In the last lecture, the professor talked about creative wayfinding design, emphasizing that the most powerful tools are analogy, metaphor, and synecdoche. This method is to display information in an indirect way. It is sometimes clearer and more interesting than the direct representation and can leave a deep impression. By connecting certain objects, people, concepts, and ideas, it emphasizes their similarities and associations. It helps people to understand an unknown situation with a familiar situation.
In fact, we often see the application of analogy, metaphor, and synecdoche in our daily life. The trash can in computer systems is an example. “The function to delete a file is actually quite complex, involving marking portions of hard-drive space to be written over once they are needed.” By comparing this function to a trash can, a more familiar object, users can easily understand this process. And just like the trash can in real life, if you don’t empty the trash can, you still have the chance to get the things you throw away back. The shopping cart icon in online stores is the same. Using physical objects in life to describe the virtual concept in the digital world is a common technique used by designers.
Apply analogy in poster design makes the poster striking and memorable once the audience realizes it. A famous example is Harry Pearce’s poster It’s All Our Blood, a product commemorating the 70th anniversary of the dual nuclear explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “The poster is a photograph of a drop of blood hitting the water’s surface, creating a deep red cloud similar to an atomic explosion”. The message of the poster is self-evident. The visuals and details are beautiful, but it is the creative analogy idea that makes the poster stand out.
Another poster I found online was produced by the World Wildlife Fund. WWF clearly states their views and appeals, which is protecting animals, without displaying a single word. WWF compares ecosystems to Jenga, emphasizing the importance of each kind of animal, showing the idea that the elimination of any one kind of animal leads to the crashing of the entire ecosystem.
I also would like to share with you some examples in logo design I found in the book I borrowed Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities by David Airey. In logo design, designers often reshape letters or incorporate brand-related images into the logo subtly. This not only makes the logo stand out but also shows the main business of the brand. The following is the logo of Sinkit which provide tool and service to help golfers with their putting. They came up with a brilliant idea of transforming the second “I” into a golf hole and representing a golf ball that is about to drop into the hole with a dot. The design also separates the words “sink” and “it”, preventing it from being misread as sin kit.
The logo of Talkmore, a wholesaler of mobile phones and accessories also impressed me. The designer found the similarity between the quote marks and the letters “a” and “e”, and transformed the letter effectively. The treatment is relevant to the company’s business. And the designer drew people’s attention to the transformation with just enough color added.
The use of analogy, metaphor, and synecdoche plays an important role in creative thinking. When brainstorming ideas we should also try to find indirect solutions, making the visual display smart and beautiful, avoiding “banana”.
Our world is run by advertisements. Ads accompany us on all of our paths, whether real-life – in public places – or online – visiting websites. Considering their vast presence in our lives, it is only natural to assume that their influence on us is of no little importance. But why exactly should we care about ads, and how do they shape the ‘theme’ of our time?
First, let’s define what an advertisement is. Google defines it as ‘a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event or publicizing a job vacancy.’ The principle that advertisements make use of is very simple – the more people know about a particular product, service, or event, the more people are going to know enough about that particular thing to buy it, use it, or attend it.
For an ad to be very effective, other than being shown to a lot of people, it should also be convincing. After all, the likelihood of a person wanting to jump over a cliff after they stumble many times upon an advertisement that says ‘jump over a cliff to win a million dollars’ would still be slim, if a person is sane of course. So to convince a customer to choose YOUR product over any other similar product is of great importance to the success of that advertisement campaign. To make their advertisement more convincing, companies make use of two universal principles – attractiveness bias and familiarity principle.
Attractiveness bias is based on an assumption that all people associate positive qualities with anything that looks beautiful, or attractive. In other words, ‘beauty’, in this case, becomes a synonym for ‘good’. This is one of the most heavily used principles in advertisement, and it is exactly why models exist. Familiarity principle, on the other hand, is how people tend to trust what they know or are familiar with. If a person received two different reviews – one from a close friend and the other from a stranger – on the same product, they would intuitively trust their friend more than the stranger. Similarly, the familiarity principle states that to win a person’s trust, an advertisement needs to include someone or something that the person is familiar with. In many cases, this familiarity is created by popular actors with good reputations. In other cases, it could be created by featuring some old ‘that is from my childhood’ memories. A gaming company could do this: since many former students have had this memory of hurrying home from school to play videogames, including this action in the advertisement would help boost the sales of that gaming product. I personally would love to see and get reminded of such warm memories!
However, the ethical implications of these principles is questionable. The whole idea of advertisement can be questioned in the first place – is it ethical to ‘guide’ people to buy and use your product over other companies’ products, since the product you have might not be the best one?
The idea of associating good qualities with attractiveness flips and empties the moral narrative of listening to what is inside and not to what is shown. In other words, the abuse of attractiveness bias leads to moral exhaustion. What is scary about this is that by frequently observing ‘beauty’ to be ‘good’, people might begin to expect ‘good’ to be ‘beautiful’, which is wrong. In the end, this can lead to the perpetuation of the vicious cycle that shouts ‘everything good is beautiful, and that which is not beautiful is not good’.
On the other hand, the familiarity principle leads to the abuse of trust of one’s audience. It is very common for celebrities to create their brands and use their fame to found profitable companies. For instance, a hip-hop artist 50 Cent, who revolutionized the industry with his record-breaking albums in the early 2000s, partnered with Glacéau company to create his own ‘Vitaminwater’ brand and profited an estimated amount of 100 million dollars, according to Forbes.
Of course, it is not right to call the natural drive to profit from sales an ‘abuse’. Many people might go as far as to say there is nothing wrong with a celebrity profiting from their fame. Yet I disagree. Advertisements should be much bigger and much more important than just following people. Advertisements should become agents of change and signals of the new things coming our way. Through advertising, people should explore new products that can revolutionize the world as we know it now. In this case, having a celebrity on your team is not a signal of change but rather ‘the old’ that clothes itself as ‘the new’.
