Digital Wayfinding

 

 

The project

The subject Digital Wayfinding has developed with the aim of encouraging the students of the MA in Visual and Innovation Design to put into practice what they have learned on the redevelopment project for San Lorenzo district and, more broadly, to use visual Communication as a medium to create meaning and shared values.

The project developed from the imageability of the area, namely the ability of some place to convey its own image in a way that can be easily remembered. By identifying the urban, architectural, historical and social characteristics of the district, the project highlighted the existing criticalities and possibilities that the inhabitants and goers of the district experience. The final analysis of landmarks, boundaries, routes and hubs of the area became the starting point for designing specific ideas.

On the basis of the notions of orientation and knowledge of the area, the suggested itineraries aimed at improving the potential development of San Lorenzo district, to be social, urban, cultural and sustainable. Such result can happen through culture and creativity, two means that can encourage active engagement aiming at growth and space renewal.

Thinking of different types of actions, both temporary and permanent, the project have presented thematic itineraries, both in space and thought, to make the district safer and easier to discover, and thus increase confidence and identity conscience in its inhabitants.

The students’ projects covered:
Historical tours of the district, such as the Street Art tour that connect San Lorenzo to the world
Specific places of the district, such as the signage for the university campus and the Verano Monumental
Cemetery
Events in San Lorenzo, such as multicultural festivals or street art festivals
San Lorenzo ‘in between physical and virtual’, a virtual reality game of tours around the district
San Lorenzo ‘by night’, the district that changes at night and becomes safer and more ‘contemporary’