Wayfinding System Design for National Gallery Singapore

The National Gallery Singapore’s architecture is comprised of 2 heritage buildings. A newly built basement and an atrium space connects these 2 buildings, creating a unique blend of old and new. However, this also provides an interesting challenge in way-finding and the 2 heritage buildings were previously a city hall and a supreme court, not an art museum.

Key challenges and visitors pain points

• Visitors are not aware that there are 2 different Wings to the Gallery. The Gallery is made up of 2 Heritage buildings (2 wings) which look very different from each other. This results in visitors feeling disoriented and lost.

• Spatial or architectural challenges due to the original designs of the heritage buildings not being designed for a museum experience. Users usually do not know which floor they are at.

• Changing exhibitions lead to changes in the desired visitor flows and routes throughout the building. Temporary exhibitions can take up as little space as 1 room, to many galleries spread across multiple floors.

• Design limitations due to the buildings being heritage landmarks of the country. For example, we are limited to the ivory and grey paint colours for wayfinding, no installation of any new structure or power points on floor tiles and walls.

When a logo mark becomes a way finding device

One major visitor pain point is that visitors do not know that the museum is made up of 2 buildings (Wings).

Coincidentally, the museum’s logo mark is a graphic representation of the 2 heritage buildings. So we incorporated the museum’s logo mark into the directory and signage layout design. This visual gesture also indirectly helps visitors appreciate the story behind the museum’s branding and heritage.

Large Level Numbers as Visual Landmarks

User pain point: Not knowing which floor they are at currently.

Large numbers are placed at landing areas where users transition from 1 floor to the next, such as near escalators and at lift lobbies. This is to inform and remind users which floor they are on.

These large numbers also serve as visual landmarks that users can remember and return to if they are lost.

Exhibition Image as a Wayfinding Device

User pain point: Not being able to locate the exhibition that they want to go to.

Directional Signage System

These are more conventional and permanent signage users can use to navigate towards fixed spaces in the museum. These are placed at 3 strategic types of locations:

1. Near stairs and escalators - to indicate what’s available in the next level

2. Nodal points - these are decision making points (or confusion points) which occurs often in the museum

3. Reassurance points - these are long hallways that all look the same architecturally, users typically feels unsure when going through these spaces.

Due to budget, we repurposed as much of the original signage as possible.

We focused instead on the layout, content hierarchy, and legibility of the signage. This is important due to the complexity of the building.

After an audit of the existing signage, we decided to keep the new design very simple, clean uncluttered. Due to the complexity of the information on the signage, the focus is on functionality.

We established a content hierarchy for all visitor-facing locations in the museum. This becomes the master guideline for how the content for all signage, maps, and directories is laid out. For instance, exhibition areas should be prioritised over restaurants, so the first lines of the signage should direct users to the exhibition areas first.

Spatial challenges when designing the directional signage system:

1. Varying spatial conditions where each signage needs to be placed, such as different ceiling heights, different wall materials: solid painted, perforated wood, historical marble, and concrete.

2. Non-existent wall space in some locations

3. Almost half of the building is considered heritage areas, as such, we were not allowed to do anything to the walls, ceilings, and floors of these spaces.

4. The use of bright colours in these areas is also restricted as they alter the overall ambience of the heritage areas. Only specific grey and ivory colours are allowed.

Digital Directories at Lift Lobbies

User pain points: Not knowing which floor to go, and which lift to use.

Solutions:

• Change all directories to digital ones to better highlight key exhibitions and popular destinations at each floor. The content on these directories are synced to the museum’s CMS so every time a new exhibition is showing, these directories will be updated automatically.

• Update directory design layout to include key information: Lift lobby code, floor number, wing indicator and a QR code that users can scan to access the gallery map on their mobile phones.

Challenges:

• Per the client’s request, we are to repurpose the old diretories. As such, we are limited to the physical dimensions of the old directories.

• The old directories come in different models, some with cutouts (for a much smaller screen), some are flat surfaces, which are easier to repurpose

• We have to use the existing electrical power sources due to building restrictions. This limits the placements of these directories.