We largely underestimate the impact of advertising on society. Through efficient advertising, a regular company can become a monopoly in an industry. Through efficient advertising, values of one company can become mainstream and shape the norms of modernity. As always with anything that tries to affect us, we should be wary and take things with a grain of salt.
“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.”
Christian Greco’s lecture on museums was an eye-opening experience for me; it did not only help me realize how the role of museums is constantly changing, but it also emphasized to me again the importance of design in everything around us.
I grew up finding museums everywhere around me in the cities I lived in. I fell in love with not only how they were the door to see more of the past but also with their purpose; how they are determined to preserve the past to be seen even after thousands of years. Until a year ago, a museum was meant to be a place where the remnants of the past can be found. And as a kid, while I also liked every time I visited a museum, I couldn’t understand how and why they never thought about innovating something new; they all looked the same from the inside. For some reason, it didn’t make sense to me.
A year ago I read about the Grand Egyptian Museum, and a week ago I attendeed the lecture by Christian Gerco about the Museo Egizio, and this week I went to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. After this accumulation of exprience and hearing from different sources, I realized that my conception about museums has always been wrong. Museums are not just a place to keep artifacts; they are much more than that. They are there to both preserve, research, and keep track of the past. Most importantly, I realized that their role is constantly changing, and design is part of this change and the vision they want to achieve.
Therefore, I’m going to speak about the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and the role of design in delivering that message.
The Grand Egyptian Museum:
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is the world’s biggest museum that is dedicated to a single civilization. On my way to my boarding high school every week, I used to pass by it, impressed by its great Egyptian-themed design. I was, however, unaware of the bigger picture, of what this museum represents and what it symbolizes.
The Grand Egyptian Museum aligning with the Great Pyramids of Egypt
It was later when I realized that there was more to that. It’s not designed that way to be just a museum; it was that way to convey a message, as if this museum was the way to connect both the past and the future of the country. As you can see from the image to the right, the GEM is not only built to be considerably close to the three pyramids of Giza but it was also inspired by the pyramids themselves. The three rays shot out from each pyramid are met together in one point that defines the body of the museum.
This also correlates with the goal of the museum. The museum’s ultimate goal is to become a global center of advanced conservation and research in the field of Egyptology and archeology through both theory and practice. When Gerco spoke about the changing role of museums, this was the first thing that I thought of. Indeed, museums are not there just to preserve the artifacts but also research and understand them.
Preservation of artifcats
This was something that I didn’t know about, but now that I know, I appreciate the design even more as it represents the visual relationship between the project and the pyramids.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi:
Inspired by Greco’s lecture about museums, I decided to visit the Louvre Abu Dhabi for the first time. I noticed the following:
The artifacts and artworks from different cultures are not presented based on geography or civilization
Unlike all the museums I saw when I was in Egypt, the design of the interior of the museum is simple, close to minimalism
The museum’s collection of artifacts and artworks isn’t limited to some cultures only; it focuses on human history as a whole.
Similar to the case of the GEM, the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s design seems to be connected to the goal and vision of museum leaders and the purpose for which the museum was built.
I later discovered that the design of the outside of the Louvre, which is also the Arab world’s first universal museum, is made the way it is to resemble the shape of Arab homes here in the region, and the minimalist approach is to lead people to focus more on the artifacts. What was even more surprising is that the reason why artifacts are not presented based on geography or civilization is that, as a universal museum, the Louvre wants to show the world how all civilizations are connected, and they were put next to each other based on common aesthetics and themes in that way to emphasize that idea.
While I support the accessibility of history and antiquities for everyone and everywhere as a human heritage, I still hold on to my belief that such a thing should be done with the consent of the people to whom these antiquities originally belong. When I was a kid, my father used to tell me stories about how in the village he lived in he would see statues taken from under the ground and put into large trucks, and they were never seen again. Later, the village knew that these statues were stolen and sold. While I don’t know if this is what happened in reality or not, it saddens me to see how history can be stolen and sold in that manner. I’m not saying that these statues should remain exclusive to Egypt; what I’m saying is that this is not the appropriate way to treat the past. Unfortunately, I’m sure this was the way most Egyptian antiquities were taken outside the country to be presented in foreign museums.
In the end, I want to stress my belief that artifacts from any time are human heritage. What I only oppose here is the way through which they get transferred from one country to another, which most of the time can be depressing and humiliating. To me, museums aren’t just places that hold antiquities; I prefer the Arabic word for it, which is “متحف,” which shares the same root with the word “أتحف” which means “to amaze.” A museum is a trial to understand the past, reflect on the present, and shape the future. I’m thankful to Gerco and his lecture: indeed, they made me rethink my definition of a museum and the past it holds, and how design can be the bridge between two remote places and times.
In our everyday life, we make use of a vast variety of products and services which belong to numerous brands and companies. While the process of creating a physical product requires different planning from developing a software product, one thing they have in common is designing it to effectively cater to the needs of the target audience. However, a very important part in the design process is to also make it look visually appealing, since we are Visual Mammals – one of the first statements by Professor Goffredo from the Wayfinding Class that stuck with me.
As per my personal experience, I often purchase products that have a better design, since I believe it subconsciously triggers my brain that design emphasizes the credibility of products. A brand that comes up with a new bottle of shampoo with a very old school and boring design, but actually very effective, may not even attract my attention, however, a brand that has a very stylish and fancy bottle having only a plastic bottle with a good color combination and a decently designed wrapper in their product would automatically become more appealing.
A similar example of this is a new brand of toothbrush and toothpaste that I saw for the first time in my life at the convenience store at NYU Abu Dhabi. The packaging immediately attracted my attention even though the toothbrush was 2/3rd the size of a regular toothbrush and the toothpaste was equivalent to a travel size bottle of toothpaste. Regardless of the huge difference in quantity, the price difference was inversely proportional, such that the new brand was twice the price of a Colgate Toothpaste but half its size. Similarly, the toothpaste did not have any unique features, it was a plain and simple toothbrush, but the only thing that felt different from a first look was the way it was presented, its packaging and design, immediately grabbing my attention. Being honest, I was instigated to purchase that toothbrush just to try it out, but a rational mindset prevented me from doing so.
