The Tourist Signage System in Lviv
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Contents1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Who needs tourist signage? What is the
current situation? What should a system for tourist signage be?
What does the Tourist Signage System comprise? Typography and
colour Signs for street names and building numbers Tourist site
pictograms Signs to tourist sites City map
10 Information signposts 11 Road signs for tourists arriving by
car or bus 12 Summary 13 Project authors
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Who needs tourist signage?Individual domestic tourists They
arrive in the city by train, bus, or car, often in small groups.
Lviv may be their final destination, or a stop on their way
elsewhere. They need a thorough source of information about the
city.
What is the current situation?Until recently, there has never
been a comprehensive signage system, either in Lviv or in Ukraine
in general. Existing signs (tourist maps, identifying or
orientation signs) are installed chaotically, randomly, without
reference to any kind of strategy for orientating a person within a
given environment, and without analysis of his or her informational
needs. The navigational media that do exist in the city do not
conform to requirements of legibility, accessibility, or
reliability; they are not informative or aesthetically
pleasing.
Individual foreign tourists
This group requires a great deal of information about everything
to do with staying in the city: hotels, dining, tourist
attractions, getting around the city. As a rule, they do not speak
Ukrainian and find it difficult communicating with the local
population and making their way through the city. They are
interested in swift and thorough visits to tourist attractions.
They need information about the location of tourist sites and
service spots and how to get to them as quickly as possible. They
also prefer to plan their routes independently. These groups
require more in-depth information about tourist sites, services,
shops, etc.
Organized domestic groups
Organized foreign tourist groups
Permanent and temporary inhabitants of Lviv
They need in-depth and easily accessible information about sites
and events in the city.
Graphic design and typeface selections are unprofessional and
incompatible with the environment, with which they relate. Written
texts are not translated and not transliterated.
Modern plastic signs that are illuminated are not reliable, as
some of them become damaged almost immediately after
installation.
Tourist maps of the city are mostly illegible because of an
overload of cluttered and often outdated information.
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What should a system for tourist signage be?Understandable
Transliterated textsAccording to statistical research conducted by
the Tourism Information Centre, the proportion of domestic tourists
to foreign tourists is 60 to 30 percent. The biggest problem faced
by foreign visitors to Lviv is their inability to read the Cyrillic
alphabet. It is, therefore, imperative that a system of
transliteration be introduced into the development of signage for
tourists in the city.
Compatible LegibleSigns should be easily and quickly legible to
drivers, cyclists, people with sight impairment, people in
wheelchairs, in cloudy weather, at dusk, and during dark periods of
the day.
Sustainable Compatible with world signage standardsAll elements
of the tourist signage system, in particular pictogram systems,
colour schemes, translation and transliteration into foreign
languages should relate to world standards for signage to enable
foreign tourists to easily understand them.
Friendly to the urban environmentThe rich and varied
architectural environment of Lviv is its most precious and
important asset, attracting tourists from all over the world to the
city. This is precisely why a system for tourist signage should not
dominate nor be dissonant with it. All of the elements of a tourist
signage system should, on the one hand, be friendly to the
environment, but on the other, able to compete with other signs and
advertisements that are situated on building facades and themselves
interfere with the historical environment.
Long-lastingElements of the Tourist Signage System should be
weather resistant, especially in conditions of fluctuations in
temperature or high humidity; they should be easy to clean and
maintain, and be sturdy and resistant to acts of vandalism.
Cost-effectiveSigns should be inexpensive to produce in small
quantities.
Wayfinding signs should first and foremost be functional
elements of the city environment and they should relay precisely
the information a person needs at precisely the moment a person
needs it6 7
What does the Tourist Signage System comprise?Street nameplates
and numbers Pictograms of tourist objects Pedestrian signposts
decision point
Orientational signsMaps and plans located at crossroads. They
help a person find the way and plan a route.
Directional signsThey are placed at a distance from sites, as a
rule, at decision-making points. They inform an individual about
directions, and provide an opportunity for independent choice. They
contain arrows, site names, and pictograms.
Identification signsThey are placed at sites and let a person
know that they have reached their destination. They inform about
what the site is. These are street signs and signs near the
entrance to a building.
