wayfinding project

fergusson college, pune.

bhagyashree tathawadedhruv mehraswapna patwardhan

faculty guide : paresh choudhury mahendra patel

fergussoncollege,pune.

Fergusson College (FC) is a degree college in western India, situated in the city of Pune. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society and was the first privately governed college in India. The college is named after Scottish born Sir James Fergusson, the Governor of Bombay, who donated a then princely sum of Rs 1,200. Since 1948, the college has been under the jurisdiction of the University of Pune.The college has two sections:The Junior Wing of the college is for students graduating from school. Courses are offered in Arts and Science streams, at the end of which students may appear for the Higher-Secondary State Certificate examination.The Senior Wing offers Bachelors Degrees in 29 disciplines and Masters Degrees in 16 disciplines, spanning electronic and computer sciences, languages, humanities and social science, life sciences and creative sciences. The college also offers doctoral and vocational programs.The 65-acre (260,000 m2) campus of the college is located in the heart of the city. It provides athletic and cultural facilities, as well as residential facilities for more than six hundred students and faculty.

visual site

problem

1. Navigation• Fergusson College has the total area of 65 acres.This is a vast campus to navigate.• It consists of four entrances which are spread across the periphery of the entire

campus. This makes it extremely confusing for a new visitor to navigate from point A to point B.

• The campus consists of many independent institutions working simultaneously. These need seperate identities for the ease of navigation.

• Fergusson College consists of Bachelor, Master degree programs as well as Junior College of its own. To facilitate this, various departments are formulated having their independent system of functioning.These departments are located throughout the campus. Students in one day need to navigate from department to department for their courses.

• It also provides various facilities likes a basketball court, volleyball courts, a badmintion hall, a football ground and many such others for the students of the college spread across the vast campus.Students access these facilities on a regular basis.

2.Exsisting Signage• The exsisting signage is highly ineffective in terms of functionality as well as

visibility.• Some signposts have been misplaced. Their orientation is also a problem in some

cases.• Few signposts have too much data for the reader to read.This confuses the reader

in turn making it difficult to register.• As the campus consists of many distinguished areas, the signpost consists of a lot

of content that too without hierarchy.• Use of arrows is repetitive and sometimes unconventional. • The stucture is simple ,boring and doesnt catch anyone’s attention. The colour

brown helps it to camaflouge with the surrounding which makes visibility a problem.

existingsignage

On visiting the campus we saw that the existing signage was not in anyway effective as students from the college were asking us for directions. The signboards often merged with the dark folliage on campus making its visibility an issue which needed rectification. The directional arrows were unclear on various occasions.

target users

primary audienceThese include new students persuing Bachelor and Master degree or the ones who are in freshers in Junior College, students who are not in Fergusson College but visit the campus due to various reasons and visiting faculty.

user profile• Well versed with basic english language • Localites/non- localites• Foreign /Indian• Age Group 16 to 55• Immediate need to identify locations• Curious• New to environment

secondary audienceThese include outsiders such as suppliers for stationary, maintainance, post delivery, home delivery, guest visitors.

user profile• Comfortable with reading basic english language• Visit rarely• Need to access a particular area• Gradually aquianted with the surrounding area

tertiary audienceThese include staff members such as teachers, peuns, security guards, clerks etc

user profile• Everyday in contact with the campus• Well versed with their own area• May not be able to locate other area

purpose of visit

educational purposewhich mainly concerns going to departments, independent colleges.

enquiry purposewhich concerns going to the main building, respective offices in the independent colleges.

hangout purposewhich concerns going to the canteen, parkings, Kimaya.

recreational purposewhich concerns going to boy’s recreational and ladies recreational halls.

sportswhich concerns going gymkhana, volleyball court, basketball court, football ground and badminton hall.

A sprawlling 65 acres in the city Fergusson College has but one map at its main en-trance, beyond which existed only signpost. We strongly felt that there was a need for a map system inside the campus due to its size. We started off by segregating the components of the college into major groups listed below :

UTILITIESRESIDENCEDEPARTMENTS (ACADEMICS)ADMINISTRATIONAUTONOMOUS COLLEGES

Based on our basic research of the college campus we furthermore refined our di-visions into 5 blocks. We chose blocks as its a known fact that to remember large pieces of information people inherently use the method of chunking which in-volves one ‘chunking’ similar bits of information for better recall.We furthermore decided to colourcode the blocks for better recollection and easy identification.

The blocks are named :

EXTENDED CAMPUS BLOCKMAIN CAMPUS BLOCKRESIDENTIAL BLOCKFACILITIES BLOCKNEW CAMPUS BLOCK

map

satellite map

plot map

F.C Road

Ground

Quarters

Volleyball Ground

Economics

Pavil

lion

DES

F.C Road

Photography

Parking

Canteen

IMDR

Audi

toriu

m

Libr

ary

TIP

Physics

Chemistrty

Mai

n Bu

ildin

g

Basketball Court

Amphithetre

N M Wadia

Bank

B J Wadia Library

Kimaya

Badminton

Electronic ScienceTutorialBuilding

BoysHostel

1

BoysHostel

3

BoysHostel

4

BoysHostel

2

BoysMess

BoysMess

Quarters

DESLaw College

Fergusson Junior College

Microbiology

Com

pute

r S

cien

ce

Phys

ioth

erap

y

QuartersTennis Court

Ladies Hostel

Ladi

es H

oste

l

JRVJTI

Workshop

GeographyGeologyBotonyZoology

Fergusson Hill

BMCC

Maths

Boys

re

crea

tiona

l

Psyc

hoL.

