When it comes to layout decisions, the physical environment and purpose of the signage is key. A sign system for an airport, for instance, will need to consider different factors in gate numbering versus a hotel’s door numbering system.

A typographic framework links the family of sign products and highlights the importance of the layout design. This typographic framework will contain the various scripts, similar graphic elements such as arrows and pictograms and other design elements (for example brand identity or background patterns). It is crucial that this typographical framework remains consistent, especially in multi-script layout, as just a slight change can cause confusion for the viewer.

When master-planning the sign face, designers are often unaware of potential, tricky layout clashes. This can be seen in lengthy text running off the margin and therefore being overly condensed. A general industry problem relating to this is of discontinuous design processes: where the master-planning of signage is separated from the actual design management and the final implementation. With such a discontinuous sequence of project phases there is no back testing of set-up grids.

Another challenge is the desk-based sign planning exercise. In signage, the context of the sign message is important. Here, a modeling exercise or simple Photoshop mock-up helps visualizing content and context. So when the design takes shape in a three-dimensional model, issues appear and can be dealt with. Therefore for planning and maintenance it becomes more and more important to model the sign placement in 3D in order to capture all potential issues. Signs that hang beside each other for example do not need to repeat the same content, but can split directional information. In particular, if two products are placed beside each other, the one sign panel directs to the right, while the left side product will point to the left.

Layout planning needs to suit a sign family – meaning, the layout will not be one single solution, but will need to be applied to various products. Depending on the size and shape of the sign panel, the layout of the sign message and content will need to make use of available space accordingly. This stress of product impacts the vertical versus horizontal stress and information hierarchy. In other words, a horizontal layout allows easier sharing of lines, while a vertical stress panel will more easily offer staggering of lines.

In all wayfinding systems the direction of movement and orientation is essential. We observe how the arrow determines information sequencing, and hence, we often see a de facto standard of sign layout consisting of an arrow followed by pictograms, which are then followed by the text.

However, in multi-script signage, there is a fine line between a guide and an applied formula. Reading directions and the nature of the writing systems impact the layout decisions. In such scenarios, the arrow, pictogram and text sequence might not provide a logical progression for translating all information. To get the balance of a multi-script layout design right means to avoid too much duplication, or sharing too little information. This is where grouping of the various scripts can provide a better overview.

As each space is different, a wayfinding system needs to respond uniquely to the requirements and challenges of the individual setting. The usage of a building or a facility will prescribe the design of a signage system, for example a purpose-driven facility like an airport will need a different wayfinding design, adhering to regulations, more so than a heritage/national park, for example.

A multi-script environment implies a place where more than one writing system is in use, i.e. with Arabic-English. In international travel, wayfinding systems aspire to bridge cultural bias in visual communication in order to work across a range of audiences. This is how we most likely face multi-script environments – in a wayfinding system of international context.

Multi-script sign at Muscat International Airport, Oman

But a multi-script signage system needs much more attention than just a bilingual duplication of text representation in the layout. Different scripts mean a different texture of the text: glyph proportions and/or connectivity of the script will require very different treatments of the sign design. The danger is in duplication and waste of precious space in the restricted layout of a sign, especially when the multi-script layout asks for different reading directions, such as with Arabic-English. As signage is a one-way street of communication, the challenge in a multi-script environment is to be precise. The translation of terminology and pictographic representation demands careful consideration as to whether information needs repeating in the other script.

The precision of translation is increasingly daunting in an intercultural setting: The idea of multi-script signage specifically is to address the main target groups inclusively, hence the attempts at translation. But some terms are difficult to translate, as their ideas do not necessarily coincide with an identical concept in the other language or script. Or they may even be transliterated – only their sounds are written in the foreign script, something especially likely in a branded environment – but without an educated guess, the sound remains empty and meaningless to the native reader. The key test for translations are differing concepts of cultural identity, accessibility to information, and wayfinding.

Terminology and pictograms carry potential pitfalls of translations: here the terminology and pictogram connotes a male audience only.

