In a scientific study, Michaela Skiles from Middlebury, Vermont has tested, if simplified maps on signs could not only get people to their destination, but also help them to construct a better mental map, which would improve the understanding of the surrounding and help with orientation and navigation in the future. In this guest article, [...]
Ever since I publicly announced my signage typeface Wayfinding Sans Pro, people kept asking me about pictograms for this type family. So finally, here they are. A full-fledged symbol font family in 4 styles, over 400 symbols and a little bit of clever “OpenType magic” to access and combine the pictograms as easy as possible. [...]
Map designer Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city – less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places. How can we learn from these mental maps to make better real ones? As a test case, he [...]
The simple and effective way how to automatically merge and outline streets in maps drawn in Adobe Illustrator. Drawing maps is a typical job of graphic designers and pretty much every designers knows how to do it. But not every map looks equally convincing. I always liked this special effect of online mapping services like [...]
You may have already read about the story behind the Wayfinding Sans typeface on I Love Typography and you might have seen the empirical study that proved its outstanding legibility. But now you can also try the typeface free of charge. Just pay with a tweet or Facebook post. (Alternatively there is also a download for a small nominal [...]
A while ago I posted a video about the design of the signage system of the new Berlin Airport. I was instantly flooded with emails, stating that the video was filled with wrong claims about who design which part of this complex design system. So I finally took it down at the same day. But [...]
The Dutch wayfinding experts from Mijksenaar released an app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, that collects best practices around signage and wayfinding design. The app contains a set of rules-of-thumb and the content of the app is meant to engage in discussion and understanding for wayfinding amongst professionals, designers and novices. Wayfinding and architecture have more [...]
Opentype.info is the weblog of the German designer and author Ralf Herrmann. Currently, this weblog is about topics such as typography, webfonts, signage, wayfinding and spatial cognition.