Think what you want

Numerous Pictures of icons/systems

link2age

Sue has been involved in producing this website to aid designers in typography for children. It is proving almost invaluable to me. Although this willl not take over from primary research it will deffinantly play a deffining role.

http://www.kidstype.org

Dr Sue Walker, head of Reading University’s Department of Typography and graphical communications.

Her current strand of research is based on “Typeographic Design For Children”, so i am currently obtaining information from her regrading her research, even though it is for more paper/book based materials.

I have been finding many offical goverment documents to get ideas on text/document layouts, and a few fun ideas from magazines and newspares/leaflets that might get across the childlike theme/burocracy debate.

Most children learn to read going letter-by-letter, learning which sounds go with which shapes until they can blend the sounds together to form words. This is why new readers proceed slowly and sometimes struggle with pronunciation and syllable stress.

The efforts of new readers can be supported by making sure their texts use inviting, easy-to-read typefaces, set in the most readable way.

Text legibility
When selecting a typeface for a children’s text, look for a warm, friendly design with simple, generous letter shapes. The counters (the enclosed shapes within characters) should be rounded and open, not angular or rectangular. Avoid non-traditional letterforms. A good example of a typeface with these attributes is Sassoon Primary, designed specifically for children.

Typefaces with larger x-heights are generally easier to read than those with short x-heights, and this is especially true for children. For very young readers, select designs with one-story ‘a’s and ‘g’s (also called infant characters), since these are the lowercase shapes preschool and school-age children learn to write. Save the two-story versions for more experienced readers.

Either sans or serif designs can be used as long as they avoid any extremes that could impair readability. For example:

• Don’t use condensed or expanded typefaces, which make character recognition more difficult.

• Select a book or medium weight; stay away from hairline or very bold weights.

• If you plan to use italics, make sure they too are easy-to-read, and not overly condensed or stylized.

Both the serifed Bembo Schoolbook and Plantin Schoolbook, as well as Gill Schoolbook, a sans serif style, have been designed for children and exemplify the principles above.

Sassoon Primary, Gill Sans Schoolbook, Bembo Schoolbook and Plantin Schoolbook are all good choices for young readers.

Making the text readable
New readers have to learn to follow words from left to right and “jump” their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. To make this easier, set the text large (14 to 24 point depending on the typeface and age of the reader) and with very generous leading (4 to 6 points).

Keep line lengths short, and don’t put too much text on a page. Dense blocks of type can be very intimidating to young readers. Avoid all cap settings, which are difficult for readers of any age!

Make sure there is ample contrast between the type and the background. This is especially true when setting light type against a dark background, as is common in heavily illustrated children’s books. When setting more than one paragraph on a page, consider using line-spaces instead of indents to separate paragraphs. This gives the text and the reader a visual break.

Headlines and Titles
Headline or title type gives you the opportunity to be more playful in style, color and layout, since there are fewer words to read. Decorated typestyles, lots of color, and curved and jumping baselines can all be used to attract and entertain the young reader. Keeping it light and fun is the key to keeping a young reader interested and turning pages.Making the text readable
New readers have to learn to follow words from left to right and “jump” their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. To make this easier, set the text large (14 to 24 point depending on the typeface and age of the reader) and with very generous leading (4 to 6 points).

Keep line lengths short, and don’t put too much text on a page. Dense blocks of type can be very intimidating to young readers. Avoid all cap settings, which are difficult for readers of any age!

Make sure there is ample contrast between the type and the background. This is especially true when setting light type against a dark background, as is common in heavily illustrated children’s books. When setting more than one paragraph on a page, consider using line-spaces instead of indents to separate paragraphs. This gives the text and the reader a visual break.

Taken from Monotype, Extract from article by by Ilene Strizver

Creating virtual spaces as this one ive have learnt to do using illustrators 3d features will be able to help me get across some of my wayfinding ideas more effectiveley.

On May the 3rd i will have the opportunity to recieve my feedback from questionaires/colourcharts and have a brainstorming/mindmap session with a group of 7 children of different ages to get extra feedback. Documentation to follow.

My final submission will contain information on sinage and materials as well as all icons and colours used. A nice example of how information could be displayed in fold out form is this bunker poster by Jack Saunders, see blogroll from link to site. It has a striking image, but folds out to reveal more information on a compact A3 format. go to:

http://www.culturalbloc.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/dsc03277web.jpg

“In a series of market research studies, blue was found to be the best-liked color across cultures. Results also showed that there was far greater homogeneity in hue preference across countries and gender than thought. The studies also showed that higher chroma (more saturated) colors are preferred but that there is also a preference towards whiteness in colors, perhaps for the calming effect. Subjects from Hong Kong and Canada were used in this study.”
Chattapadhyay, Amitava; Gorn, Gerald, & Darke, Peter. (2000). East, west, blue is best. Available: http://www.bm.ust.hk/newsletter/autumn2000/autumn00-10.html.

