interviews 52 Bibliography 53 5 6 1 Introduction In recent years, mobile web mapping applications such as Google Maps have found use beyond their traditional function as a means of pedestrian wayinding and have become increasingly popular for exploring cities and urban landscapes. But while Google Maps is extremely efective at inding particular routes or locations it lacks the capacity to provide users with a unique experience of the city that they are exploring. Take, for example, London and New York, beyond distinct street names and grid layouts, the experience of exploring these very diferent cities through Google Maps is essentially the same. As Goldberger (2007) argues, when people discover a city through their mobile phones, they may physically be in that city but their minds are focusing on other places. For many, the act of exploring a new urban landscape has therefore necessarily become less an enjoyable experience. The fact remains, however, that those visiting a particular city still want to experience those distinctive features and quirks that make that city unique even as this has become more challenging as a result of globalisation. As Simón (2013) has highlighted, it is imperative for cities to have a strong identity in order to atract tourism and enterprise in the age of globalisation. The founder of Applied Wayinding, Tim Fendley (2015), contends; ‘The diferentiation and distinctiveness peculiar to places will have more, not less, importance in the digital age. Events, unique gatherings and face to face meetings will become more powerful. And local lavour, accent, and atitude will be even more sought ater.’ Fendley further states that the unique features of a particular place can be expressed through elements such as language, local knowledge and place names all of which can be utilised in the design of urban wayinding systems, for example, city-wide transportation applications such as Citymapper. Urban wayinding systems can therefore play an important role in improving the quality of people’s experiences of a city. 7 The challenges of creating an efective and enticing method of guiding people around a city, however, are numerous. Retaining the walker’s atention, navigating them to their destination and fostering an appreciation of the city are perhaps the most obvious of these challenges. In order to confront these issues, those designing urban wayinding systems must have an understanding of a broad array of ields from urban design to user experience as well as an appreciation of both information and graphic design. But what approaches can be used in developing an efective means of urban wayinding? Bill Moggridge (2008), one of the founders of IDEO, has suggested storytelling as a possible solution for tying together the various aspects which make a successful urban wayinding system. He states: ‘When you put all these things together, with elements from architecture, physical design, electronic technology from sotware, how do you actually prototype an idea for a service, and it seems that really, it’s about storytelling, it’s about narrative.’ The ability that storytelling has to synthesise the various elements of a complex service system chimes closely with the requirements of urban wayinding design. But the interpretation and use of storytelling described above is just one of many diverse strands of research that are currently exploring the potential of this technique. Providing a succinct description of storytelling is not simple but in essence it is a means of interaction with people and places through sharing stories and experiences. Certain scholars such as Roland Barthes (1977) have tended to focus on mediums of storytelling such as music, text and paintings to beter understand their role in contributing to a narrative of society. Researchers in information design have suggested that storytelling is a method of personalising information. For example, Judith Moldenhauer, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Wayne State University, USA has introduced the idea of storytelling to her students through a map design assignment (2003). Students were asked to design a new map of the university’s Art Department for new 8 and prospective students including information from their own experiences such as shortcuts they had found or diiculties that they had experienced when navigating their own way round the department. Storytelling has the potential to be a signiicant new approach to the development of visually striking urban wayinding systems that provide users with an experience that is unique to the city that they are exploring. Despite this, applying storytelling techniques to urban wayinding is an idea that has not been given full consideration. The objective of this dissertation then, is to explore the uses of storytelling in the context of urban wayinding and uncover how it can provide a unique experience of the city to users as well as contributing to the brand of individual cities. This dissertation does not, however, seek to evaluate the merit of applied methods due to the fact that the storytelling approach in design has not been fully developed and its interpretations and uses vary signiicantly between practitioners. The paper will begin by considering storytelling in a variety of contexts from literary studies to business design followed by deining the areas and roles of urban wayinding. The second part of this dissertation will analyse a series of case studies collected through interviews and will focus on how the storytelling approach can relect unique cultural and historical features to provide a city with a strong individual identity through the lens of urban wayinding systems. 9 2 Context 1. Human-centred approach Human-centred approach is to design things that meets people’s needs, capabilities and variations of behaviours (Norman 2013). As a human centred approach1, storytelling has been increasingly used by businesses and corporations as a means of more efectively engaging with consumers and, consequently, has begun to feature strongly in areas such as urban design and information design. Before considering the idea of utilising storytelling as an approach for developing methods of urban wayinding, it is necessary to both deine storytelling within more familiar contexts as well as provide a more comprehensive understanding of what is meant by the concept of urban wayinding. 2.1 The many faces of storytelling Literary usage Storytelling can also be referred to as narrative, a term primarily used in linguistic and literary studies. It should, however, be noted that there are clear distinctions between what is narrative and what is a story (Chatman 1978). While a story contains elements such as a plot, characters and setings, the narrative is the way in which that story is told whether that is verbally, in a ilm, through dance or through a landscape. Prince’s (1987), A Dictionary of Narratology deines narrative as: “The recounting (as product and process, object and act, structure and structuration) of one or more real or ictions events communicated by one, two, or several (more or less overt) narrators to one, two, or several (more or less overt) narratees.” According to this deinition, text that is purely descriptive (i.e.‘the ish is blue’/ ‘Anne is tall’) cannot be narratives whereas that which depicts speciic events (i.e. the ish died’/ ‘Anne broke a glass’) are considered to be narratives. As well as in the spoken or writen word, these deining features of narrative are also evident in other mediums of storytelling, such as ixed or moving images, gestures, music and landscapes (Barthes 1977, 79; Prince 1987, 58). Narrative has been a key component of the cultural landscape for millennia and is a ixture of many of humanity’s most celebrated modes of 10 storytelling from myths, fables and epics to tragedies, comedies and dramas while also underpinning less familiar methods of storytelling such as paintings and festivals. It is clear, therefore, that narrative, through the mediums listed above, is a signiicant element in people’s everyday lives which has led to individuals increasingly understanding their surroundings and experiences through the recollection, interpretation and creation of stories. Storytelling as a means of community development Narrative also has an important role to play in the community; the study of the forms and functions of narrative in the everyday has been carried out by researchers’ in disciplines as wide-ranging as sociolinguistics, folklore, anthropology and literary theory who have explored the relationship between the use of language and society. As Johnstone (1990) states, narratives are ‘shared voices which relect the texture of the community’. Narratives allow people to communicate with and understand each within communities and wider society through stories that foster a sense of shared cultural experience. Pre-historic cave drawings which depict animals, human beings and simple objects are perhaps one of the most powerful examples of this. They have been found in most parts of the world: from Europe to Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and the Polynesian Islands. The oldest ones were found in Lascaux and Niaux, southern France, drawn around 13,000 bce. The pictures (Fig. 1) were frequently drawn on cave walls serving Figure 1. Cave painting, Cougnac, France, 13,000 bce Poulin, Graphic Design + Architecture, a 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World. as a prompt to those narrating stories while also helping their audience to visualise the tale being recounted (Poulin 2012). Consequently, caves became a venue for listening to stories for these communities. Stories, therefore, not only bring people together but also tie people to speciic places. The storytelling approach in the private sector In recent years, storytelling has become an inluential strategy in the world of business by allowing companies to convert their insights and service ideas into user experiences. Companies now use the art of storytelling