LANDMARK ON ROBSON

When in a parkade, it can be very confusing to know how to get to your destination if there are not clear markers that tell a person where to go. This means a person could either get lost or arrive at a different destination than was intended.

In addition to the parkade, we added the scope of a signage guideline for the retail sector of the buildings. This allows for the building to set a set of rules for the signage used for the retail units within the building.

Practices

Product design, Experience design, Visual design, Prototyping, Brand awareness

Methods & Tools

Secondary research, Ideation, Adobe XD

Role

Product Designer

Date

Mar 2020 - Apr 2020

USERS & AUDIENCE

This environment is will be used by both the public and by the residents of the buildings. Our target audience is self-directed knowledge workers who have to drive for work—real estate agents, civic engineers, and folks in the sales and marketing department of a company who have expendable income.

SCOPE & CONSTRAINTS

At the beginning of the project, I was given the brand logo, the architectural drawings for the parkade and some examples of other designs that the stakeholders liked from other projects.

I was given a week to get the first iterations to the client for the parkade portion of the project. After sending this portion, the client asked us to also do signage guidelines for the retail portion of the building.

The retail portion of the project was challenging because it required reading and understanding a myriad of city and provincial bylaws.

PROCESS

When I started this project, I elected to use the basic User-Centered Design process of Discover, Define, Design, Deliver. This process allowed me to better understand what the users needed and the best options for delivering a solution. As I moved forward, I was able to iterate on my design and validate the direction of the project. Overall, this process was a great means to ensuring that the project delivered a solid solution.

USER RESEARCH

To get greater insight into the users, I reviewed all of the documents that the client provided at the time of the project start. These documents included design intent examples, the brand logo, and the architectural drawings for the building. Reviewing these documents allowed me to get a better sense of the design language and needs of the client. To capture a more detailed understanding of the signage needs of the parkade, I also did a ‘walkthrough’ of the parkade architectural plans.

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

After going through the supplied documents, I was able to infer the design requirements for this project. To ensure that I kept the package consistent, I followed this set of requirements when designing this package:

1. Unique: It should be something that is exclusive to the elegance of Landmark on Robson.

2. Luxurious: Be sure to keep an air of indulgence in the style of the signage.

3. Functional: While keeping the first two points in mind, the signage should also be effortless to use.

IDEATION

Once I better understood my idea and explored the client documents, I began ideating for the vision of the package. I settled on the basic components, such as color and the different types of signs needed for the space.

SOLUTION

After exploring various visualization ideas, I decided to deliver my first set of drawings to the client. With this set of drawings, I included a location plan for the suggested signs, allowing the clients to be able to explore the space and grasp a better understanding of the proposed signage for the parkade. It was at this point that I was also asked to provide a set of signage guidelines for the retail portion of the project.

To construct the signage guidelines, I completed a thorough examination of the provincial and city bylaws for the building site. This gave me a detailed understanding of the stipulations that I needed to follow in composing these guidelines.

DELIVER

At this point, I was able to deliver two complete packages, one parkade wayfinding package and one retail signage guidelines package, to the clients for review. I had an in-person meeting with the clients and the Account Manager at the head of this project.

Parkade Wayfinding

Signage Guidelines

Each tenant at Landmark on Robson may have one interior transom sign per frontage which is intended to be seen by vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Interior transom signs must be constructed out of high quality, durable materials. The signs will be designed to suit the tenant’s branding.
Please note that, in all cases, any damage to storefronts and/or canopies through tenant improvements must be repaired at the tenant’s expense upon change or vacancy.
Sign must be fixed to the mullion supports on each unit. Signage is not allowed any less than 2” away from interior of glass transom. Signage must be centered on glass transom.
Graphic content may include the company name, corporate logos and/or decorative graphics, but cannot contain specific product or sale information, phone numbers or product graphics that are not part of the company logo.
Only individual letters, numbers, symbols and logos are permitted and should be complimentary and contrasting in color to ensure good readability.
Faces may be in any landloard-approved color. Sides of letters and graphics must be in a dark grey color to match building mullions.
Maximum height: 21in (.53m)
Maximum width: 58ft (1.47m)

ITERATION

Parkade Wayfinding

The two main takeaways from our meeting in regard to the parkade wayfinding package were as follows:

1. A more subdued color scheme was requested

2. The look of individual dimensional text/graphics was desired over panels

Signage Guideline

The two main takeaways from our meeting in regard to the signage guideline package were as follows:

1. Desired placement of the signage differed from what was suggested

2. All signage should be consistent in font, material, and color no matter the branding of the retail tenant

OUTCOMES

Some key takeaways from this project:

1. User Centered Design thinking is key to effective products. This framework really helped to structure the tasks at hand and allowed me to stay focused and on track throughout the entire project.

2. First impressions. You only have one chance to make a first impression. Putting the customer first is vital because people will only care about their experiences. The simplicity of the app allows for the user to seamlessly flow thru the app from start to finish.

3. Focus on the problem. At the end of the day, your user’s pains are what you should be solving. So, these should be kept in the forefront as the project goes on. Don’t lose sight of this when you’re in the trenches of the project.