Directions Project - Development

One of the problems faced by the traders at Chesterfield market was how they could implement a set of rules without seeming impolite and losing 







                                                                                  customers to other stalls.

The design of signs asking "please do not touch" or "no ____ near the stall" etc was awkward because the traders still wanted to attract customers. Some stalls had no signs so the trader spoke instead.

I tried to come up with a way to communicate these rules in as subtly as possible. Here are some experiments

   

Then I experimented with negative space, and started to make patterns out of shapes I'd found

I started to use negative space to build up different letterforms

 

Rather than create type out of shapes found in the signposts which I had tried, I preferred to build up the negative shapes, which made more interesting and flexible lettering as I was able to re-use the negative space here and there.

I used a few of these ideas together to create an experimental sign using simple but striking colours. I think it works because of its unconventional design and bold aesthetics.

I tried to bring together some more different ideas together which would abstract a direction

and came up with these

Overall I think the development process has gone well and more smoothly than the initial observation and gathering of ideas. However I feel the project hasn't concluded particularly well and I would struggle to finish it satisfactorily. I am pleased with the aesthetic element but I think I've started to go down a difficult road to begin producing better work and I think this comes from setting myself such a wide theme and trying to tie a lot in.