as a means of communicating with consumers as evidenced by adverts designed to portray the lives of their customers or depict the experiences of their employees. Demonstrating why a customer might use a particular product / 11 service or developing personas around their product/service are common examples of how this technique is utilised. By using these methods, companies are able demonstrate the applications and functions of their products to consumers much more efectively than by simply stating dry facts (Hensel 2010). A corporation which has been successful in using the storytelling approach to sell their products is technology giant Apple. Apple’s particular brand of advertising tells a story rather than simply saying ‘buy our product’ and this has evidently appealed to customers. Ater purchasing an iPhone at an Apple Store, the customer removes the sleek packaging in which the new phone is encased, all the while remembering the product which they have seen in adverts and displayed on Apple’s website. Once the outer packaging has been removed, the customer then inds a well-designed brochure made atractive by stunning photography before they inally uncover the much anticipated iPhone. It is this experience which has proved so appealing by giving users their own story. Although contemporary appropriations of the art of storytelling may sound diferent from its literary and oral origins, the role of stories in modern society remains the same, to share experiences and make things understandable to everybody in a particular community or place. 2.2 Urban wayinding Types of urban wayinding Wayinding denotes the professional practice of designing and implementing systems for navigating buildings and outdoor spaces (Mollerup 2013, 26) In this dissertation, wayinding in cities, which can be applied to urban spaces such as pedestrian walkways and transport hubs, is deined as ‘urban wayinding’. Urban wayinding refers to both physical (i.e. signs) and digital methods for exploring a city. The decision whether to develop a physical or digital means of wayinding ultimately depends on its purpose. In New York, for example, WalkNYC (Fig. 2), designed by Pentagram, is a form of pedestrian wayinding that utilises static maps and directional signs which are located on pavements and inside train stations, 12 while On The Go Interactive Wayfinding Kiosks (Fig. 3), operated by Control Group, are situated in subway stations and provide users with features such as countdown to arrival, real-time train information one-touch graphic maps, district maps and local advertising (Control Group 2015). Although both are managed by New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority (mta), they clearly fulil diferent functions. The emergence of digital technology has greatly expanded the potential of urban wayinding systems. As Mollerup highlights, interactive kiosks, smartphone apps, qr codes and augmented reality not only enable people to ind a route to a particular location but also facilitate the exploration and understanding Figure 2. WalkNYC designed by Pentagram, in corporation with City ID, Billings Jackson Design, rba Group and T-Kartor, 2013 htp://new.pentagram.com/2013/06/newwork-nyc-wayinding/ Figure 3. On The Go Interactive Wayinding Kiosks, designed by Control Group in corporation with mta, 2014 htp://www.controlgroup.com/mta.html 13 of new urban landscapes. Moreover, utilising real time data can provide people with details of the quickest and most convenient way of geting somewhere by factoring in sources of delay such as traic congestion. Bays and Callanan (2012) highlight that this technology is used widely by local authorities and administrations to understand the needs of urban areas as well as to overcome challenges and exploit opportunities. Urban wayinding in city design The way in which people travel around a metropolitan area is, of course, a crucial consideration when designing a city. Before focusing on the role of wayinding in urban design, it is necessary to highlight the essential qualities and elements of planning what could be termed a ‘good city’. Numerous theories and strategies for urban design have been put forward since the 1960s but, as the European Commission highlights in a Green Paper published in 1990, generating and protecting a sense of place is an essential element of city design. The notion of a ‘sense of place’ can broadly be deined as those unique features such as historical heritage and cultural identity which diferentiate one place from another. Montgomery (1989), a renowned urban planner, points out that fostering a sense of place is at the heart of planning a good city. He also states that a good urban environment has quality in three essential areas: form (landmarks, public streets), image (legibility, symbols) and activity (street life and events, local traditions) (Fig.4). Montgomery (1989), a renowned urban planner, points out that fostering a sense of place is at the heart of planning a good city. He also states that a good urban environment has quality in three essential areas: form (landmarks and thoroughfares), image (legibility, symbols) and activity (street life, events and local traditions) (Fig.4). Montgomery stresses that these elements should blend into the fabric of the city yet should also be visually stimulating and provoke interest. Urban wayinding has the ability to improve how people interact and engage with the character of a city and, in the following section, this is discussed and assessed in relation to the elements identiied by Montgomery as being cornerstones of good city design. 14 Figure 4. Policy directions to foster an urban sense of place. Urban wayinding may exists in between Form and Image, or Image and Activity (areas of grey colour). Street life John Montgomery, ‘Making a City: Urbanity, Vitality and Urban Design.’ ACTIVITY FORM Edges Cafe culture Districts Events Festivals Fairs Markets Paths SENSE OF PLACE Nodes IMAGE Legibility Landmarks Local traditions Visibility Identity Symbols Colour Smell Sound • Image With respect to image, the primary function of urban wayinding systems in this area is to improve the deinition and perceptibility of city forms. As Lynch (1960) states, there are ive core elements which comprise the form of a city: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks all of which should be clearly recognisable with intuitive and consistent symbols if an urban wayinding system is to both capture and contribute to the form of individual cities. A map with pictograms and illustrated landmarks or a set of writen instructions are, for instance, methods that can be used to emphasise the form of a city within urban wayinding systems. New York, for example, boasts a wayinding system that is particularly efective at demonstrating the unique form and character of the city through cartography, pictograms and typography which are consistent as well as a clear hierarchy of information (Fig.5). Moreover, illustrations of notable landmarks (Fig.6) are simpliied by being easily recognisable. In addition to enhancing the deinition of city forms, urban wayinding systems also have the potential to contribute to a city’s 15 Figure 5 (left). WalkNYC, hierarchy of information produced by Pentagram, 2013. htp://new.pentagram.com/2013/06/newwork-nyc-wayinding/ Figure 6 (right). WalkNYC, landmark illustrations for maps designed by Pentagram, 2013. htp://new.pentagram.com/2013/06/newwork-nyc-wayinding/ unique identity. London has perhaps the most famous example of this through the Transport for London logo (Fig. 7) which appears on all forms of mass transit servicing the city from boats to trams and everything in between. The logo also features on street maps and underground stations as a means of helping people to orientate themselves. This well-known symbol (Fig. 8) irst appeared in 1905 Figure 7. Logo of London underground htp://media-2.web.britannica.com/ebmedia/46/ when it was chosen as the motif that represented a wheel of train for the newly established London General Omnibus Company (Lawrence 2000). The intervening hundred years since the logo was irst created has seen some changes to the original version but the blue bar and red circle, mirroring the colours of the Union Jack, has become a deining feature of London’s transportation network and a symbol of London’s identity which is recognised globally. Such as in the case of London, environmental graphics can inluence the look of an urban area and contribute to the Figure 8. The irst logo of London underground Poulin, Graphic Design + Architecture, a 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World 16 unique identity of a city. This should be factored into the design of urban wayinding systems by relecting the distinct cultural and historical features which make that city unique. Furthermore, since the importance of the psychological impacts of urban design were irst discussed by Lynch (1960), designers of wayinding systems have sought to introduce cues which 2. Mental maps Lynch (1960) deines mental maps are simple sketches of maps drawn from memory of urban areas. He used mental maps collected from citizens of three cities of the USA in order to reveal the geographical and social problems of the cities. enable people to form mental maps2. Developing systems which contribute to or invoke feelings of safety, comfort, vibrancy or quietude is essential in urban wayinding. • Activity A city which boasts an array of events including festivals, fairs and markets as well as a range of potential rendezvous points such as cafés or squares can be considered to sustain an environment that is both active and interactive (Montgomery 1998; de Waal 2014). Both physical and digital wayinding systems have the capacity to showcase these features to visitors as well as providing directions for how to get to events, festivals or popular meeting places. The Tokyo Art Beat mobile application (Fig.9), for example, provides information on exhibitions and art events taking place in Tokyo and then uses gps to