Knowing how design instigates my thought process and decision making in the regard that is mentioned above, I can’t help but think over the reason behind such rationale. This leads me to dwell upon the discussion of Familiarity and Bias in our Wayfinding class. As was highlighted in the class, brands pay a significant amount of money for advertisements, such as those in Times Square, in order to build trust so we subconsciously care more about them. I believe that a similar ideology can be navigated towards our familiarity and bias of the types of design. The way we can differentiate between a good design and a bad design is aided by the trust that is being built by the advertisements and design that is most frequently present around us. To explain this further, I will bring back the example of the aforementioned toothpaste company and appreciate the way they made use of the concept of nudge by producing a design that resonated with the concept of royalty and eliteness that is present in our mind. An elegant, pure black, simple and shiny packaging with a high price would definitely nudge us towards paying attention to that product.
Moving from the digital products to software products, websites and web applications have also developed a certain style of design that pertains to the norm and in a very similar fashion, the credibility of these startups is sometimes analyzed by how well their website is designed, at least to myself. If a company advertising its new software has a very sleek, unique and stylish website, I will be triggered to check it out in its entirety, but would not even pay full attention if the website is just like any other basic website.
As I have explained how I believe my personal decision making is influenced by design, it in fact goes far beyond an individual’s personal preferences and also impacts situations that have a life-changing impact. Two scenarios of such are explained in the Second Chapter of the book ‘Visual Explanations’ by Edward Tufte, from which we will look at
One of them was the Space Challenger Shuttle that exploded on the 28th of January in 1986, resulting in the death of 7 astronauts. In this scenario, it is very difficult to attribute a space shuttle and explosion to visual design, however the principles and learnings towards design lie at the back-end of this incident. When the engineers realized that the temperature on the day of the launch could potentially be detrimental towards the launch of the rocket, they immediately faxed a total of 13 charts to NASA, proposing to halt the scheduled rocket launch. However, the proposal was disregarded due to the lack of evidence presented by those charts, meaning that a lack of visual representation and convincing resulted in the lives of 7 people.
Researching deeper into the charts presented by the engineers, not only was there loads of irrelevant information not pertaining to the impact of temperature on the rocket, but incorrect representation with a lack in the data that was presented to support it. An example of this can be seen via the following graph that demonstrates the relation between temperature and O-rings, which was the cause of the explosion.
Compared to the next graph, which was produced later after the explosion as a learning from the incident, explains it much more clearly, to any individual not even pertaining to the field of engineering. It clearly shows how there were some incidents with temperatures of 70 degrees, however, as we go below 63 degrees, the incidents become more frequent, and just with this information, any individual would not be in favor of allowing a launch at the temperatures between 26 and 29 degrees.
Similarly, an interesting chart that was produced later beautifully shows the relationship between temperatures and the severity of incidents. It can be clearly seen that a lower temperature than 53 degrees would be totally a no-go.
By now, through the representations, it may seem that I am stating the obvious, however proper visual representations and design do have a great amount of significance to influence our decision making process. As we are Visual Mammals, we are appealed towards what pleases and convinces us visually.
Considering the magnificent area of 1083 acres, with pavilions from 190 countries and further 20 organizational and special pavilions, on a site expecting to host 25 million visitors, designing a self-explanatory wayfinding system could not be an easy task. Considerations had to be made for the diversity of people who would be attending one of the largest global events, ranking alongside Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, as well as simultaneously exhibit the rich and unique culture and architecture of the United Arab Emirates. I believe that it was a consequence of these considerations that the wayfinding system had to be completely redesigned after 2015.
Expo 2020 site
London Studio Spaceagency was appointed to develop the wayfinding and signage system for the international event including plazas, concourses, entrances, parks, car parks and internal transports, with the help of local craftspeople, over a span of 8 years. The aim of the design was to “weave the cultural heritage” into it and avoid a generic feel.
The signage design was inspired by a UNESCO-protected Emirati weaving technique called Al Sadu, which is a Bedouin tradition that is practiced in rural communities of the UAE. Each area has its own colors based on local pigments as well as regional symbols that can be woven into patterns. Similarly, each of the themes of the expo were given their color-coded identity and a different pattern using Sadu which split the expo into 5 smaller zones in order to be easily visualized from great distances and therefore provide an easier means of navigation between the different zones and car parks.
The map of the expo was also color coded correspondingly, and copies of it were placed around the site very frequently in order to familiarize the people with the theme behind each color, achieving a good balance between simplicity and redundancy. A noticeable landmark was also placed in each zone which fulfilled all the 4 conditions that a distinguishable landmark should: visible, conspicuous, easy to talk about and immutable.
Though the overall area seems easy to navigate and understand through the color-coded identities, the design and signages at particular instances, or sometimes the lack thereof, made me wonder about the effectiveness of the wayfinding system and whether the priority of the designers behind the infrastructure was the promotion of culture or ease of navigation.
As my friends and I entered the Expo, we were already lost at the entrance because we were unable to find the ticket booth. After searching on the signages for any indication of the booth, we had to eventually resort to asking an officer for the directions, getting an answer that the booth was situated after going straight, right, straight, left and then right, confusing us even further. There were also no signages in the way except for when we could already see the booth from a distance. The purpose of placing a ticket booth so complicatedly far from the entrance was something we were unable to decode.
As we walked along further amidst the pavilions, we noticed that not only was there a lack of signages, some of them were also designed and placed inaccurately. An example of this was a sign which inaccurately informed us that the first and the ground floor in fact had the same spaces; Al Baik and Afghanistan were on the ground floor as well as on the first floor.