Our languages capture our cultures of origin. The syntax and cognitive vocabulary used influence variable ideas of orientation and movement. Our cultural socialisations shape our behaviour, and hence our spatial cognition, in public space. Opposing ideas of direction and concepts of movement are confirmed in studies at the ETH, Zurich (Dirk Helbing) and the Max Planck Institute (Mehdi Moussid). Both these researchers’ findings support the hypothesis that different cultural backgrounds will impact crowd behaviour and movement (for example, people in the northern hemisphere will step to the right when stepping out of the way, whereas those from the southern hemisphere will more likely step aside to the left).

The great opportunity inherent in wayfinding systems is the double agent of designing signs that act as spatial guides but also as identity carriers. Long understood by the branding industry, wayfinding systems impact the visual look of the spatial environment and shape a voice and identity of a place.

The responsibility of the designer is to understand cultural differences and nuances, and to implement these nuances into wayfinding solutions – particularly in directions, terminology and pictograms. This is what differentiates off-the shelf solutions from true problem-solving in spatial design.

This is equally the case in the use of typography. The sign’s layout offers the great interplay of place-making: that is, the visual identity in unique design, typography and pictograms. Westernised sign-layouts impose rules of western typography and problematize culturally authentic wayfinding. Trying to assimilate local script texture with the English text can delay legibility of ‘modern non-Latin type’ and increase time spent on decision-making. Bi-lingual readers will flip between the two scripts. Our western rules of typography, especially of type-size and x-height, do not necessarily apply for the legibility and reading speed of non-Latin script proportions.

x-height and glyph similarity do not all follow western rules of typopgraphy

As studies from Nanki Nath (http://nankinath.blogspot.com/) show, there are indeed cultural variances in the legibility of signs. Referring to the bi-lingual readers in her studies, Nankti demonstrated that in a Devanagari-English sign layout, with English stacked on top of the Devanagari, the test person would tend to read the English first.

The sign face, in writing and pictograms, is what communicates to the user. The person reading the sign needs to be able to read and understand whether he or she wants to follow the message. Script-authentic type-design allows for indigenous character, especially contrasting with an international use of English. This clarifies the differentiation of the various target audience at first sight. A thought-through layout supports this, especially when allowing for information clusters, i.e. not stacking the scripts, but instead arranging, i.e. according to language reading directions.

The polarity of multi-script signage design prevails in two extremes: on the one hand, for the wayfinding system to be of international significance there needs to be some sort of standardization to provide a common ground for understanding. The systemization of spatial information in an international context will demand a unilateral understanding and preparation for crowd behaviour. On the other hand, for multi-script signage to fulfil its true potential as a double agent, it must address terminology, translation, and variations of cultural concepts to target groups inclusively. This calls for an understanding of local linguistics and semiotics.

To translate a wayfinding system word for word is to be ignorant of the variations of spatial understanding. A change in different cultural settings dictates special attention to avoid generalisation, as there is no formula on how to handle multi-script wayfinding systems. Instead, the designer needs to understand the changing perspectives on information displays (reading directions and interpretability) in all scripts and cultural concepts used. Hence the need for multi-disciplinary design teams, including native consultants as well as typographic specialists.

A one-off sign in California, USA

Still signs are not just writing on a wall. To be understood as signage, a sign needs a framework; it needs a dedicated space with a readable message for content that can be seen and understood clearly.

Signs are either planned or unplanned, but signage as an industry term always implies design. And along with sign design comes the planning, building and mounting of the object. Most signs in urban space are planned. Even transitory or temporary signs, such as information banners for special occasions, pop-ups (such as the ‘caution, wet floor’-signs), or street construction undergo a process of planning.

A spontaneous sign in Carmel, California, USA

Unplanned signs, in contrast, are spontaneous or incidental. They occur out of need and desire. These signs are present where the situational setting is too ambiguous for clear interpretation or where production cost, time pressure and practicality have ruled out the manufacture of a sign. These include notices on shop fronts or posters and banners in demonstrations.