provide directions to where these are taking place. The app also allows the user to browse for exhibitions based on personal preferences, access reviews of exhibitions and events as well as ind out where it is taking place relative to their current Figure 9. Tokyo Art Beat app released by Gadago npo. Left: Shows exhibitions nearby a user Right: Map of nearby exhibitions htp://www.tokyoartbeat.com 17 location so that events which are not to the user’s taste, unpopular or inaccessible can be easily iltered out. This kind of digital urban wayinding therefore not only contributes to the distinct identity of a city but also helps people access events and places that they want to experience. As such, generating and protecting a sense of place may be possible by improving the quality of urban wayinding systems available. Indeed instilling a sense of place has become increasingly important as cities vie with each other to atract enterprise and tourism on both the national and global stage (Radovic, 2008). Richard Simón (2013), Planning Director at Applied Wayinding highlights that metropolises throughout the world are struggling to meet the challenges of developing sustainable communities, alleviating pressure on increasingly congested transport links as well as protect and promote cultural diversity. Ensuring that there are distinct features not seen anywhere else in the world is key to the planning and branding of a city. 2.3 Can storytelling be used in the design of urban wayinding systems? The multi-faceted, complex nature of designing methods of urban wayinding would seem to suggest that storytelling could hold the key to the development of urban wayinding systems which relect the character and distinctiveness of the city that it services. Due to the limited number of sources available on the relationship between storytelling and wayinding, this dissertation will also consider the existing literature on the impact of storytelling techniques in related ields including urban design and information design to develop a broader understanding of the beneits that the storytelling approach ofers. Many scholars and practitioners in the ields identiied above have relected on the potential of storytelling in their work but interpretations and uses of it can vary considerably due to the demands and nuances of their respective areas of study. In the landscape and urban design ields, storytelling is used 18 to convey aspects of culture and tradition in an efort to create an image and establish a sense of place (Poteiger and Purinton 1998; Childs 2008). In some cases these stories relect religious or political issues, ideas or values (Eagleton 1983; Duncan and Duncan 1988) such as in the case of Greater London which was established by London County Council in the wake of World War II to help address issues arising from population growth, housing shortages, unemployment and growing pressure on transport. As this example clearly demonstrates, storytelling in urban spaces relects the cultures, traditions and political issues that shape a city’s image and identity. Similarly, environmental graphic design such as signs and billboards have been described as visual storytelling (Poulin 2012). Over the centuries, collaboration across the ields of architecture and graphic design has shaped the cityscapes that are the deining feature of urban centres across the world today. The basic tenets of environmental graphic design are typography, images and symbols all of which can be used to convey a sense of time and place in a city as well as contribute to the visual stories told by the architecture of buildings and landmarks. The entrance to the Paris Metro, designed by Hector Guimard (Fig. 10), is an iconic example of the interplay between architecture and environmental graphic Figure 10. Paris Metro Entrance designed by Hector Guimard, 1898 htp://www.macklowegallery.com/education. asp/art+nouveau/Artist+Biographies/ antiques/Decorative+Artists/education/ Hector+Guimard/id/25 design. The typography, inspired by the work of French type designer, George Auriol, exists in complete harmony with the artnouveau style of the surrounding architecture providing a striking identity and brand for the Paris Metro. The analysis above considers isolated examples of where storytelling has been incorporated into the design of urban environments and spaces but, similar to the aim of this dissertation, studies do exist which take a more holistic approach to exploring how storytelling approaches can be applied to services used and journeys taken by the public. Take, for instance, the work of Viña and Matelmäki (2010), design researchers at Aalto University, whose innovative Spice project developed experiential Figure 11. Mockup of a concept idea of Otaniemi metro station platform, 2010 Viña, and Matelmäki, ‘Spicing up Public Journeys – Storytelling as a Design Strategy.’ public spaces at a Helsinki Metro station in the Otanemi district of the city (Fig. 11) which aimed to relect the local historical and cultural character of this area. Although this project was directed 19 Figure 12. The path of storytelling as a design strategy prepared by Viña and Matelmäki, 2010. Storytelling is not a single process. One process and its outcome relate to more than one next processes. more towards space design and urban experiences, Viña and Viña, and Matelmäki, ‘Spicing up Public Journeys – Storytelling as a Design Strategy.’ the purpose of storytelling approaches as the need to, ‘identify, Matelmäkis’ interpretation of storytelling and the processes that were followed in order to create an enjoyable public space at the Metro Station in Otaniemi are remarkable. They deine strengthen and create a strong identity of a place in which inhabitants and travellers can relate to’. Figure 12 is a visualisation of the processes which Viña and Matelmäki followed in order to successfully use the storytelling approach as a design strategy. Their irst step was to develop an understanding of the distinct identity of Otaniemi which was achieved through observation of the district as a whole and the environment around the Metro station. Stories from residents of Otaneimi were also gathered and collated through interview design probes, a method used by sociologists to collect data and information on user journeys and urban practices, which enabled Viña and Matelmäki to build up a picture of the cultural history of the area and clariied speciic elements of the design of the experiential space. The inal part of the project was to come up with the inal concept of the design based on the outcomes of their research. Viña and Matelmäki concluded that the storytelling approach was the most efective means of realising their vision of creating an aesthetically powerful experiential space that interacts with human emotions and engages all of the senses. Moreover, storytelling was also used to create and arrange the image that the service projected. These studies suggest that there are three ways of utilising the storytelling approach in urban wayinding. Firstly, during 20 the research phase when stories are collected from users and information is gathered from the surrounding environment. In terms of the information design element of wayinding, system designers can collate users’ stories on how they journey through a given environment such as the strategies they use, what shortcuts they take and any diiculties that they encounter. They can then build up a nuanced picture of user experiences, personas and journeys from these indings (Moldenhauer 2003). Information about the identity of a speciic environment or place can also be gleaned from aspects of the cityscape such as the ive elements posited by Lynch (1960) (paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks). The heritage of a city should also be given consideration, for example, does the city have its origins as a market towns or ports or did it develop from the protection and patronage of a castle? The information gained from these areas of research is important in designing all elements of the wayinding 3. Look and feel According to Davis (2009), it is ’the visual style of a brand which encompasses the brand mark, colours, font and images’. The look and feel produces a visual identity of the brand, and it is utilised in the commercial world. system from its most basic functions to the overall look and feel3 of the system. Secondly, storytelling is also efective at developing a holistic service system that incorporates the many diferent requirements of urban wayinding in the 21st Century which demands the coordination and management of an array of organisations, service 4. Touchpoint Touchpoint is deined as ‘any point of contact between a Customer and the Service Provider’ (The Master Board 2013). Regarding urban wayinding system, touchpoints are pedestrian signs, maps in transportation and mobile applications. touchpoints4 and design features. Despite the complex make up of cities, in the main people are disinclined to learn more than one method of wayinding and, as such, Fendley (2015) has suggested that cities should have just one user-friendly system. Stories which are developed from an understanding of the needs of customers’ and the interplay between people and places is a means of tying the cityscape, architecture, communication, marketing and user experience elements of urban wayinding together. Storytelling, therefore, is a way of creating a service and system that fulils users’ requirements while at the same time cuting through the complexity of cities. Lastly, methods of urban wayinding developed using the storytelling approach are able to engender a sense of place. The local characteristics and identity of a place which are unearthed during the research phase of the project can be relected in aspects 21 of the system such as place names, typography, colour palete and how landmarks are illustrated. All of these features help to capture the distinctive social and historical narrative that makes each city unique. It can therefore be asserted