As shown in the picture below, another example was a sign board which held multiple pictograms, however without any indication of where they point towards. If the information center was on the right, under the signage or coming up ahead, was not clear at all.
The most interesting aspect of the wayfinding system at Expo, however, was undoubtedly the unique design and depiction of the pictograms. The pictograms were created by the Spaceagency in collaboration with a Dubai-based design studio Tinkah. A calligraphic design was chosen to blend recognized pictograms with Arabic letterforms.
The symbols were then used throughout the signage scheme at the Expo 2020 site.
However, of how many pictograms from the picture above, can you state the meaning with utmost assurity?
Pictograms are universal pictorial signs that signify what they depict. They should be highly motivated so the intended viewer is immediately able to understand. Pictograms should also be conventionalized so they are standardized, well published and used consistently to teach the intended user its meaning. If one of the two conditions of motivation or convention fail, the other condition becomes important. If the user is not able to understand the pictogram, they should be able to remember it. If they cannot remember seeing the pictogram before, it is good to understand what it means by simply seeing it.
However, the pictograms that were carefully crafted for Expo 2020 did not seem to meet either motivation or convention. For example, a design for a first aid kit is usually a cross in Western countries while a crescent in the UAE. To avoid conflicts of understanding, the design team eventually used a stethoscope.
As a stethoscope is not a conventionally used symbol for medical aid, the user is not immediately able to understand if that’s the purpose it serves. In an emergency situation, it is not ideal for the user to be conflicted about the meaning of the symbol instead of acting with urgency to cater to the emergency at hand. Instead a medical kit with a cross and crescent, such that is used in the Gulf, could have perhaps been designed which would indicate in clarity for both the audience its intended meaning.
Similarly the universal pictogram for a taxi is highly motivated as the word taxi is clearly stated over it, however the one used at the Expo happened to confuse us regarding its meaning, we almost thought it was a chairlift!
On the other hand, the bus pictogram for the bus used at the Expo site did resemble the universal pictogram, however, it in fact looked similar to the pictogram of a man to indicate the direction of the toilets at the Expo, and hence instead the bus pictogram as a whole resembled a man standing behind a table, so perhaps a giveaway stand or an information desk.
Though the pictorial representation of signs in such a manner was intended to showcase Emirati culture, I personally would not have recognized the motivation behind these symbols was to represent Arabic calligraphy unless I had not read about it. Therefore, such contradictions in the design only complicated my user experience at the Expo instead of creating user enlightenment and admiration for the UAE culture.
As was done through the technique of Sadu and woven ropes behind the signages, in my opinion there was plenty of room to represent the local traditions; adding Arabic letterforms to the pictograms did not only not add much value to the depiction of Emirati culture but also failed to help maximize the purpose of the pictograms and hence could have perhaps been designed in an alternate way, if culture representation was a must.
In conclusion, the overall signage at the Expo including maps, the visibility of directions, font type, hierarchy of information on the signages were all some excellent examples of wayfinding design however improvements could have definitely been made to fine tune the user experience instead of prioritizing the ‘visual feel’ over the purpose of wayfinding.
Design involves creativity; the entire process of building systems based on designs is based on some level of creative process and this process requires thinking. In this blog, I talk about this abstract concept and try to understand what informs our creative thinking process. One way, and a very simple way, might be to ‘just get done with it’ or to Google it though, as made clear from our class interactions, this practice is generally not healthy for creativity and is very frowned upon and rightly so. After all, Google tends to demonstrate that my creativity is the same as millions of other people searching for some idea and as a good designer I should refuse to accept that. Instead, I should meet Google’s suggestions with a rebuttal and instead dig deeper into my own creative horizons. The question is, what does that process look like? And I titled this blog as ‘a guide’ because the way I try to answer these questions form a flow that might help inform the creative thinking process of my fellow designers.
When talking about designing something, the very least that a designer has to do is to come up with ideas. It is these very ideas that will translate into something that gives meaning to a design. For coming up with these ideas, a designer then has to think of different questions and try to find answers to these questions in order to connect the dots and come up with the one (or many) idea(/s) that will work. This seems to be very complicated so let’s pause for a moment. Before I come to what these questions may be, how about the situation when a designer experiences a thinker’s block and cannot even think of anything, let alone come up with ideas? What if you as a designer are just sitting there staring at the screen hoping for an idea to pop up into your mind but to no avail? Here, you might want to take some help from a friend (who some argue could be a designer’s best friend). Here, a designer picks up their pencil and paper – or whatever equivalent there might be – and starts making their brain vomit onto the paper. Scribbling, scratching, drawing lines, iterating, making the paper full of randomness, but at least visualizing the different things (ideas) floating around in your mind. Though this process might look a bit different for some, with scribbling being replaced by note-taking, the purpose of this exercise is to help the designer make sense of whatever is in their brain, connect the dots, understand the task at hand through visualizing their own thoughts, and then develop a frame within which they want to work. Soon, the designer can find themselves moving forwards in the path of creative process, from just staring and thinking to having something to work on.
Example of what happened in class when following this process; moved from staring at screen to 4 pictogram ideas in 10 minutes.
The next step would be to introspect these ideas and designs. Surely, not everything would really work for a particular purpose (you can’t just draw a circle when the task demands a square unless you redefine what a square is). So the designer now looks at their ideas through the lens of what the eventual goal is and asks questions like “what do I want to achieve with my design/s?”. The idea behind this exercise is to make the ideas aligned with the use. Thus, naturally, this step would require adjustments, alterations, discarding some ideas, and even coming up with some new ones. Only the ideas that are aligned with the use and will fulfill the goal should be worked upon, rest are irrelevant right now.