City maps
Information pylons
Road signs for car tourists
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Typography and colours
As the street plate should fit in with architectural environment
of Lviv city, therefore, the typeface used should consider the
typefaces of the end of XIX beginning of XX century. During
that
and later times there were a lot of advertising on buildings,
and based on those typefaces there was created modern legible
typeface to be used in the city wayfinding system.
We have developed the figures for modern plates based on
beautiful figures designed before the 2 World War, which some of
them have been preserved on building plates.
In order to succeed maximum legibility it is important to
achieve the contrast between the background and the typeface.
However, the streets of Lviv city are overloaded with bright
advertising; the street plates should not be dissonant, but to the
contrary, fit into environment. It was decided to use as background
colour the dominating environment colour (intense dark brown), that
at the same time correspond with European norms for tourist
signage.
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Street plates with names and numbers
The typeface remains legible in the twilights and readable for
people with poor sight
Latin letters designed in the way that transliteration is
legible despite of smaller font size
White typeface on dark background remains legible even in
twilights. Enamel covering is strong and longlasting
City coat of arms has been modified for better recognition from
the distance
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Pictograms of tourist objects
As most of tourist attraction objects in Lviv have unique and
recognizable silhouettes, there has been developed the whole system
of pictograms for their atching. It helps tourists a lot in their
wayfinding in the city. The object placed in the pictogram was
simplified to maximum, but remains recognizable. Pictograms are
well perceived in all system elements informational signposts, city
maps, etc. The object depicted in pictogram can be successfully
identified even when the pictogram is diminished by 8 mm in
diameter.
Pictograms of public transport and objects of service
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Signposts
Signposts look is based on the same composition principles as
street plates. Despite the signs fixed size, both Ukrainian and
English typeface, the object pictogram and destination arrow can be
placed on it. The pillar consists of the base, decorative links,
the top and frames to which the fingerposts plate is fixed. One
pillar may carry up to 12 signposts if necessary.
The signposts are not dissonant to architectural environment due
to colour and constructive solution, but at the same time they
remain visible and the typefaces are accurate and legible17
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City map4
Dzyga Gallery
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Museum of Religion History
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architectural monuments are situated Most of
also many museums, theatres and other tourist which makes it
difficult to place all of attractions, - m of Religion on the map.
A detailed background and basic them 4 7 Pharmacy Museum y 45
a Gallery in the small central part of the city. There are
Museum of Religion principles for placing objects interest has
of tourist 4 7 Historybeen developed. For tourist wayfinding system
a Dzyga Gallery 5 special map with following features was
designed:Museum of Religion History
-Pharmacy Museum
Royal Arsenal
Gunp
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. ( )St. Eucharist Church (Dominican Church) 4 7 5
universal
scalable
legible
any general or more specific 2 information can be placed on
it;
Royal Arsenal
Glass Museum Gunpowder Tower
. - ( ) Pharmacy MuseumGlass Museum Royal Arsenal
can be reproduced at different 4 scales, from large information
pylons to the small tourist guides;
the map remains understandable in big and small scales.
.texts the map All 2 on Post office museum )
have been transliterated . 4 2 ( ) or translated into English
Eucharist Church (Dominican Church) 9 Glass Museum St. Eucharist
Church (Dominican Church)2 4 7 5 Graphic and colour map solution
helps quickly identify necessary group of objects: 2Historical
Museum Post office museum
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Gunpowder Tower St. Eucharist Church (Dominican Church)
Post office museum
Gunpowder Tower
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Royal Arsenal 4 7 5
Historical Museum
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Assumption Church 2 9 1 2
Assumption Church 2 9
4 7 5
and China
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2 Museum of Furniture 10 12 1 16
3 Assumption Church Historical MuseumMuseum of Furniture
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1 2
Assumption Church 1 2
First aid station
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and China 2 1 10 9 16 Key points of tourist interest 2 Museums,
theatres and other tourist 12 attractions
2 Public transport network, emergency 9 and public services
station 3 First aid
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1 and China 16 and also pavement, crossings, steps, street
names, building numbers, parks, pedestrian 10 16 11 directions to
theaid stationstation and bus station, and international highways
numbers. First railway 12First aid station
Museum of Furniture
Armoury Museum
50 11 49 3
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1 11 35
3
Armoury Museum
Golden Rose Synagogue
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9 30
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Information pylons
. pl. henerala Hryhorenka
Road signs for car tourists
. St. George Cathedral
Central Railway station
Lviv Polytechnic University
Organ Hall
Lviv University
Most tourist attractions are concenrated in the small central
part of the city. In order to provide more information on the
objects special two-sided pylons with the indication of location
and directions to key destinations have been developed.