that the storytelling approach enables designers to create comprehensive, human-centred wayinding systems which provide users with a unique experience of the city they are in. Beyond their primary function as a navigational tool, wayinding systems can impart information about the history and traditions of a city through succinct, well organised facts and anecdotes while its cultural identity and character can be relected through its visual aspects. If urban wayinding is able to marry these features tastefully it will contribute to both a distinctive identity of the city and generate a sense of place. It is, however, rare for wayinding designers to atempt to capture the cultural identity of the city in the systems that they create. Krzysztoiak (2011), in his thesis Wayfinding in Poland, concludes that many wayinding designers in Poland are unaware of the impact that the visualisation of wayinding can have on the image and branding of public places. He discovers that designers give litle thought to the notion of trying to relect Polish culture and identity in the systems they develop suggesting a lack of understanding of the importance of wayinding as a form of environmental graphic design. Rather it appears that greater signiicance has been placed on ensuring that representations are accurate and easily understood. Watson and Bentley (2007) assert that every aspect of a city contributes to how its identity is constructed and projected. Wayinding may just be one small part of the many elements and features that comprise a city but it undoubtedly has a part to play through the provision of a unique experience which ofers a distilled version of that city’s distinct identity to users. The next chapter will explore how storytelling can be applied to the design and development of wayinding systems that convey a narrative and contribute to a city’s identity by analysing two case studies. 22 3 Case studies: storytelling in urban wayinding in practice 3.1 Research method The limited number of sources available on how storytelling can be applied to urban wayinding does present some challenges for developing a coherent understanding of the relationship between the two. Furthermore, as alluded to above, storytelling is, by nature, ambiguous meaning that the interpretation and uses of this approach for the purposes of urban wayinding design has the potential to vary considerably among practitioners. For this reason, it was decided to conduct more accurate research by interviewing experts in the ield of urban wayinding with a focus on how they have interpreted and utilised the storytelling approach in their own projects. Designers who practice storytelling methods in either physical or digital urban wayinding systems were invited to take part in interviews. The irst of these was with Ben Acornley, Partner and Creative Director at Applied Wayinding, UK. Acornley has been involved in numerous urban wayinding projects including Legible London as well as having a wealth of experience in the areas of editorial and branding. Acornley was approached for an interview on account of his intuitive use of storytelling approaches when developing methods of pedestrian wayinding as well as his insights on detailed visual communication and branding. The second interviewee was Sami Niemelä, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Nordkapp based in Helsinki. One of his major projects, Urbanlow, is a concept piece which posits the idea of an operating system for individual cities (Nordkapp and Urbanscale 2011). Niemelä was approached for an interview due to his eforts to create beter urban spaces through human-centred interaction design as well as his use of storytelling for prototyping interactive wayinding and product presentation. Acornley was asked to propose the most convenient time for an interview and this was conducted at the oice of Applied Wayinding. The conversation which took place was recorded and notes were taken. Due to the length of the discussion and the complex nature of some of the 23 language used, the interview is only partially transcribed and is summarised rather than writen in full in this dissertation. The interview with Niemelä was conducted in the form of an email questionnaire and is cited in full. The disparity in the volume of material taken from each interview is due to the diferent ways that they were conducted with Acornley’s interview yielding much more information due to the fact that it was a one-hour conversation in person during which numerous projects were discussed. By contrast, the interview with Niemelä by email only gave the opportunity to discuss one project. The two participants were asked the same set of questions regarding urban wayinding projects that they have been involved in, with a speciic emphasis on uncovering what the concept of storytelling means to them, the advantages of the storytelling approach at diferent phases of the design process and the efect it has on user experience and visual outcomes. The irst ive questions were speciically ordered to mirror the process of wayinding design: deining meaning and methodology, developing the system and the concept, designing the visuals and, lastly, evaluating the results. The inal question, Question 6, sought to explore how storytelling relates to the culture and identity of a place. The section on case studies is divided between the two interviewees. Each case will begin with a description of the participants’ company and some of the projects they have been involved in following which the interviewee and their role in each of the projects will be introduced. Finally, their answers to each of the questions will be presented and discussed in detail. The contents of each interview will be categorised into the following ive sections: The meaning of storytelling, Reasons for using storytelling, Storytelling in the urban wayfinding design process, Relationship to clients and Relationship with the cultural and identity of a place. The answers to Question 5 will be integrated into the discussions on Questions 3 and 6 as they are closely related. 24 List of questions: 1. What does storytelling mean to you? 2. Why do you use storytelling in your wayinding project? 3. How do you use storytelling in your wayinding project? At what stages in designing do you use storytelling? 4. How do you introduce the concept of storytelling into a client’s brief? 5. In what ways has storytelling afected the outcomes of your projects? 6. In what ways do you relate storytelling to the culture and identity of a place? How does this afect the visual design? 3.2.1 Pedestrian wayinding — Ben Acornley Although there is an abundance of research material available on pedestrian wayinding, the majority of it tends to concentrate on ways to improve the legibility and usability of these systems through visual design, for example, colour contrasts and typography. This would appear to suggest that more research is required on enhancing user experience and the contribution that wayinding can make to the identity of a city. Indeed, Applied Wayinding have implemented a number of pedestrian wayinding projects during which they have conducted extensive research on user experiences and how these systems translate across cultural boundaries. To explore how Applied Wayinding have combined the indings of their research with the narrative of the areas in which they created wayinding systems was the purpose of the interview with Ben Acornley. Applied Wayinding is an international consultancy based in London which has built its name on designing legible systems for diverse and complex environments. The Company garnered a strong reputation in the wake of their Legible London (Fig. 13–15) project and have grown to become the global standard for urban wayinding design. Following the success of Legible London and, using the strategy and processes they developed for this project, Applied Wayinding has designed systems for cities throughout the world including Manchester, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Qatar 25 Figure 13 (left). Legible London, map in underground stations designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 14 (right). Legible London, on-street minilith designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 15. Legible London, totem sign designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ as well as developing a system for Heathrow Airport. Through these projects, Applied Wayinding have been at the forefront of exploring the potential of urban wayinding which they have achieved through careful research and intelligent analysis of the legibility of cities. Despite the complex environments and information with which they work, expertise in the editorial and design ields have allowed them to ensure that the experience of the end user is the focus of the systems that they create. Ben Acornley is a Partner and Creative Director of Applied Wayinding, leading the design development of numerous major urban wayinding projects undertaken by Applied Wayinding including in London, Leeds, Bournemouth, Vancouver and at Heathrow Airport. He also supervised the creation and implementation of the Legible London prototype which was piloted on Bond Street. Before joining Applied Wayinding, he had 26 worked for many years at branding design studios. His background in editorial design, branding and in-depth understanding of typography have strongly inluenced the visual presentation of the wayinding projects undertaken by the Company. In the following sections, a summary of the interview with Acornley is provided and is considered in conjunction with a book which was been writen on the Legible London project entitled Yellow Book: A Prototype Wayfinding System for London, published by Applied Information Group (now Applied Wayinding) in 2007. The meaning of storytelling For Acornley, storytelling is about efectively interpreting and projecting the image of a particular place by understanding its essential components and characteristics. He believes that while landmarks