“Perception of color depends not only on the ability to see that color, but also on the interpretive context of emotional and cultural realities. Blue is the most globally accessible and safe color, perhaps because of its relationship to the sky and therefore, to deities. For some colors, cultural significance makes them more risky. For example, while pink is popular with both sexes in Japan, in East Indian and American cultures, pink signifies femininity. Purple and red are also colors with significant cultural meaning differences. Another important issue is that men and women’s reactions to color differ significantly.”
Hotzschlag, Molly. (2000). Color my World

In summarizing some early tests of color preferences conducted since the early 20th century in regard to gender preference, early research on children found little difference in the preferences of boys and girls. Tests conducted by S.J. Warner in the 1940’s showed that females preferred pastel colors, pale and subdued mid-tones, and warm rather than cool and deep shades. Males in the survey preferred brilliant hue tints, light full colors, and cool rather than warm and greyed shades.

Micro Academy. (1998). Color Preference.

I have been put into contact through surestart to Tara signs limited. They Do lots of work for the Birmingham and London public sectors and are specialists in wayfinding systems. I will post up copies of correspondance soon.

picture-1.pdf
picture-2.pdfpicture-3.pdfpicture-4.pdf

I have obtained these documents regarding Surestarts needs for building and design regulations. The PDF’s are brochure style documents explaining different centres needs for uniformality.

The word document is more paractical, saying for instance the feasability of new implementation such as signs, stating that they should be hard wearing, easily cleanable etc.

A more full breakdown will follow shortly.

p0000949.pdfp0000950.pdfp0000951.pdfp0000952.pdfp0001263.doc

Colour and colour contrast are key features of designing an environment which will be helpful to visually impaired people. Contrast does not have to be garish. Contrast comes from tone and depth of pigment. Visually impaired people use colour change as their main means of orientation. Colour contrast is therefore also an important safety feature.

The ICI Design Guide for the use of colour and contrast (ICI, 1997) gives detailed information about the way people use colour, and gives tables for both monochrome and contrasting colour schemes which are based on their Dulux range. What the eye sees as colour is a combination of the proportions of hue, light reflectance value, and chroma or depth of pigment. It is therefore possible to have good contrast between different shades and depth of the same colour.

I am currently trying to obtain a copy of this;

Bright, K.T., et. al., 2000. in Colour and Contrast – A design guide for the use of colour and contrast to improve built environments for visually impaired people, – ICI Paints (CD Format).

As the signage system and set of symbols will be predominantly for the children, I have created a questionnaire for the Key-workers working with the children to fill out with the children in groups. Then there are colour exercises designed to see the effectiveness of each colour on different children. One the data is complete and processed into information; I can then narrow down my research. Example of colour chart 1 below;

An experiment into a wayfinding system that can use basic shapes and geomentry.

Whilst walking around birmingham city centre looking for directions on how to find my way around (wayfinding) i stumbled across the Birmingham information point and found out about this unique service for the visually impared, but might I also say, this is an exeptional way for non-locals to find their way around the city centres major destinations.

The units called “REACT” were produced by the RNIB (royal national institute for the blind). I decided to obtain a unit for a £5 deposit to see just how effective it worked. The unit, a small black box with headphones attatched was easily able to fit into my pocket. I strolled around the city centre with this unit and after about ten minutes a rather startling voice anounced “This is unit 27 in Victoria Square at the top of Pinfold Street by the post office. Down the slope to your left is New Street and city centre shopping. Going up the slope to your right is the approach to the Town hall, council house and the central library”.

A fun map based on the principles of Harry Becks London Underground map. The map is intended to be implemented on new children to the center that can take a certain route around the centre based on their interests.

Icons created for each location of the playcentre. Readability via user testing has yet to be done.

A lecture held at the London Institute held by Lance himself discussing his lifes work. It was very interesting from a number of standpoints. His work was simplistic and almost utalitarian, design for reason, but what especially interested me were his wayfinding sytems and iconography for projects such as the mexico 1968 olympics. The question; How do you relay the same information to a multitude of cultures and ages in the most simplistic way. He breaks down heavy text driven sinage into simplistic icons that have set the standard for every olympic games ever held.His work is becoming very useful for my FMP as it contains similar reference points. The tickets had simple numbers and icons showing the event, row and seat numbers.

Sinage is a big part of wayfinding systems. The international language of Iconography can tell a Japanese Boy In Madrid where to find the toilet or way to the play area, just as it can tell an English man in India where to find a bank. Heres some of my basic sinage experiments coupled with my arrow tags and circular raised braile. Colour wil play a vital part within any sinage system, this light blue is masculine yet playful enough for children.

A floorplan of the surestart centre indicating using colour different activity zones.

A conceptual map of the space i plan to be doing a wayfinding system for (a playcentre). The x-axis represents the distance to the room from the entrance, the y-axis represents the size of the room proportionateley.

distancesize-map2.jpg

For my final major project I am looking at the notion of space and the way people navigate them, through iconography and wayfinding systems.I am concentrating my efforts on how a user interacts with the space around them.