Talking about aligning with purpose also touches upon the idea of context. Coming up with a good design is not a very simple process and a good designer must first understand these different nuances of the process to achieve a good design. A good design doesn’t just fulfill some purpose, it usually also tells a story. Narration of this story attaches meaning and significance to the design and it becomes essential for the good designer to think about their design within this context. Rewinding to the talk with Cristian Greco, the director of Museo Egizio, would it be sufficient for the museum design to just lay out the acquired artifacts accompanied by textual information? Does that ‘fulfill the purpose’? Not really because that design would just fulfill the purpose of displaying the artifacts without providing much meaning. Instead, the museum chose to display, design, and lay out the artifacts in a manner that narrates the story of the Egyptian culture from the time the artifacts are from. This is a very precise example of providing context to design so that the user of the design can connect to the story that needs to be told in a very subtle way. So the creative thinking process has to be bounded by and informed by the context within which the designer’s creativity is working.
Is that it? We think, we come up with design, we fulfill the purpose and stay within a context and get our job done as designers? Fortunately for some, and unfortunately for others, a good design demands more. Design has the power to create impact, give identities, and shape the experience of the people within the environment the design is placed. Thus, it becomes a need for a good design to be bounded and limited by ethical considerations. By ethical considerations I do not just mean maintaining integrity and honesty by not copying someone else’s work and presenting it as your own in whatever way, though that is also one of the very important aspects of design and also why Google is bad (it can attach your bias to someone else’s work so much that you can end up creating whatever someone has already done). Here, the ethical considerations take a broader approach and integrate the context within them. Is it okay for a museum to place an artifact from one culture within so many artifacts for another? Is it okay for a design to not be very friendly to people with accessibility needs? Is the design even okay within the society or culture it will be placed? What might be okay in one place might be totally unacceptable in another. But would the adjustments demanded by these ethical considerations mean that my design could potentially fail? Is my design problematic for some context and is it conforming to these problematic ideas that have persisted for so long? Should I use the icon of blood in red color to design something or would it be too triggering? How brutal can my design be and still be okay? This, and many more questions depending on the context need to be answered before deciding on what a good design may be. Otherwise, the creative process collapses when it fails to take into account such ethical considerations because it fails to understand the context. Now, it may be that you are asking ‘how many questions is too many questions and when to stop asking these questions?’ That is an exercise I leave for the reader, try it and maybe stop at whenever you think you have tried enough. Through an iterative process involving feedback, a designer gets better at this.
Example of aligning a design to a context because of some ethical considerations. However, some might argue that now the two toilet signs are not very distinguishable and the design fails. [Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/3y31j4/here_is_what_bathroom_signs_actually_look_like_in/ ]Another important aspect is to put yourself in the user’s shoes. Well, at least try to because there are just so many users. This helps you understand if your creative thinking process is based on too much assumption. It is natural for someone to make assumptions when thinking of something that will have a wider use. But a creative process that does not think about what these assumptions are and does not challenge them could be bad for the design. Simply making a pictogram where a person gets wings after drinking an energy drink to fulfill the task of visualizing ‘how to give wings to a person’ is bad because it is based on an assumption that everyone who looks at this pictogram will know the Redbull slogan “Redbull gives you wiiings”. So looking at your design and understanding any assumptions made is critical. Is the assumption a really big one? How much of an impact would it make in the design’s success or failure? What could help is keeping things simple in your creative thinking process while designing so that you avoid basing your design on many assumptions as a designer.
Design is based on creative thinking and good creative thinking leading up to good designs takes a multifaceted approach that takes the aforementioned aspects into consideration. Of course, there are design practices like making use of nudges, using specific font faces, use of logos and pictograms, etc. However, these relate more to the process of thinking about design itself rather than the process of creative thinking. Furthermore, the creative thinking process is very broad and varied from designer to designer (or person to person), and obviously there is more to it than can ever be discussed in one blog. However, I have tried to target some very common themes that I myself came to understand as a process in the Wayfinding class – through practice and through theory.
One final aspect that I will now address is the conclusion of the creative thinking process. You as a designer have now found yourself in a situation where you have come up with many good designs. How do you now conclude the creative thinking process and settle on one? Well, maybe discard the first one because it might have many personal biases, though this might be counter-intuitive when the first design might be the best one. So, think about the design through the lens of the aspects discussed in this guide and through the aspects of a good design. Then try and answer the question you ask yourself that which one is the best. Maybe it is the one that fits in well into most of the criteria of a good design coming out of a good creative thinking process. Then select that one and hope it works out. Otherwise, you learn and use this lesson to inform your decision, choice, and creative thinking process as a designer the next time you have to make a good design. Eventually, you become a designer whose creative thinking process is such that the designer translates themselves into their design, making it unique to themselves yet equally or even more effective. And most importantly, you can now differentiate yourself from millions of people ‘creatively’ coming up with designs using Google.
Olympic pictograms appeared for the first time in 1964 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Japanese developed this international language in order to communicate with people all over the world in ways other than words and writing. Their graphic symbols, which were both effective and modern, were used to indicate the various events on the program, but also all the services provided to the spectators. It was a big innovation. Since 1964, each edition of the Games has generated its unique set of pictograms and redefined the genre.
To make Olympic pictograms, the key points are: simplify the athlete’s body as much as possible; Show the athlete moving in a proactive position; Indicate the sports equipment.
Here are the pictograms for the 1972 Games in Munich (Germany).
With only a few Elements, designer Otl Aicher was able to depict 21 sports. Aicher’s pictograms marked the debut of the circular head, the 45 and 90 degree angled lines, and the simplified body shapes that would become standard stick figure iconography not just in the Olympics but throughout the world. In fact, Aicher’s technique of representation through design was adopted by the United States Department of Transportation as they developed the DOT pictograms in 1974. The famous toilet pictogram is one of those. According to Aicher, he based them on “tongue depressors” to create his characters. His athletes had skinny stick-like bodies as a result of this. He made use of the Univers typeface for the Olympics. This series was a great success and influenced later editions for almost 15 years.
