Legible London
Oh, yeah!
When we visited London one of our tasks was to observe and analyse Legible London project. Legible London is a city–wide wayfinding system for London. It was initiated and designed for pedestrians by Transport for London. It was implemented to help visitors and local residents to easily gain local geographic knowledge regardless of the area they are in.There are approximately 1300 Legible London signs – known as Monoliths, Midiliths, Miniliths and Fingerposts – installed across London, and the system is continuing to expand. It is currently believed to be the world’s largest pedestrian wayfinding project.
Map of all signs in London and around
As a visitor of London, I have found it very useful, because I am a person who gets easily lost, even with a pocket map in my hands. But this signage is very smart designed and easy to read, even for "dummies" like me. What I really appreciated is the fact, when you look at their map, you see what is on the map exactly at the same direction you are facing at. You do not have overthinking which direction to go because it tells you exactly this is what is in front of you, have a look. What I also like and I do not think I am the only one is the information how long does it takes to get there. I think this is useful not just for visitors of London. Because everything on the map looks far away and people, of course, do not want to walk hours to get somewhere, especially in London where time means money. But by showing that it takes only 5 minutes to get to a certain place, it encourages you to walk that distance instead of taking a tube. And bonus? It is more healthy!
So who is their audience? I would say everybody - young, old, Londoners, "others", English speaking people, foreigners, girls, boys - simply everyone. Especially the map is designed that even if you can't speak English, it will nicely show you how to get from A to B, moreover, it will show you also some landscape point that are worth to see on your way.
Overall I think this is a very clever idea and fortune worth project. It has been designed by professional people and I am not surprised that this system is used all over the world because this is a very good project.
In terms of colors, I love it. Yellow color is very visible, screaming out of the crowd but it is not that aggressive like red could be. I really like the strip on top, because you can see it from the distance. They also using blue and red signs (red is for a bicycle if you want to borrow and blue is by the river). As I mentioned before, the map is very good designed. While the map is illustrated in 2D, significant landmarks are shown in 3D, helping users identify the urban environment.
I have done some research and I have found that the typeface is copyrighted by TFL and it is call 'New Johnston'.I personally see very close relationship between this typeface and Gill Sans that is used for London underground. I think this is a perfect combination because people who are used on London Underground identity can easily transform into this system.
legible London and it's walking circles
They are using almost 100% of space. There is basic information on the sides as well
Detail on legible London map. As you can see it is very well designed - 3D model of landscapes, you are here sign, walking circle.