C

Ladies Mess

BadmintonHall

Cant

een

Parking

Parking

M.S

cEl

ectr

onic

s

Bunglows

Bunglows

Bunglows

Bunglowsand

Quarters

Quarters

BotanicalGarden

Chat

ursh

rung

i Roa

d

MMCC

Main gate

3rd Gate

Girl’s HostelGate

BackGate

explainingthe

block system

The Block System was designed to help people chunk information into major parts which in turn help them to recall the desired information with ease. The Blocks were further colour coded so that have an identity of their own and can be easily distuinguished from each other.

The map was divided into 5 main blocks for ease of access and understanding, they are :

the main block

the extented block

the new block

the facilities block

the resedential block

the extented block

the new block

the facilities block

theresedential block

the main block

Boys RecreationBotony & ZoologyChemistryEconomicsElectrical SciGeography & GeologyMain BuildingMaths M.S.C Elec SciPhotographyPhysicsPsychologyTutorial building

AmphithetreB.J.WBadminton HallBankBasketball CourtBotanical GardenCanteenGroundsGymkhanaKIMAYALibraryParking 1 & 2Tennis Court

BiotechonlogyComputer SciD.E.S LawnsF.A.S.C.SFergusson CollegeMicrobiologyPhysiotheraphyToon School

BunglowsHostelsMessStaff Quarters

AuditoriumCanteenI.M.D.RLibrary J.R.V.J.T.IParkingT.I.PWorkshop

the block system

comparison After finishing dividing the campus into 5 major blocks we noticed that people found it easier to navigate the campus. The colour coded blocks helped people to easily identify with the blocks.

F.C Road

Ground

Quarters

Volleyball Ground

Economics

Pavil

lion

F.C Road

Photography

Des

Canteen

IMDR

Auditorium

Libr

ary

TIP

Physics

Chemistrty

Mai

n Bu

ildin

g

Basketball Court

AmphithetreWadia

Bank

Wadia Library

Kimaya

Badminton

Electronic ScienceTutorialBuilding

BoysHostel

1

BoysHostel

3

BoysHostel

4

BoysHostel

2

BoysMess

BoysMess

Quarters

DESLaw College

Fergusson Junior College

Microbiology

Com

pute

r S

cien

ce

Phys

ioth

erap

y

QuartersTennis Court

Ladies Hostel

Ladi

es H

oste

l

Cant

een

Psyc

hoLC

Botony and Zoology

Parking

BotanicalGarden

Geo

grap

hy a

ndG

eolo

gy

Mat

hs

Boys

Rec

reat

ion

JRVJTI

Workshop

Bunglows

Bunglows and

Quarters

Bunglows

MSC

Ele

tron

ics

Fergusson Hill

BMCC

MMCC

Chat

ursh

rung

i Roa

d

3rd Gate

Main Gate

Girl’s Hostel Gate

Back Gate

Parking

Parking

Ladies Mess

Badminton

F.C Road

Ground

Quarters

Volleyball Ground

Economics

Pavil

lion

F.C Road

Photography

Des

Canteen

IMDR

Auditorium

Libr

ary

TIP

Physics

Chemistrty

Mai

n Bu

ildin

g

Basketball Court

AmphithetreWadia

Bank

Wadia Library

Kimaya

Badminton

Electronic ScienceTutorialBuilding

BoysHostel

1

BoysHostel

3

BoysHostel

4

BoysHostel

2

BoysMess

BoysMess

Quarters

DESLaw College

Fergusson Junior College

Microbiology

Com

pute

r S

cien

ce

Phys

ioth

erap

y

QuartersTennis Court

Ladies Hostel

Ladi

es H

oste

l

Cant

een

Psyc

hoLC

Botony and Zoology

Parking

BotanicalGarden

Geo

grap

hy a

ndG

eolo

gy

Mat

hs

Boys

Rec

reat

ion

JRVJTI

Workshop

Bunglows

Bunglows and

Quarters

Bunglows

MSC

Ele

tron

ics

Fergusson Hill

BMCC

MMCC

Chat

ursh

rung

i Roa

d

3rd Gate

Main Gate

Girl’s Hostel Gate

Back Gate

Parking

Parking

Ladies Mess

Badminton

Ex tended Ca mpus Bl ock

Main Ca mpus Bl ock

Resedential Bl ock

Fa cilities Bl ock

New Ca mpus Bl ock

decision points

what is a decision point?

A decision point is a place where one has to make a decision, judge, conclude, or give a verdict. It’s the act of making up one’s mind. Decision points are the points where one needs to make a decision, using the available information. The majority of people following a particular route may experience the same decision points, not everyone will behave or react in the same way. The location of the key decision points at the site and what information is required at each point should be identified to form a basis for the wayfinding strategy and system at the site.The content on the decision point step by step guides you to reach the desired location.We plotted 17 key decision points which were necessary for easy navigation throughout the 65 acre campus.

process

process

inference

design criteria

The campus needs proper signage and wayfinding system for easy navigation.The existing signage is not entirely effective in terms of functionality as well as visibility. Hence, there needs to be signage which is properly visible and simple enough to guide someone from point A to point B.

The campus requires signposts for wayfinding as well as spot signage for identification of a particular area.The signpost content must corelate to each other so that the instructions are easy to follow and understand.They must maintain synergy in terms of structure, visual elements, hierarchy and colour.

By understanding the various purposes of a visit to this campus, we discovered that there are particular areas in which most of the activity happens. The need of effective signage leading to those areas as well as within those areas is important

Following is the criteria necessary for effective signage in the campus :

• Less content• Effective grouping of data in case of large content• Use of interesting structures• Visually pleasing• Simple to understand instructions• Correct placement• Good contrast between the background and fore-

ground• Synergy • Legible typography

thank you