and tourist atractions are important protagonists in the narrative of any city, to understand the full story one must look beyond the obvious and consider every facet of that city’s character including the people that make up the city and the culture and traditions to which they contribute. This interpretation of storytelling chimes with the perspective of many urban designers (Poteiger and Purinton 1998; Childs 2008) particularly Acornley’s view on the role that architectural and cultural features play in a city’s story. Reasons for using storytelling Acornley’s rationale for using storytelling is to help people understand a place in a way that is friendly and accessible. He argues that many existing wayinding projects are based on disseminating information rather than producing designs which engage with pedestrians. In essence, this means that information on these wayinding systems may be aesthetically pleasing but this is oten at the expense of their intuitiveness and usability for pedestrians. As Acornley points out, information or maps which are presented in a complex format can oten frustrate users. Presenting information in simple and consistent manner on the other hand, such as through the storytelling approach, allows users to pick up necessary information easily. The interviewee also emphasised that he aims to provide users with an engaging 27 and informative experience that connects them with their surroundings, something which storytelling is particularly efective at achieving. If urban wayinding can provide tourists with good experiences and leave them with fond memories of the place they have visited by providing an efective and informative means of navigation then this will hopefully make them more likely to want to return. Conversely, poorly designed wayinding systems which lead to visitors geting lost will ultimately make them less likely to want to come back. Storytelling in the urban wayinding design process As explained above, Acornley’s interpretation of storytelling is a method which enables designers to capture the character of a speciic place and, consequently, begins during the research phase of the project when it is considered alongside the needs of people and visitors as they interact with the surrounding environment. Storytelling is further used to provide a succinct description of the city which can be easily understood by local residents and visitors alike. The storytelling approach is therefore applicable during numerous phases of the project from the initial research to the development and implementation of the system. • Identifying the character of a place Acornley emphasises that environmental information, forms of architecture and graphic language are picked up and decoded as representations of a particular place. In the case of Legible London, building design, urban form, street layout, lighting, use of street furniture and public art are the important elements (Applied Information Group 2007); Acornley describes these features as ‘the story of architecture’. Although identifying the character of a place constitutes the initial stage of the project, the information that this research provides is fundamental in shaping the way in which the system develops and how the visual elements of the way inding system are designed. • Observing people According to Acornley, how people move around a place, their cultural background and the type of information they require should all be clearly understood when developing a wayinding 28 system. Conducting interviews with users about their experiences and journey through the environment where the wayinding system will be located is an efective means of collecting and collating users’ stories. The interviewee cited to the project which he undertook in Qatar as an example, stating that ‘because of the heat, people in Qatar prefer using their cars rather than walking, so they need information about car parking’. Therefore, the information that people require depends on their behaviours and customs. Visiting the location where the wayinding system will be located in order to conduct ield research is perhaps the best way of observing people and gathering user stories. • User persona Acornley asserts that designers should seek to understand and develop systems that meet the needs and expectations of diferent groups of users including residents, tourists and commuters. The journeys that these groups take through an environment vary considerably and thus observations should lead to the development of several user personas that will inform the eventual design of the system. In the case of Legible London, the project team identiied four main groups of people from their research, namely novice striders, expert striders, novice strollers and expert strollers (Applied Information Group 2007). Those termed as striders wish to travel eiciently utilising available methods of transport whereas strollers prefer to traverse and explore the city on foot (Fig.16). Legible London was created in order to meet the needs of all the four groups identiied during the research phase is relected in the user experience. Such as in this case, designing a system which is capable of responding to the requirements of each user persona identiied is a necessity for the development of a successful method of wayinding. • Mapping Mapping and coding information collected during the research phase of the project were also highlighted by Acornley as an important aspect of storytelling. In order for pedestrians to orientate themselves efectively, Acornley stresses the importance of creating maps, and this is a common theme throughout the wayinding projects that he has been involved with. Legible London 29 Figure 16. Legible London,diagrams of two types of user journeys produced by Applied Wayinding Applied Information Group, Yellow Book: A Prototype Wayinding System for London. A strider’s journey A strider’s goals include efficient travelling. Striders needs the walking architecture to connect up different transportation modes and nodes – primarily ‘Tube and walk’ in London. Their conceptual model of their journey is like ‘stones skimming accross the pond’. The strategy is ‘get near, then find it’. I'm here I'm there Start Finish A stroller’s journey A stroller’s goals are memorable experiences. Strollers need the walking system to work for them opportunistically at the street level – allowing them to drift, wander and have the confidence to get lost. The conceptual model of a stroller is akin to ‘ripples in a pond’. Where shall we go? Here? Here? Here? Start Here? Finish Finish Finish Or here? Finish has two diferent types of map, a wider map termed a ‘Planner’ or ‘15-minute map’ (Fig. 17) which primarily show how close areas are to each other as well as pinpointing transport hubs. As such, these maps are designed to help people plan long distance journeys on foot and keep track of where sites such as bus stops and underground stations are located. ‘Finder’ or ‘5-minute’ maps (Fig.18) are narrower but provide a more detailed representation of a smaller area with landmarks appearing as 3d illustrations in order to guide users to the end point of their journey. The two types of maps have described above fulil separate functions and provide user experiences that are distinct. The project which Applied Wayinding undertook at Heathrow Airport was designed for a diferent type of wayinding from those created for urban environments and this has necessarily impacted on the look and feel of the system. Acornley highlights that the primary function of the mapping at Heathrow airport is to help people ind the quickest route between two places as well as to locate shops and restaurants. The movement of people in airports 30 Figure 17. Planner/ 15-minute map of Legible London by Applied Wayinding htp://www.moma.org/interactives/ exhibitions/2011/talktome/assets/ Figure 18. Finder/ 5-minute map of Legible London by Applied Wayinding htps://onemillionsigns.iles.wordpress. com/2009/04/picture-85.png 31 is governed by light schedules and this can oten make for a stressful experience. At the same time, however, when they aren’t dashing from check-in to boarding, people want to be able to go for a cofee or visit duty free and both of these extremes had to be factored into the design of their wayinding system. To address this challenge, Applied Wayinding created information hierarchies which were relected in the design of maps with the location of individual terminals being the most important feature, followed by gates, shops and so on. It was also important to link the hierarchy together so that spatial relationships are clearly identiiable to users. The result was the creation of what has been termed a ‘Living Map’ system (Fig. 19–21) which accurately represents the layout of the entire airport and clearly demonstrates the easiest and quickest way to get between two places. The map is available in both digital (on the Heathrow Airport website and mobile app) and printed formats (on signs and printed in airport magazines), it is necessary to update the map every two weeks relecting the fact that Heathrow Airport is perpetually in lux. Having both printed and digital versions means that those passing through the airport can access information about the location of shops, restaurants and other facilities in whichever format they prefer. By comparison, the wayinding systems in operation at the majority of airports around the world are largely similar in terms of the typeface and colour schemes they use with most opting for a sanserif font in black on a yellow background. Despite the fact that the wayinding system at Heathrow utilises the same colour palete as at most airports, the Living Map ofers travellers an experience Figure 19. Living Map System for Heathrow Airport, mobile application designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ which is unique to Heathrow Airport and one which enables them to use their time more eiciently. Some designers are sceptical about the necessity of a detailed map