Tidying up the list in the wayfinding system at Amsterdam Central Station

https://knowhowtodesign.notion.site/Tidying-up-the-list-in-the-wayfinding-system-at-Amsterdam-Central-Station-1cea2d4e7d028040a797eb6ca48d720a?pvs=4

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KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Hit Pause

Taking extended breaks from work is important. Not a holiday, but proper professional pauses — switching from branding to video, from industrial design to type, or whatever it is you usually do.

Back when I was deeply into music, daily practice started to wear me out. I was getting tired, and my technique was slipping — I played worse than I had just a week earlier. Eventually, I just paused. Didn’t touch the instrument for two whole months. And when I came back, I played way better than before.

Design works the same way. Sometimes you just need to stop. Step away from the routine and stop doing the usual stuff for a while. When you return, your head feels clearer, and your brain works faster and more flexibly.

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KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

Eye Level

A wayfinding totem has both readable and “blind” zones. In a standard scenario, average-height individuals and wheelchair users are taken into account. This gives us a general idea of the effective zones. The image doesn’t show the field of view yet, but that’s a topic for another time.

Of course, not all user groups will be fully satisfied, but ideally, 70–80% of people should be able to use your totem effectively.

https://www.firstinarchitecture.co.uk/metric-data-01-average-dimensions-of-person-standing/
https://www.firstinarchitecture.co.uk/metric-data-03-average-dimensions-of-wheelchair-user/

Adjustments may be needed depending on several factors:
– whether the totem is indoors or outdoors;
– the general eyesight of the audience (for example, a totem in an eye clinic might need a different approach);
– accessibility (how close users can get);
– traffic and congestion around the totem;
– how the material responds to lighting;
– typography and font size.

Also keep in mind that average human height varies from country to country.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

​​The team designed the station navigation
https://www.heroshots.nl/portfolio/stationseiland-amsterdam-centraal/

The signage layout is very poor. Arrows are aligned with the centre of the carrier, while the information is aligned with the top, which in some cases makes the arrows just dangle separately.

Scenarios with long names aren’t taken into account, which causes the text to merge with the distance and the arrow. I wouldn’t be afraid to break it into two lines.

The distance looks like a dock number or something similar. In fact, I didn’t immediately realise what it was meant to represent — metres, kilometres, or hours. It’s crucial to add units like km. Also, the fill should be reduced by 30%, and a placement principle should be established. At the moment, the distance is always on the right side of the direction, which creates an absurd result on left-facing signs: the distance appears visually disconnected from the arrow.

There’s no developed logic or principle for grouping the information. For example, if we already have direction and transport icons, why not also indicate tickets valid for the route right there? That would free up an entire sign.

Icons in their squares are currently more prominent than the names, when it should be the other way around. Write “Train”, “Bus”, “Metro”, “Tram”, and accompany them subtly with pictograms.

Conclusion: the navigation needs proper layout just as much as it needs logic and principles. Different scenarios must be tested before rolling out a solution.

——
KnowHowToDesign
https://www.youtube.com/@steblina
https://linktr.ee/steblina

How to Think About a Design Project

Imagine a supermarket comes to you with a brief to refresh the in-store design: price labels, door signs, signage, posters, promotions, display stands, baskets. To create messaging, a tone of voice, layouts, visual emphasis, and supporting illustrations.

If you try to look at all of this as a single unit of design, your brain gives up. But if you look at it as a system — where every new element follows a set of rules — it becomes far easier to bring everything under one roof.

For instance, all carriers can be broken down by:
— location;
— message type;
— scale;
— function.

From a systems perspective, it doesn't matter whether we're looking at a poster, a sign, or a price label. We introduce a series of rules. An example of carrier rules:
1. No larger than A4.
2. Not used in exterior spaces (or: "used adjacent to product").
3. Contains promotional information.
4. Includes a call to action.

Alongside these, we attach copy and image constraints: no more than 5 words in the headline, 10 words in the subline, and a single illustration (or icon).

This means that shelf talkers, promotional stickers, wobblers, stoppers, danglers, and similar POS materials all receive their own visual and formatting constraints. Price labels or mobiles, on the other hand, fall outside this group — either because they carry operational information, or because they exceed the size limit.

From rules like these, a cross-reference table is built (think bingo card). So if a staff member wants to print an A3 shelf talker, they'll immediately see it falls outside the system — and that they need to either produce a poster and mount it on the wall, or reduce the size.

This is a simplified example, of course — in practice, constraints also account for material, how temporary the information is, urgency, and so on.