London College of Communication students have been working to develop a creative approach to helping people move more easily around the Elephant and Castle area, by developing a temporary wayfinding signage solution.
Their brief was to develop an approach that is flexible and easily adaptable, showing how the area can be made ‘legible’ by using a range of methods and surfaces from temporary signage through to buildings, hoardings and pavement surfaces.
From the seven student projects that were submitted, four finalists were selected, who then went on to present to the Elephant and Castle wayfinding group on Tuesday 13 May. Views on the finalists were sought from wider stakeholders in the area, and getting an overall sense of what would be successful for this specific and complex site was prioritised.
Whilst all creative solutions to navigating the Elephant were welcomed, the final solution needed to be able to be sustained and evolve over a period of several years as the area is redeveloped.
Work by Samuel Morley, a second year LCC BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design student, was selected as the submission that best fit the brief. He will now begin the process of finalising his designs, and working with the stakeholders to consider its implementation.
Samuel explains: “My job in creating this wayfinding system is to ease the confusion of this tricky bit of the city with a sense of visual unity, while also trying to accentuate the incredible feeling of variety and “place” you find across the Elephant. I designed a system of signs which would be printed onto hardwearing vinyl stickers and mounted on floors and walls right across the area. The individual stickers are very cheap to produce, and their modular nature allows the information to be easily updated and kept accurate as the area changes bit by bit.”