In addition to Olympic pictograms, Aicher also developed one of the most iconic wayfinding symbol sets in the 1970s for the Frankfurt airport. The set is a comprehensive system for air traffic and travel influenced by the most modern and futuristic design of the time. The symbols are ubiquitous today since they are the original contemporary symbol set for airports and their style and approach have been copied many times over.
Sometimes, the branding role of Olympic pictograms is more important than conveying understandable information. For example, the pictograms for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway were based on famous rock drawings in Norway that date back thousands of years. Sydney’s use of boomerangs in 2000 is also culturally relevant. Beijing’s are calligraphic representing Chinese tradition.
A poorly designed Olympic pictogram won’t lead to a dangerous or embarrassing situation like a poorly designed toilet pictogram. But in general, when it comes to pictogram design, conciseness and specification are way more important than artistry.
A good pictogram should be clear, simple, motivated, and easy to understand. As we are going to design pictograms for our next assignment, I think the following tips will be helpful.
– Draw pictograms on the grid to maintain consistent positioning and proportions
– One pictogram should not look heavier or lighter than other pictograms of the same size. Maintain the same visual weight by using the same stroke weight when designing
– Never distort pictograms and be sure to avoid dimensional representations. Use more objective vantage points that are straight-on or profile views
– Use 45 angles or use increments of 15 angles to create harmony
– Use straight segments, perfect arcs where possible
– Pictograms are aligned to the center of the grid within the boundary box.
– Communicate the ideas with only the most essential elements. Avoid details
Christian Greco’s visit to NYUAD was one that I didn’t know we needed. How do museums impact society and the future when they reminisce about the past? Truly, I had heard the phrase, “Those who do not know their past, are condemned to live it,” but I didn’t understand the practicality of this connection until Greco’s talk, which proved that museums can help us build a better future by critically engaging with the past. But, what if, the future they talk about when having conversations about museums, is the present that we have today?
The last time I visited a museum was last semester, Fall 2021, when I joined a student group visiting the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Not having many museums back at home, I grew up without a fed interest in museums and their importance for society, so I was curious to see what the Louvre had to offer my intellectual curiosity. As I was reading the tags in each object, I found myself looking for one that said that the object belonged to “Venezuela” or, at the very least, somewhere nearby. The closest I found was Peru and Mexico, and I started to question what deemed these places’ objects worthy of preservation. Moreover, a question was raised within the group: does this museum have the right to own objects from other countries? Why aren’t these objects in their so proudly-shown “origin”?
Rumors of having stolen these objects during, around, and even after colonial times were the predominant answer as to how museums usually get objects from other countries: a different way of showing power dynamics and oppression. Although Greco didn’t talk about how they got these objects, he did mention the fact that they don’t belong to Italy (whether they were purchased or not). Moreover, he talked about the role that design plays in simulating the real home of these objects. In fact, as the museum approaches its 200 year anniversary, they are working on remodeling the museum, including a garden that looks like those in Egypt. Greco talked about the responsibility of taking care of Egyptian history, as these objects are tokens that survived the years that humans didn’t. They speak the words that humans from 1824 are not able to speak to us today. But if objects carry these words, these messages, and even lessons about history, adding value to the society of today, one could argue that owning these objects would equal owning history. And so new questions arise: who gets to own history? Is history purchasable? And should this really matter as long as history lives on?
Greco clearly addressed the need for everyone to have access to history through museums. He talked about the importance of promoting the already existing link between the museum and the polis, or community, around it. Events open to the public, as well as collaborations with local schools and organizations, confirm the museum’s compromise to make it accessible while at the same time getting the funds to maintain it. This goes in line with Greco’s argument that the question of, “How to be inclusive without running the risk of being exclusive?” remains a big one to this museum and others around the world. Moreover, an article by the museum’s website itself (https://museoegizio.it/en/explore/news/the-museo-egizio-rethinks-its-history-renovating-the-historical-rooms/), addresses a new point, also covered in Greco’s talk: there is a link between Turin’s (the city where this museum is located) history and Egyptian history that cannot be overlooked. This article talks about the already mentioned remodelations that try to be intentional about the question of “why an Egyptian museum in Turin?,” a question that although not yet answered, is being asked. This article urges us to think about the intertwined history that these two places hold, despite their geographical distance. And isn’t that how our world is being built? A globalized world that shares innovation, economy, and communications, essentially creating SHARED HISTORY.
I don’t know if I can answer the question of who deserves to own history, but I can certainly say that the preservation of history should be the goal regardless of who owns it. And maybe, if Turin didn’t hold Egyptian history, there would be no records of how these two places’ history became one that remains today, affecting each other after 200 years. I don’t know if this is necessarily good for humanity because I don’t know how Turin or Egypt would look like if their paths hadn’t crossed once, but I’d like to think that this is how it should have been because we can now experience their past in our present. A past that even today urges us to raise these moral and ethical questions about shared history, globalization, and colonization.
Greco’s talk opened the door to a rich fountain of topics that should be discussed, but they all have in common one thing: these conversations exist because a tangible token of their origin exists someplace in Turin, Italy. They remind us of the decisions, good or bad, that our ancestors held during their lives and reflect on our daily decisions. Moreover, through this museum’s example, we can conclude that design represents an opportunity to respond to our duty, and in this case, to address that these objects do not belong to Turin or Italy, but rather they’re borrowed tokens of history that, as a consequence, generated more history. Museums, without a doubt, play a role in preserving history, shaping our future, but we must not forget that they also lead us to reflect critically about our present.
This Friday, our wayfinding class had the opportunity to have Christian Greco speak to us about his work as the director of Museo Egizio. He delved into the nuances of what is a museum and what makes a museum, why museums matter, and the future of museums – specifically, the projected plans for Museo Egizio. This talk promoted me to get thinking about museums and the integral role they play in society – and that is where this blog post stemmed from. I will first discuss some key personal takeaways I had from Greco’s presentation and then look at several virtual museum tours and the future of online/digital wayfinding.