There is one exception to the two-dimensional polarization of planned and unplanned signs: the calligraphic sign. Especially in the region of the Middle East and North Africa, we find Arabic calligraphy as a means to sign a shop front or as writing on sign panels. Writing in the form of Arabic calligraphy has been in use in inscriptions and decorations of buildings and has always accompanied the built space in the Arabic-speaking world.

Calligraphy from a western perspective is understood as a form of beautiful writing. In Arabic the word khatt includes much more than the penmanship of beautiful letterforms, such as line, design, and writing in general, but it also carries a concept of trace. From tracing to stencils, to sign making – it is an all too easy jump through time and various materials. However, this is a topic we will need to return to at a later time. For the moment, it is enough to understand that a calligraphic sign is planned, with penciled outlines below the paint. But its execution, and its final form, depends directly upon the aesthetic abilities of the calligrapher. As such, the calligraphic sign as a formal criterion allows for both precise planning and spontaneity, with its production being as impulsive as the hand that writes it with the paint and brush.

A calligraphic sign in Sousse, Tunisia

The purpose of any sign is to be read. A one-off sign is a planned piece of message (writing or imagery) in a constrained layout. This one-off sign usually advertises or informs, rather than instructs (i.e. shop signs or painted graphics/murals). Signs belonging to a system, such as traffic signage, live off more than one-off information. Within a signage system the individual sign’s message expresses either 1) information 2) direction or 3) instruction/regulation.

What is a sign system? A signage system consists of a planned range of products positioned sequentially in a specific limited and defined area or space. Most of our signage systems correlate with our urban and built environments. Within a signage system, the purpose is not only to offer information, but orientation. Hence, nearly all signage systems coincide with transport and direction of movement (traffic signage, such as streets, highways, airports, trains and metros, but also visitors’ signage in city centres and hospitals).

Corresponding to the specifics of the space that is to be signed, the planning of a signage system will call for a variety of product designs of different sizes and sign types. In order for a signage system to work as a spatial wayfinding guide, the placement of the various signs across the selected space needs to be continuous. This implies a progression in detail of sequential information.

From outdoor to indoor product

In order for a signage system to be recognized as such, the visual language of the various signs will need to hold together. This allows for recognition across the wider or limited space and time (e.g. highway signage will cover more time and space than that of a facility, such as a hospital). The range of products within a system will call for graphic solutions according to the different grids and varying numbers of directional messages. Similar sequential graphic elements add to the typographic framework and prescribe a similar spacing of elements, coherent information sequence and a visual recognition of all graphic elements (e.g. pictogram design).

A recognisable layout is key to any signage system. It needs to correspond to the range of products, the typographic responsibility for recognition and all the while point us in the right direction. This is a tricky task – exceedingly so when there is more than one language at hand, and especially with a second script. This is the essential challenge of multi-script wayfinding design.

]]> http://arabicsigns.com/2012/04/09/on-signs/feed/ 0 arabicsigns One-offs Spontaneous signs Calligraphic Sign Range of Products http://arabicsigns.com/2012/02/03/signage-and-cultural-identity/ http://arabicsigns.com/2012/02/03/signage-and-cultural-identity/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:53:19 +0000 Julia Petretta http://arabicsigns.com/?p=153 ]]> The term wayfinding bears connotations that are all strongly connected to a sense of movement, activity and attention. The action itself is an intrinsic human trait, embedded in us from hunting and gathering times to look for the right way. As such, the terminology carries a poignant metaphor of orientation and decisions in life. But today we perceive wayfinding, or wayshowing, as the process through which we arrive at our intended destinations. With the aid of signs – whether these are manufactured systems or incidental graffiti – we take written or pictorial indicators to make our ways forward.

Arabic signage however is more than just Arabic writing on a sign. Recognising the Middle East as a region full of diversity, controversy and cultural clashes, looking at Arabic signage comes with nuances of cultural identity: of the Arabic script, language and culture.