in wayinding systems and prefer to use a more minimalistic approach which relies on streamlined directional signage. Applied Wayinding (Applied Information Group 2007) contests this view, describing maps as the simplest and most efective way of providing users with a wealth of information. Maps ofer a rich experience and have the capacity to provide a quick answer to questions that users may have about their present location, where their destination is situated, the quickest route to their destination 32 Figure 20. Living Map System for Heathrow Airport, heads-up sign designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 21. Living Map System for Heathrow Airport, web site designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ 33 as well as the length of the time the journey might take. It can therefore be said that maps are at the heart of the storytelling approach in urban wayinding design. • Designing the visual It is Acornley’s view that visual outcomes should be related to the features of where the wayinding system is being designed for such as iconic locations and landmarks. Elements of the system such as product design, colour palete and 3d illustrations of buildings (Fig. 22) should be a relection of the identity and narrative of where it is located. In the Legible London project, for example, the typeface used is same as one used by Transport for London, New Johnston (Fig. 23). Acornley suggests that if aspects of the surrounding environment are evident in the visual aesthetic of the system this will provoke an unconscious fascination in users. It is, however, also important to ensure that information is presented clearly and succinctly so as not to appear daunting or diicult to Figure 22. Legible London, 3d building for maps designed by Applied Wayinding Applied Information Group, Yellow Book: A Prototype Wayinding System for London. decipher. This is why buildings and landmarks are illustrated in 3d (Fig. 22) on maps designed by Applied Wayinding as what is sacriiced in the technical aspects of the illustration are more than made up for in the usability of the map particularly for people who may struggle to read maps such as those with learning disabilities (Applied Information Group 2007). Therefore, the storytelling approach can inluence wayinding design by helping it to relect Figure 23. New Johnston Transportation for London originally designed by Edward Johnston, and redesigned by Eiichi Kono Applied Information Group, Yellow Book: A Prototype Wayinding System for London. the character and features of the surrounding environment while at the same time presenting concise, well-organised information to users. It is these features that both enrich a user’s experience and give them greater conidence in exploring the city around them. Relationship to clients According to Acornley, the storytelling approach can be adapted and implemented lexibly depending on the design brief provided by the client. Although the majority of Applied Wayinding’s customers are city councils, the reasons behind the development of these systems can be vastly diferent, with some being for the beneit of tourists while are for the revitalisation of shopping areas in town centre. Acornley believes it is the designer’s responsibility to understand the type of experience that those commissioning wayinding systems want to provide users with 34 and then consider the best format and approach (i.e. walking map or mobile application) to use in order to achieve this. For example, Walk Brighton (Fig. 24–27), is a wide-ranging wayinding system developed by Applied Wayinding in conjunction with Brighton and Hove City Council in order to enhance tourism in the area (Applied Wayinding 2015). Monolith signs have been constructed throughout the city, including on the beach, and provide an intuitive navigational tool for visitors. Conversely, Leeds Walk It (Fig. 28–30) was developed with the City Centre Management Team of Leeds City Council in order to facilitate beter integration between two new major shopping centres, Trinity Leeds and Eastgate Quarters and has been successful in improving the experience for shoppers’ in Leeds. Legible London, by contrast was project with a number of stakeholders spanning transportation authorities, local government and the business community including Westminster City Council, the New West End Company, Transport for London, the Mayor of London and the Crown Estate. The brief was to design a harmonised wayinding system across the capital in time for the London Olympic Games in 2012. Applied Wayinding was successful in balancing the expectations of all parties involved in the project to create a system that is deceptively simple given the large and diverse area that it covers. The outcome of this project has signiicantly contributed to improving tourism and has increased the commercial success of the area that it covers. Wayinding is far more nuanced than simply directing people to a particular location and, as this section shows, there can be any number of reasons why a local authority or business might commission a wayinding system. The lexible nature of storytelling makes it suitable for a variety of purposes and can be adapted to encapsulate the character and identity of where the wayinding system is being developed for. Relationship with the culture and identity of a place As described above, urban wayinding systems are the culmination of stories taken from the surrounding environment, end users and those who have commissioned the project, all of which are intimately connected to the culture and identity of the place where the wayinding system is located. Acornley summarises this by contrasting two of Applied Wayinding most signiicant 35 Figure 24 (left). Walk Brighton, minilith sign designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 25 (right). Walk Brighton, on-street monolith designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 26. Walk Brighton, Brighton iconography designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 27. Walk Brighton, Brighton base map designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ 36 Figure 28. Leeds Walk It, on-street monolith designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 29. Leeds Walk It, on-street map designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ Figure 30. Leeds Walk It, Leeds handy map for the shopping area designed by Applied Wayinding htp://appliedwayinding.com/ 37 projects, Legible London and Walk Brighton. In particular, the typography and colour palete used for the Legible London is strongly inluenced by the classic and sober visual identity of the city it represents. In conjunction with the impact of utilising a font similar to that used by Transport for London, the use of uppercase letering on Legible London maps (Fig. 31) is in order to mirror the look of London street signs (Fig. 32) (Applied Information Group 2007). This is also useful for individuals from countries who use a non-Roman alphabet by allowing them to relate street signs to information contained within the maps more easily. Furthermore, the combination of white or yellow text on a dark blue background relects the character of London while ensuring that text is clear to users. The visual identity of Walk Brighton difers considerably from the look of Legible London, relecting Brighton’s character as a vibrant city whose location by the sea has made it popular with Linked appearance of typography Figure 31 (above). ‘OXFORD STREET’ on a map of Legible London designed by Applied Wayinding Figure 32 (below) ‘OXFORD STREET’ on a street sign, London Applied Information Group, Yellow Book: A Prototype Wayinding System for London tourists. The pale green colour in the design shown in Figure 24 was taken from the fences situated along the beach. Moreover, the maps located along the promenade are longer than those in the town centre thereby relecting the topography of the beach. Acornley indicates that the amount of information contained on the maps is signiicantly less than those designed for the Legible London project. The maps in Walk Brighton are relatively ixed and enable tourists to roam around Brighton’s beach, town centre and parks freely. The separate wayinding systems designed for London and Brighton are a celebration of the distinct cultural and historical identity of each city something which is clearly relected in the design and usability of the systems created by Applied Wayinding and is something which should be aspired to in all wayinding projects. By doing so, these systems can contribute to the sense of place and a city’s individual identity as discussed in Chapter 2. Discussion Acornley utilises storytelling throughout many stages of the wayinding design process including research, cartography and visual development. His approach to storytelling shares similarities with the three ways of using this method for developing wayinding systems identiied in Chapter 2: understanding user personas and journeys, developing a holistic 38 system and ensuring that the completed project relects the cultural identity of the place in which it is located. As emphasised on a number of occasions throughout the interview, however, Acornley believes the storytelling approach to be at its most useful in identifying and translating the distinct features of a place. These are gathered through architectural and environmental information as well as by developing an understanding of people’s needs and movements. Once these features have been identiied they can be relected in the visual design of the wayinding system such as through the typography, colour palete and even the shape of signs as demonstrated in the Walk Brighton project (Fig. 24). People’s behaviours when journeying through a particular environment can then be distilled into user personas which inluence the appearance of maps and other aspects of the system. Thus, the storytelling approach has the capacity to contribute to wayinding systems that are entirely unique both in terms of visual design and user experience from those which exist in other cities. Applied Wayinding have conducted projects for numerous cities throughout the world and, as such, it can be surmised that their customers wish to have a method of wayinding that relects the distinct feel and identity of their city. A thorough understanding of the individual requirements of particular types of clients (i.e. city councils and transportation authorities) is also an important additional element to the ield research undertaken. Moreover, Acornley stresses that providing visitors with an immersive and interesting experience of exploring a city will make them more likely to return. By using storytelling approaches designers can create urban wayinding systems which enable pedestrians to navigate the city with conidence and build detailed mental maps of the city while the system itself can also contribute to the projection of a distinct identity which is the goal of all cities around the world. 