A ‘Legible London’ minilith in place by the river in Twickenham.
Towards the end of 2009 I was fortunate to be asked to assist City ID to create the final artwork for all the Legible London
signs in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames, including Twickenham.
An extract from the ‘finder’ mapping used on miniliths and monoliths.
An extract from the ‘planner’ mapping used on miniliths and monoliths.
This area was identified previously during a pilot study. In November of 2008, I assisted City ID during the two-week open studio
sessions which tested the design of the system, consulted with stakeholders, and created an initial placement strategy.
The area is quite unlike central London, with a finer grain of urban morphology and greater distances travelled by residents and visitors within the area. This had implications for the scale of mapping employed, the sizes of text, the portrayal of content on the mapping, and the actual products required.
Following the input and feedback of City ID the Legible London
system was modified to address the shortcomings found in this pilot study. However, the system is still not perfect, and there are shortcomings to it yet to be resolved.
The job of providing a comprehensive wayfinding approach for the whole of London is no easy task, and may ultimately prove to be impossible if boroughs decide they do not want to be branded in this way. That notwithstanding the current financial jeopardy in public finance.