Essentially a sign is a marker in space and can be quite simple, or incidental. As such, a sign is writing (language), or drawing (pictures) in confined space. Yet, signs are carriers of information. As within all information exchange, the messages need not only be sent (read), but also be received – understood (Saussure). And so, the meanings of the messages on signs are most crucial to the communication. Think of the many demonstrators in many Middle Eastern countries, where citizens held up hand written, drawn or painted signs.

Still there is the difference between the calligraphic shop sign painted on a storefront, or the hand-written messages from town centre squares to call for rights and freedom, and a signage system, that is manufactured to accompany the built environment. All are signs, and all are carriers of meaning, but the production, the placement (context) and the visuals of these signs differ vastly in their meanings and intentions.

Middle East, North Africa and neighbouring regions.

The first that comes to mind when thinking of Arabic in a context of signage is the use of the various Arabic scripts in the urban landscape, the life-blood of the colorful Middle-Eastern streets. The Arabic script is more diverse than any other writing system and it works well in the urban environment, where it is found everywhere: from the over-dimensional billboard, to inscriptions in architecture, especially in Mosques, to the shopkeepers’ realm and in traffic. The very miscellaneous shapes and multiple calligraphic styles allow for manifold designs. Each calligraphic style follows strict rules of proportion and orthography. But the overwhelming beauty of the script emerges when the various styles intermingle together into rhythmic patterns to decorate space.

In the built environment of Middle Eastern urban life, signage has had many shapes. Built in architecture and décor, signs have demonstrated power, property and ranks. It is not only the tourism in the region, say for example in Sinai or Tunisia, and Morocco, that has increased a need for signage, but rather, the increase of western interest in power and/or religious pilgrims. The Middle East, due to religious territory and resources, has always been a landscape of global political magnitude. The decades of colonization, and the then so-called cultural imperialism introduced sign-making that superseded the previously sufficient hand-painted, calligraphic sign painting.

Today, manufactured signs come with a purpose to identify, inform, direct, or instruct. For wayfinding purposes the signage system is usually planned to include a range of products of modular sizes and layouts. In the context of international travel and tourism, there is nowadays an English translation accompanied by the Arabic text.

With a new approach to open cities, to inform and interact, the built environment offers the opportunity for place-making and shaping of public space. And signage supports functions, facilities and purpose with a targeted information system shaping the look and feel. The regional signfaces today accommodate images, such as pictograms, and messages written in English and Arabic in a confined layout. Metaphorically speaking, Arabic signage and wayfinding are increasingly a regional search for direction and common values.

4 letter shape forms: initial, medial, final and isolated. 2 letter shapes simplification.

The Arabic script has been through centuries of traditions and writing reforms. With the introduction of print technology, the script experienced some serious impact on its diversity. The simplification of Arabic’s writing system was to comply with the very crude layout techniques of metal type, which introduced a reduction to a 2-form shape, rather than a 4-forms variation on the connecting letterforms. Modern typography for sign design is using increasingly very angular shapes and extending/stretching the once economically staggering script to a rigid length of the full expression of the terminology. This sometimes breaks the grid of fixed layouts. The bidirectional reading directions of the Arabic script – right to left in text, and left to right in numbers – is an exceptional challenge to information hierarchy to any grid. Similarly challenging are the applications for standards: where in the west we face regional standards, such as BS, ISO, or ADA, the Middle East has not developed these sets of guidelines for its own languages and pictorial nuances. But would the standardization of culturally appropriate pictograms maintain and allow for the cultural diversity that prevails in the region?

As the region of the Middle East transitions into new political systems, the global technological trend to personalization of information introduces new tools, such as wayfinding apps, in the realm of signage. Suddenly the world of wayfinding becomes interactive with a whole new dimension. The meaning of spatial cognition surpasses the traditional three-dimensional space with the self as reference point. Questions of rules, standards and guidelines arise together with the new defining directions of national and regional values. New materials and interaction will be used in new modular systems. Here, we will see layers of meanings in messages, pictograms and script use.