Leading the way
Published: 30 September, 2008
Wayfinding signage is vital to make a shopping centre safe and easy to navigate. Frustrated shoppers, who can't find their way out of the car park or struggle to locate the toilets, may decide not to return. Hence, getting it right is paramount.
Merson Signs advises on the location of signage. Gave McMurray, sales and marketing director, says: "We have our own wayfinding consultants who are qualified to design an effective scheme. There's a considerable amount of science behind it."
One of Merson's consultants was responsible for all the wayfinding work in the BAA airports - a far more demanding proposition than a shopping centre. "We can deliver wayfinding effectively in a stressful airport environment, which means that working in shopping centres is far easier," adds McMurray.
Barrier and queue management firm Tensator understands that getting it right could be a matter of life and death. When visiting one shopping centre recently, a member of staff from Tensator was present when an alarm went off, and as people were evacuated from the shopping centre a man was stuck at the top of an escalator which had been shut down. Due to poor signage at the centre, he didn't know how to get to the exit so he had to be helped down by the member of staff from Tensator.
The firm is launching a 'Shopping Centre Safety and Signage' campaign this month to draw attention to the need for effective wayfinding signage that works for every conceivable outcome.
Faye Burtwell, business development manager for the retail sector at Tensator, says: "When I visited a shopping centre recently I came in from the car park entrance on a high floor and as I came in all the alarms were going off. The escalators were still working and nothing was cordoned off. No one had a clue how to get out."
Burtwell explains that their Wall Mount product can be permanently attached to a wall and clipped to the wall opposite when the webbing, which can carry a safety message, such as Do Not Exit, is pulled out. This means shoppers can be alterted quickly and easily in the case of an incident not to enter or use escalators and certain exits, and this can be combined with signs that will sit on top of these barriers explaining where the main exits are.
"I think shopping centres wait until something happens before doing anything about it," says Burtwell. "Myself and a colleague went to another shopping centre where an incident occurred nearby and they started panicking. We went around the whole shopping centre to show them where they needed these wall-mounted barriers."
The campaign will be by direct mail to all management suites at all the shopping centres in the UK. "It's quite a hard-hitting campaign telling centre managers they are responsible for this and that they need to take action," adds Burtwell.
Of course, while safety is of paramount importance to the installation of wayfinding signage, the aesthetics of a permanent signage package are becoming increasingly important to the design of a shopping centre and the brand image the developers want to portray. McMurray points out: "We turn their branding design from a 2-D concept into 3-D design that fits into shopping centre architecture, and the earlier we get involved the better.
"It must recognise the architecture and promote the brands clearly and effectively, while at the same time providing contrast and clarity.
"Signage falls within DDA requirements and we therefore have to consider the needs of all the different users - those in wheelchairs and those who are partially sighted. The wayfinding sign must stand out from the background of the mall, so people know that it's there, and suitable lettering must be used that stands out from the sign background."
McMurray says Merson Signs has noticed a definite trend for shopping centres to want to be individual with their signage and use it as an architectural feature.
"Signage is becoming more and more a part of the whole vision of a building," he says. "It's not an add-on but an integral element of the centre itself."
He explains how LED lights are increasingly being used in signage applications. "People are promoting LED lighting as the be-all and end-all, but we review it on a case by case basis," he says. "Sometimes we use more traditional forms of lighting such as neon and fluorescent.
"There's an increasing use of graphics in shopping centres and often a large graphics wall is part of the signage package. A lot of these will be digitally printed and that's just one of the many options available when creating the look and feel of a centre.
"It's definitely becoming more interesting. It's probably something to do with shopping centres competing more and more for tenants. They want to make the whole place as attractive as possible and as enjoyable an experience as possible for the customer, and signage can have a lot to do with that.
"A centre might have a personality and style about it, if its owners are trying to attract a certain type of shopper. Signage can really help in conveying that specific image and vision. Wayfinding signage ensures every visit is an enjoyable experience."
Being appointed at an early stage also helps, says McMurray. At Silverburn, Merson Signs was engaged by Building Design Partnership (BDP) - the project architects - early in the design process to assist with overall specification development and cost planning.
Following a lengthy design phase where Merson's role was central to balancing aesthetic aspirations, technical constraints and commercial factors, the company was selected to implement the external wayfinding and the all-important branding signage scheme.
The primary elements of the scheme were the centre branding masts, canopy letters, wayfinding totems and fingerposts. The canopy letters, while very simple in appearance, needed extremely crisp execution with much thought given to maximum concealment of the support structure and wiring, so as to provide the minimal, floating appearance that was an essential part of the design. LED lighting was key to achieving this.
For the wayfinding signage, Merson was tasked with developing a 'new look', representing a departure from the traditional fingerpost signs. The brief in this case was 'stylish, modern, clean, crisp lines, no brackets and no visible fixings'. This led to Merson designing a wayfinding system completely from scratch.
BDP's Alastair Kell found the whole process both creative and invigorating.
"Merson took a very proactive role in getting the design from concept to being production-ready. They managed to do this within budget but without losing the key elements of our design," he comments.
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=== The Mall on the big screen ===
Digital solution specialist, Avanti Screenmedia, has installed 16 New Generation Infinite Plasmas to form a dramatic digital media signage display at The Mall in Bexleyheath.
The screens allow effective communication of marketing and promotional messages, subtly announcing and reminding visitors about special offers and events taking place within the centre.
Avanti Screenmedia worked closely with specialist distributors, PSCo, to install the screens in a four by four format, just metres above the centre's busiest walkway. Jacquelyn White, head of mall media at Avanti, explains: "These screens are key to The Mall's strategy of integrating media platforms for shoppers."
Mike Nield, Avanti's operations director, adds: "We opted for the new Infinite Plasma due to the high ambient light environment in The Mall. The redevelopment had created a much brighter space."
The New Generation Infinite Plasma features improved contrast and a special anti-reflective coating that ensures maximum brightness, colour accuracy and immaculate picture quality, even in high natural light environments.