For tourists who travel by car, a series of road signs to the
objects of tourist interest has been developed. Taking into account
the fact that most of these objects are situated in the central
part of the city, there is no need to display all of them on the
signs. To show the direction to the city centre would be enough.
Apart from the city centre, the road signs show the car tourists
the way to St. Georges Cathedral, Lychakiv cemetery and Folk
Architectre Museum. Road signs have been developed according to the
Road Signs State Standard 41002002. However there is also a place
for few innovations, in particular a brown background and text with
pictograms.
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SummaryWithin the framework of the project aimed at developing
an infrastructure for tourist information in Lviv, the following
measures were implemented for the first time in Ukraine: A
comprehensive and well-reasoned system for tourist signage in the
city. The planning of the tourist signage system by its very nature
took into account a number of disciplines: urban planning,
architecture, history, graphic design, design of elements within
the urban landscape, information design, and tourism. A methodology
was developed for the planning of a system for information and
orientation; the best ways of visualizing information were
determined on the basis of tourist needs and were consistent
throughout all types of informational signs. A completely unique
and independent graphic design solution. All elements within the
system (typeface, maps, pictograms, etc.) were designed exclusively
for the Tourist Signage System of Lviv. No elements were borrowed
from third parties or organizations in order to avoid any possible
copyright infringement. All rights to use design elements are
reserved for the Lviv City Council. A universal, legible vector map
of the city. The prevailing problem of existing city maps and
topographic plans is their illegibility, which is caused by the
clutter of too much various information. For the first time in
Ukraine a city map has been developed on the basis on information
design. All information included in the map is well-structured and
visualized; this method enables the introduction of a great deal of
information, including transliteration of all place names and other
text, while at the same time preserving legibility. The city map
covers the historical city centre; its buildings and blocks are
depicted using satellite imagery. The vectorbased map allows
reproduction in any scale and has two levels of detail. A pictogram
scheme for points of interest, tourist sites. Forty pictograms were
designed for the rapid identification of leading points of
interest. Their most important characteristic is the fact that they
are recognizable both at great distances (which allows their
depiction on signs) and also at a minimal size of 8 mm in diameter
(necessary for pocket city maps or guidebooks). A series of road
signs with directions to points of interest. During the course of
the project two unique typefaces were developed containing Latin,
Cyrillic, and Eastern European alphabets. Also developed were: 2
city maps, 60 pictograms, 4 thematic maps in two scales; 4 sign
types including their construction design; installation design of
all system elements; 20 prototypes and test samples; 170 signs with
street names and 400 signposts to points of interest. This work was
implemented over the course of 2 years.
Project authors
Design, art-direction Petro Nahirnyy
Typeface design Yuriy Krukevych
Map design Mykhailo Tsaryk
Pictograms design
Project supervisor Vasyl Kosiv, Head of Graphic Design
Department, Lviv National Arts Academy project coordinator Olga
Plesak, project assistant Oksana Yablonska, The authors are
grateful for support and assistance to Oleksiy Poburko, Natalia
Petryk, Olena Holysheva, Nadiya Lutsiv and Katherina Stelmakh,
Mykhailo Titarenko, Yuriy Kutnyy, Oleksandr Novitskyy, Graphic
Design Department of Lviv National Arts Academy, and also everyone
who has been involved in project creation and implementation. Lviv
City Council, 2010 .
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Lviv, 1 Rynok sq, Tourist information center Phone: +38 (0322)
54 60 79 e-mail: [email protected] www.touristinfo.lviv.ua
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