Barbican Wayfinding Refresh Project
Collaborators: Ellie Graham, Emma Levine, Kate Harrington
History
The Barbican was opened in 1982, designed by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon.
The estate was designed in the brutalist style and was originally meant to be a lively and busy place.
However, this vision never came to be, one of the reasons being that the estate is incredibly difficult to navigate.
We wanted to create a way finding system to help newcomers navigate the estate to better enjoy all it has to offer.
Target Audience
For this project, we decided to focus on people who are visiting here for the first time. As newcomers ourselves, we found it very difficult to navigate the space on our own. We wanted to focus on new visitors to the Barbican Center to eliminate this confusion and make visiting the center a more pleasant experience.
Inspiration
When navigating at the Barbican, it is often described as “lost”, “confusing”, and “like a maze”. As a team we have been focusing on finding possibilities to design way findings to guide visitors into the Barbican. Our inspiration comes from the use of colors in the forests, used by professional and amateur hikers. Using the colors, we were able to provide directions to major spaces within the Barbican.
Research
When navigating at the Barbican, it is often described as “lost”, “confusing”, and “like a maze”. The Barbican gets 1.3 million visitors every year, and it is one of the most well-known architecture pieces in London. The complex is significant because it is known as one of the key example for a brutalist design. The Barbican is not only a space for visitors to entertain and enjoy, but it is also a home to over 4,000 residents . When designing a new wayfinding signage system, we focused on helping visitors find their way to their destination at the Barbican; however, we also took the resident’s opinions on Barbican’s existing function and meaning to them, incorporating its bold and iconic theme into our new design.
Design Overview
Our signage will replace the current mapping system and signs.
It will be implemented throughout the Barbican (We have mapped one route as an example).
Color tags at junctions will have arrows to avoid confusion.
Larger signs with words will replace the current ones.
Paths will guide visitors through public spaces that don't conflict with residents.
“Our solution is a well-designed, color coded, simplistic yet modern wayfinding system. The current system is confusing for guests because there aren’t enough signs around the Barbican to help new people navigate the space. We will be targeting these bare spaces that create confusion with our new clever signage.”
Graphic Design / New Branding
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