One of the most interesting concepts that stood out to me from Greco’s presentation was the dichotomic nature of museums to conserve and innovate simultaneously. Are these not contradictory? Where does conservation end and alteration begin? To innovate, he explained, we must conserve the objects and artifacts in the museum to research them and deduce theories of the past. This dichotomy also lent itself to the role of a museum in terms of collective memory. A museum displays and conserves memories of the past through the objects and artifacts it displays but is also a space where we can build and innovate memories of the now.
Greco also brought forth this idea of research museums and participatory museums and the interplay between them. He highlighted research to be a critical aspect of understanding the biography of objects, being able to preserve and narrate them, and ultimately sharing knowledge. He gave an example of a coffin that has been preserved at the Museo Egizio where research done on the coffin found the coffin to be made out of reused materials as well as provided information about familial connections. Research regarding objects and artifacts allows us to address new questions, formulate theories, and highlight the importance of museums in education. I found it especially interesting that modern technology has enabled us to understand the past in a way that otherwise may have been lost or forgotten.
In conjunction with being a research museum, museums such as Museo Egizio are also participatory museums. A museum is not separate from society but rather a product of it. It holds history and provides insight into the evolution of society. It helps build bridges across society through language, memory, and other inclusion initiatives. Greco took the example of Museo Egizio in their work with social inclusion and community outreach programs – which perhaps was the part of Greco’s presentation which surprised me the most. He commented on the interactions the museum has had with schools, hospitals, jails, immigrants, etc., highlighting how the museum is a prevalent symbol of society, inclusion, and community.
Christian Greco mentioned that another key role of the museum is to share knowledge. What could this sharing of knowledge look like in the pandemic world? Museums are symbols of culture, memory, and history, and serve as important structures in society. With lockdowns all over the world, the travel and tourism industry halted, and thus, so did physical visitors to museums. Museums all over the world were forced to adapt to navigate this new environment. Some pivoted to virtual tours and exhibits, some to videos, etc. These online means made museums more accessible to those near them as well as those around the world, giving people easy access to information they did not have previously. After Christian Greco’s talk, I was prompted to virtually visit Museo Egizio and other museums around the world. I will look to comment on the virtual tours of different museums around the world as well as the future of online wayfinding.
Virtual Tour – Museo Egizio
Upon arriving at the main website of Museo Egizio, we can see a lieu of drop-down options. The virtual tour of Deir el-Medina and Tomb of Kha can be found under the ‘Discover the Museum’ tab.
Museo Egizio Virtual Tour Instructions
Opening the virtual tour, a pop-up appears outlining the different features and functionalities of the tour. This is an extremely helpful tool that can be accessed at any point during the tour as well. This is a great virtual wayfinding design – it is clear and to the point, uses helpful pictograms, and allows the user to navigate through the virtual tour easily. There are five different language options available as well. However, the tour and videos remain in English – the only aspect that changes with different language options is the text on the above pop-up window.
Virtual ‘Entrance’ of Museo Egizio
Entering the virtual museum, we are greeted by Cèdric Gobeli, a curator at Museo Egizio, who welcomes virtual guests to the virtual tour and provides an overview and some background information about the room we have entered. This video, through virtual, provides some human interaction and a greater sense of belonging and direction which helps break down the virtual barrier to some extent.
Virtual Wayfinding tools of Museo Egizio
In terms of wayfinding, the virtual tour is easy to understand and navigate as a user. The blue arrows on the ‘floor’ allow the user to move around the virtual space and for navigation. In addition, a map of the floor plan is available to allow the user to orient themselves easily. It informs the user of where they are in spatial relation to the room, where the exhibits are, what way they are facing, and overall just increases the user’s spacial awareness. This is especially useful in this online space as the user can not simply ask someone on the floor for directions – as they could have in-person. The map even allows the user to click on the blue dots – indicating where the blue arrows are – and it will guide the user to that area of the room. An improvement I could think of pertains to the yellow stars on the map. It is not clear what these stars mean or what they symbolize. Perhaps a small legend or key could be useful here. Additionally, it can be difficult to see certain exhibits close up as there are a limited number of arrows, and therefore spaces the user can move to, and if the exhibit is not spatially proximate to the object or artifact, it is difficult to navigate. This may be a software limitation but can be an area to look into.
3D Model of Amenhotep I in Museo Egizio
The tour includes in-depth information about the pieces on display – ranging from museum webpages of information about a particular piece, videos about the object (with closed captioning), images, and (my favorite!) even some 3D models. These elements work to break down this virtual wall and provide an immersive experience – even adding elements to the virtual tour that are unavailable in the physical tour.
The virtual tour was informative, easy to navigate, and overall a great addition to the amazing work that Museo Egizio is doing. The virtual wayfinding tools and practices they have implemented into the tour are intuitive and allow for a pleasant online experience. I am actually not the biggest fan of museums myself but this virtual tour definitely has intrigued me to stop by Museo Egizio if I ever find myself in or around Turin.
The other museum I decided to virtually visit was much closer to home. Actually, it’s right here on Saadiyat Island – The Lourve. From the landing page of the Lourve Abu Dhabi, navigating a virtual tour seemed to be a much greater challenge than for Museo Egizio. The website search engine guided me to one after it was prompted. The virtual tour found was of the Abstraction and Caligraphy – Towards a Universal Language exhibition.
The Lourve Abu Dhabi Virtual Exhibition Instructions
Similar to that of the virtual tour of Museo Egizio, a pop-up appeared guiding the user on how to navigate the virtual space. In terms of wayfinding design, the visuals and text instructions are clear, straightforward, and intuitive. However, the pop-up, in this case, provided less information – probably because there were also fewer features in this virtual tour.