39 Summary » Storytelling is to pick up the features of place » Stories are collected from environments, users and clients » Storytelling approach should be developed lexibly adjusted for each city » Storytelling can be used in many phases in designing: research, mapping and visual development » Visual outcomes relect the features and identity of the place 3.2.2 Interactive wayinding — Sami Niemelä Real-time data is a phenomenon which has only recently been considered by designers as a way of improving the information available through urban wayinding. As a result, the majority of cases discussed in this section are still in the development or prototype phase. The advantages that real-time data can bring to urban wayinding, however, are not disputed and it is anticipated that the opportunities it presents for ensuring that information is always accurate and up-to-date have important implications for the future of urban wayinding. Although the Urbanlow (2011) project which has been developed by Nordkapp is still in the prototype stage, it ofers an excellent example of how storytelling can contribute to the development of interactive wayinding models particularly given that storytelling can enhance the prototyping process. The prototype model of Urbanlow is currently being developed for Helsinki and so the project is called Urbanlow Helsinki. To uncover how the storytelling approach can be used in prototyping interactive forms of wayinding through display screens in urban centres was the reason that Sami Niemelä was chosen as an interviewee. Nordkapp is a product and information design irm based in Helsinki, Finland. They specialise in developing strategic approaches to information and data visualisation as well as interaction and interface design. Urbanlow Helsinki is a prototype project co-created by Nordkapp and Urbanscale and which proposes an operating system for Helsinki which generates and curates real-time data which is then fed back to the city (Nordkapp 40 and Urbanscale 2011). The aim of the project is to ‘make the city more accessible and enjoyable for both residents and visitors through a situated interactive service which uses living data from the city. It would ofer far-reaching beneits for both city administrators and local citizens. Urbanlow can be tailored to meet the needs and address the challenges of diferent cities, in its prototype form, however, it is Urbanlow Helsinki and has been developed in conjunction with Forum Virium Helsinki, a research centre owned by the City of Helsinki to invent and design new digital service. Although this project is not yet at the stage of installing screens in Helsinki, a concept video (Fig. 33) was released in 2011, which ofers an insight into what it is intended Urbanlow will look like when it is inished. The video also demonstrates the advantages that the system will provide when it has been completed including the use of information outlets such the screens mentioned above for wayinding and other purposes, allowing eventual users to visual how the Urbanlow Helsinki will work in practice. Sami Niemelä is the Creative Director of Nordkapp. His primary involvement in the Urbanlow project has been to reine the concept, conduct research, develop the prototype and direct presentational videos. Niemelä’s vision is to use design in order to rethink cities and urban living through ‘the lens of functional and human centric design (Niemelä 2012). He has an intrinsic appreciation of simplicity which owes much to his time growing up in the Finnish countryside while his preference for functional design, apparent in Alva Aalto, echoes Finland’s socialist political model. Besides urban information design, Niemelä has strong insights into interaction and interface design. The following are Niemelä’s answers to the email interview in which he participated, considered with references to a blog which he wrote entitled Building Urbanlow Helsinki (2011) and a talk which he gave at the Mashable Innovation Series / BMW Guggenheim Labs Berlin on Stories, Behaviour and Purpose. 41 Figure 33. Urbanlow Helsinki, concept video produced by Nordkapp, 2011 This video shows how Urbanlow works in the real world in combination of ilming and motion graphics. Although this project looks futuristic, this video enables viewers to imagine how it beneits them. htps://vimeo.com/26030147 42 The meaning of storytelling Niemelä (2012) has drawn atention to the fact that the use of stories, or narratives, as a medium of communication is something shared by all cultures and civilizations for multiple purposes such as education, entertainment, and cultural preservation or for inculcating moral values in the community. Moreover, within the context of an urban environment, Niemelä asserts that storytelling can be a way of visualising the inordinate amount of data and information that cities produce. Relecting on those views in light of his own experience, Niemelä suggests that: ‘Storytelling equals communication. Finding a suitable narrative to tell a story it to a preset context is an important part of storytelling.’ Therefore, it can be said that storytelling has the potential to be an efective means of presenting interesting and informative data for the purposes urban wayinding. Reasons for using storytelling Niemelä has identiied three primary reasons for utilising the storytelling approach: 1. ‘Video is an excellent way to encapsulate a story. A good design iction, speculative or product video tells a self-contained story of the why, what and how of a product.’ 2. ‘Writing the narrative to the story forces you to think and prioritise, especially when writing a “sales pitch” to someone else. A voiceover and the reasonably short length of an average user’s atention span is a good restriction.’ 3. ‘Lastly, on product level storytelling is a great way to introduce a product and the thing it does.’ Niemelä uses storytelling to encapsulate and visualise the story of a product and present this in a concise way. He also highlights (2012) the importance of sharing the backgrounds and concepts behind a story which enables people to beter empathise and understand it. As Urbanlow is a prototype, it is particularly important to communicate the idea to local businesses and the 43 City Council and win their support for the project. Promotional videos can be an efective and concise means of doing this by clearly demonstrating how users can interact with the system through urban screens while also providing insights into what advantages it can bring to the city and its inhabitants. Thus short videos are able to share both the concept and the advantages of projects such as Urbanlow Helsinki to system designers, potential stakeholders and future users. Storytelling in the urban wayinding design process • Making a concept and scenarios of a product Niemelä states: ‘For Urbanlow, the story was the inal product. Ater the initial concept stage, communicating and truncating the story helped us to crystallize what we had.’ Urbanlow Helsinki is the culmination of extensive research and in depth analysis of the indings of this research. Firstly, Nordkapp conducted studies on interactive elements of the cityscape exploring how people interacted with twenty diferent urban screens in Helsinki. At the time this research took place, urban screens were, in the main, non-interactive and were largely used for advertising purposes. This was followed up with interviews and observations in the cities of Helsinki and Tallinn over the course of a year to develop an understanding of people’s needs. From this research they identiied three potential scenarios for using urban screens (Niemelä 2011; Nordkapp and Urbanscale 2011): • Wayinding for visitors and tourists (Fig. 34): it enables users to plan their journeys through live transit information and route suggestions. • Showing and visualising real time information (Fig. 35) in relevant to people’s lives such as energy consumption, traic density air quality and municipal works. • Enabling people to give direct feedback to the City. Nordkapp developed the concept of Urbanlow around the three scenarios listed above. Niemelä (2012) describes the project as ‘a 44 piece of design iction telling a story of how urban screens have a place in the city enhancing people’s lives and making the city more transparent and friendly for all’. In this way, storytelling has the ability to integrate and provide useful information from a city to its inhabitants in a logically ordered and atractive way. As a direct consequence of the research conducted and the presentation on the Urbanlow initiative which Niemelä and his team delivered, Nordkapp gained support in developing and implementing their idea from Urbanscale and Forum Virium in 2010. • Introducing the product Another function of storytelling is, as mentioned in a previous section, to present the features of a prototype in an appealing way. Niemelä stated in the interview that, ‘storytelling is an integral part of a design project. Everything boils down to communicating.’ Such as in the case of Urbanlow, producing a concept video in the Figure 34. Urbanlow Helsinki, live wayinding using real-time transit information designed by Nordkapp, 2011 htp://www.fastcoexist.com/1679254/ urbanlow-a-citys-information-visualized-inreal-time#1 Figure 35. Urbanlow Helsinki, visualisation of real-time information designed by Nordkapp, 2011 htp://www.fastcoexist.com/1679254/ urbanlow-a-citys-information-visualized-inreal-time#1 45 inal phase of the project could be an efective of way of winning support for a project. • Efects on the outcome Regarding the impact of storytelling on the outcomes of a project, however, Niemelä states: ‘Like I said, everything is a story, and design is about communicating. I wouldn’t say storytelling itself has much efect, but instead it just is part of the inal delivery. A video is a video of course, so that sets the tone and bar for a certain type of resources.’ This shows clearly that he does not believe storytelling has a direct or tangible inluence on outcomes. Rather, he emphasises the role of storytelling as a communication tool useful during the implementation phase of the project and how it can be used to present ideas in an appealing way. Relationship to clients In his answer to question 4, Niemelä states that, ‘sometimes as an end product [a video], most times not at all since it is a part of the process anyway’ Niemelä’s primary use of the storytelling approach is to distil a number of factors into a single concept. Urbanlow’s concept video, for example, is successful at integrating elements such as the background, purposes and values of the projects in order to communicate these to clients. For prototype projects, demonstrating what the system will be able to do when it is fully functional could be vital for securing the support and funding from clients and stakeholders. Relationship with the culture and identity of a place Niemelä indicates: ‘The culture and identity of a place tell the story at large. Graphic design is a strong part of identity of a place– both current in form of advertising and wayinding as well as in layered history such as remains of past places, signs and so forth.’ Even advertising and wayinding look diferent, as Niemelä states, both 46 of them are environmental graphic designs that represent the features of a place, construct its cityscape and form an identity. The design of the Urbanlow Helsinki map (Fig. 36)is also inspired by the look and feel of Helsinki (Nordkapp and Urbanscale 2011). Yet the system is also highly lexible and can be adapted to it with the aesthetic and relect the identity of other cities by changing features such as typography. Additionally Niemelä (2012) considers a city to consist of numerous layers that have developed at diferent speeds and which have come into being at diferent times. The layers referred to by the interviewee are things such as fashion, commerce, infrastructure, governance, culture and nature. Urban interactive wayinding can therefore combine these physical and igurative layers of a city through digital technology in order to add new meanings to abandoned spaces and recount the story of a place Figure 36. Urbanlow Helsinki, interface of map designed by Nordkapp Typeface: Proxima Nova designed by Mark Simonson On urban screens, this typeface balance legibility and warms. from a variety of perspectives. As such, digital wayinding systems can contribute to the character of a city and emphasise aspects which give it a distinct identity. Discussion htp://www.fastcoexist.com/1679254/ urbanlow-a-citys-information-visualized-inreal-time#1 The talk entitled Stories, Behaviour and Purpose (2012) which Niemelä delivered to the Mashable Innovation Series / BMW Guggenheim Labs Berlin appears to suggest that he has an advocate of storytelling as a means of concept development in wayinding. During the course of the interview, however, it became clear that Niemelä primarily views storytelling as a method of communicating with users and clients. During the Urbanlow Helsinki project, storytelling was used to distil the outcomes of the research and observations into a concept video. And this approach does appear to have been successful given that the video has been viewed almost 44,000 times on Vimeo since it was posted online in 2011. The interesting way in which this video describes the idea underpinning Urbanlow has clearly reached out to many people. For interactive urban wayinding prototypes like Urbanlow, storytelling is undoubtedly an efective way of describing its development, how it will operate in an urban environment and the advantages that it will bring to users. The way in which the storytelling is used to demonstrate the product should emphasise 47 the values of the product and also highlight the context in which it will be used. As Niemelä mainly works in the ield of interaction and interface design, Urbanlow is primarily about urban interaction design rather than traditional wayinding. Interestingly, he views cities as a combination of huge amounts of diferent types of data which he then uses technology to curate and present which he describes as ‘telling compelling stories’. Despite this, Niemelä appreciates the importance of incorporating the cultural and historical identity of cities into the design of the systems which he develops. Using interactive screens for the purposes of urban wayinding ofers the opportunity to use compelling stories to package interesting and informative data for users. Summary » Storytelling is communication » Storytelling does not afect outcome signiicantly, but is useful for developing a concept which consists of numerous ideas and extensive research, as well as for presenting the appealing points of a product » Videos are a powerful form of media which capture a story and convey it to many people » Urban wayinding and advertising tell story of a whole place 48 4 Conclusion The outcome of the two interviews demonstrate how storytelling based approaches to urban wayinding systems difer amongst those who design them. Whereas Acornley utilises storytelling in many stages of the development process, from research and cartography to inal visual development; Niemelä perceives the value of storytelling to be as an efective and compelling means of communicating with clients and users once the project has been completed. Acornley focuses on understanding the features and narrative of an environment which can then be translated into visual outcomes while Niemelä’s preference is to use the storytelling approach to build a narrative around the product itself which can then be put into a format such as a short video. Despite the clear disparities in the way that Acornley and Niemelä view the role that storytelling approaches can play in developing wayinding systems, they seem to share the opinion that storytelling can be particularly efective at integrating and synthesising various elements into a single idea. In the initial stages of developing a wayinding system, for example, both interviewees feel that the storytelling approach can be an efective means of integrating aspects including the needs of both users’ and clients as well as information about the surrounding environment. Designing an urban wayinding system is a complicated task that encompasses a wide range of disciplines from city planning to information design, the storytelling approach helps to galvanise these disparate areas and channel them into a single concept. Furthermore, both Acornley and Niemelä emphasise the importance of understanding the cultural and historical features of a city when designing an urban wayinding system to ensure to ensure that it captures and projects that city’s distinct identity. In the age of globalisation, the fundamental requirements of any urban wayinding system include engendering a sense of place and ofering a unique experience to users. Furthermore, urban wayinding has the capacity to accurately convey the narrative of a city through visual design and bring to the fore the distinct features which give that city an image and identity that is like 49 nowhere else. By providing visitors with fond memories of exploring a city, a well-designed, efective wayinding system will ultimately encourage visitors to return. The advent of real-time data has also dramatically expanded the possibilities of wayinding particularly in the realm of information relating to transportation as highlighted by the Urbanlow project. This has the potential to change the face of these systems providing beneits to local authorities, residents and tourists. As regards the interviewees that were chosen for this dissertation, the task of inding designers who advocate user-centred approaches and the inclusion of cultural aspects in their wayinding models was challenging as many prefer to focus on the technical aspects of their projects. Acornley suggests that this may be as a result of an undue emphasis on design theory and wayinding technique. Placing pedestrian experience should be at the heart of creating any wayinding system. Although the restricted number of sample projects available limits this study to some extent, it does provide a strong starting point to expand on many of the issues discussed. Since storytelling is an ambiguous concept that can be interpreted in a variety of ways, how and at what stage storytelling can be connected to the process of designing urban wayinding systems should be given further consideration. Developing a beter understanding of the processes followed by designers may be one way of achieving this. 50 51 Interviews Participants quoted in the dissertation: Acornley, Ben. Interview by Shiho Asada. Recording, 20 August 2015. London. Niemelä, Sami. Interview by Shiho Asada. Email, 28 August 2015. 52 Bibliography Applied Information Group. 2007. Yellow Book: A Prototype Wayfinding System for London. London: Mayor of London. Applied Wayinding. 2015. ‘Applied Wayinding.’ htp:// appliedwayinding.com/. Barthes, Roland. 1977. Image, Music, Text. Translated by Stephen Heath. 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