Wayfinding Project, @ SF, Chinatown
New Wayfinding Designs For Our Locals!
San Francisco Chinatown has a long, long, long history in American Culture! Full of restraruants, shops, museums, library, schools and other goodies! How might we design a recommended Wayfinding system for tourist and locals, and maintain a “Chinatown harmony”?
Project Timeline: Febuary 21st, 2022 - March 10th, 2022
Tools: Figma, Procreate, Photoshop, and cameras.
Research Methods: online research, documentations, interview questions, and real destination walk abouts.
Deliverables: signs, plaques, kiosks, both in isolation and in context (Photoshopped into neighborhood scenes.), work products ( drafted diagrams, annotated potos, research documentation, sketches etc.)
Overviews:
This school project was a very unique experience! I selected a local neighborhood and, through the process of auditing, research and design, I designed a recommended Wayfinding system for tourists and locals! The biggest highlight of this project was designing, and prototype the image of the results.
Some of the process I did:
Research the neighborhood online to understand key points of interest, both historical and current. Recording the findings.
A walkabout, taking pictures of
Where do people enter the neighborhood? What are their destinations?
What are the intereseting landmarks? Stores & resturants, schools & libraries, parks, transit stations, tourist & historical places, bike lanes, parking.
What kinds of signs and markers already exist for these places? Are they adequate? (Include places that self-identify, such as gas stations and bus stops.)
What kind of wayfinding and placemaking signs and navigation elements would you add to help a tourist find a destination or a local get to know the neighborhood?
Document my findings with a list of places and with photos of places, existing signs, and materials or brochures I found online, in books or tourist shops.
Sketch (YES, THE BEST PART) how I would improve the wayfinding and signage in the neighborhood. Show my designs in context by Photoshopping my images of the neighborhood.
How Might We Help to Improve This Area?
There is a lot of things going on in this area, some direction signs could help more people better getting to a location!
The lanterns are clearly the elements that represents Chinatown, but locating welcome signs near the entrances to Chinatown would be even more welcoming!
Chinatown is a very unique area, but the street signs are too boring, and not obvious enough!
There are countless elders who lives in this neighborhood, but the MUNI signs are way too small read. To be considerate, it could have bigger signs and fonts!
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Some Design Elements:
Now, let’s look at designs of new improvements for SF Chinatown neighborhood! How is gonna look like in reality?
From left to right: Direction Guide, Muni Stop, Welcome Sign, and Street Sign.
Pretty awesome, right?! At least I think so :)
Chinatown is full of stories and fun elements, here are some more inspiration pictures below when I visited the area!
Brainstorm Ideas and Sketches:
It was super fun to make sketches and brainstorm for Chinatown, it ties me with my Chinese culture background, and made me miss my hometown.
A Quick Look of The Neighborhood:
The Dragon Gate
2. St. Mary’s Church & Square
3. Chinatown Public Library
4. Chinatown Supermarkets
4. Main Intersections (Broadway & Stockton, Pacific & Stockton)
Interview Questions (made for considerations and brainstorm, not actually used for this project) :
How did you recognize this neighborhood is Chinatown when you first visited?
Can you show me how do you travel your way around this neighborhood?
If this is my first time coming to Chinatown, can you name some places that you would recommend visiting?
Next steps if the project continues:
Online research, go into more detail. For example, describe a bit of the history, who lives there now, and what changes (if any) have taken place there in recent decades.
The wayfinding design system appears to be four separate systems, each with its own color palette, decorations, and typography, next step is to renew the color palette and find a way that creates more harmony with the four designs.
There are bilingual signs in the neighborhood. Considering the countless elders, making the wayfinding signs bilingual too could be very helpful for them, and increase the system's reflection of the area's culture.