Virtual Exhibition at the Lourve Abu Dhabi
To move around the virtual space, the circular indicators on the ‘floor’ indicate where the user is able to move. These circles cover the entire floor plan quite well and extensively – you are able to go up close to the displays and can even read the small prints without having to open the information icon. The user is even able to use the arrow keys on their keyboard which makes moving around the exhibition especially easy. However, a downside of this virtual tour is that it does not have a map that allows the user to orient themselves. It does have options to enter specific rooms, but an overview map would have allowed for greater spatial awareness as well as ease of navigation as trying to figure your way through the space without it can get frustrating.
Example of piece descriptions – this one is Dance of People and Birds on a Blue Sky by Joan Miró
When looking at specific pieces, there is basic information given about the piece such as its title, artist (with the addition of a section regarding the artist), medium, and brief description. Perhaps a more immersive approach could be beneficial here. 3D views, videos, or even a little bit of narration, could have made the virtual tour more engaging. The current visual tour feels quite detached from the human experience – with little to no contact with even the voice, sound, or sight of a person.
Overall, the tour is quite basic – it showcases the work and that is about it. It is not an immersive experience that leaves you wanting more – as was the case for me with Museo Egizio. Perhaps adding more interactive features would be beneficial. From a wayfinding perspective, it could definitely use some improvement in terms of the addition of a map to ease the transitions between rooms as well as to provide some insight into user orientation.
Many industries found the pandemic time to be challenging – the museum and tourism industries being no exception. However, perhaps the pandemic yielded a little glimmer of positivity in the form of virtual tours. Virtual tours increased the accessibility of knowledge for people living far and wide. They also provided (online) traction to museums and cultural institutions which the pandemic otherwise halted. As not the biggest fan of museums myself, these virtual exhibits and Greco’s talk allowed me to appreciate the work and energy that goes into curating and preserving museums. Try and see if your favorite museum has a virtual tour – it would be quite interesting to take a look!
After Christian Greco’s talk, I was prompted to search up the main website of the Egyptian Museum (Museo Egizio in Italian) out of curiosity. An interesting finding was the virtual tour under the tab “Discover the Museum”.
The virtual tour is a 360 degree digital experience in which users can navigate themselves through the museum with photographs and documentations of pieces displayed. When the user clicks on the information button, they can read more about the pieces just as they can in the physical space. The interface includes blue arrows allowing users to “move around” the museum.
The VR tour encouraged me to think, once again, about the future of museums that Greco mentioned in his talk. He mentioned how COVID expedited the emergence of on-line museums within the last two years. The epidemic required people in all areas of the world to socially distance themselves in the physical space – museums being no exception.
Faced with this challenge, many museums and exhibitions turned to the web to continue providing a digital space where users could continue to engage mentally with the museum’s carefully curated pieces and ideas. The web is a relatively new medium, a powerful one, in which objects stored within it are untouchable to the threats of the physical world.
This relates directly to Greco’s point:
“We cannot preserve without innovation”.
In contexts, such as COVID, where the access to physical objects becomes challenging, adapting to a new medium is essential to continue fulfilling the museum’s role of preserving and creating memory. Preservation and innovation are inseparable.
Relating to the role of museums, Greco mentions how museums cannot be defined or understood outside the realm of societies. Museums provide a space where people can collectively engage in objects and ideas relevant to the culture created in the past, relevant in the present, and those that will be created in the future.
This prompted a question in my head – is social media a hub where all users can be curators of their own digital museums? Where users select moments in the form of images and videos and narrate them through attaching personal meaning to them? These questions made me imagine a near future where people prefer a quick visit to a digital museum over engaging physically in the actual site. How would this impact the role of museums? Would curators actively fight for the preservation of the physical museum? Once the general audience has access to technologies that can create perfect simulations of these physical museums, what would keep these physical museums alive? These questions become ever-more relevant with the collective increase in the time we spend online.
The answer could be simpler than we think. These mediums store the same content and information but they do not feel the same. Just as the experience of reading a physical book differs from that of reading through a screen, visiting a virtual museum will never feel the same as visiting a physical one. Physical museums distinguish themselves through layering each encounter with a feeling that only physical presence could bring.
It seems that the museum not only functions to inform but to provide an experience. In the 2024 project that Greco mentioned, the floor map shows the incorporation of spaces, such as the Egyptian garden and the literary café, that do not serve to exhibit pieces but to fulfill other needs such as eating, breathing fresh air, socializing with others, getting some sun and vitamin D etc. The incorporation of these features is not yet entirely replicable in the digital space. Until we have access to technologies that smoothly encompass all of the 5 senses – sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste – the physical museum seems to be safe from the digital invasion for a little while.
Additional Questions
Greco mentioned at one point of the talk that we, as humans, think we are powerful but objects are stronger in their ability to last and endure through generations. Digital objects seem to be at the next level of strength in terms of preservation. Does this necessarily make them more valuable? Impermanence and rarity of objects and experiences give objects value. If these digital cultures are imperishable in the form of data, making the contents permanent, how do we measure value in digital objects?
How does the field of archaeology look like in the digital space? Archaeology is “the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture.” How does one recover digital culture? Do they not have to be recovered at all?
The artifacts and artworks from different cultures are not presented based on geography or civilization
only; it focuses on human history as a whole. 
A similar example of this is a new brand of toothbrush and toothpaste that I saw for the first time in my life at the convenience store at NYU Abu Dhabi. The packaging immediately attracted my attention even though the toothbrush was 2/3rd the size of a regular toothbrush and the toothpaste was equivalent to a travel size bottle of toothpaste. Regardless of the huge difference in quantity, the price difference was inversely proportional, such that the new brand was twice the price of a Colgate Toothpaste but half its size. Similarly, the toothpaste did not have any unique features, it was a plain and simple toothbrush, but the only thing that felt different from a first look was the way it was presented, its packaging and design, immediately grabbing my attention. Being honest, I was instigated to purchase that toothbrush just to try it out, but a rational mindset prevented me from doing so.
