green lake park
Environmental Graphics
overview
Green Lake Park is Seattle’s most-visited public park, designed by the historic Olmsted Firm, and cherished for its green spaces, water activities, and public amenities. The park’s way-finding system has evolved to become incohesive, dated, difficult to use, and has fallen into disrepair. A redesign is needed to better serve the needs of Seattle’s current park patrons.
project specs
Time: 7 weeks
Personnel: Solo
Roles / Skills: Environmental Graphics, Wayfinding, Public Art, Placemaking, Illustration*
Tools: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Procreate
* All illustrations by F. Ostello
challenge
Use a systemic approach to design a cohesive set of icons, way-finding signage, and place-making elements that further enhance the experience of the park’s users.
solution
This was accomplished by creating a visual system that the visitor can use intuitively. The minimal color palette of neutral grays and black with one accent color allows the signage to coexist with the surrounding flora, but can also be available to the visitor at a glance. Using the simplified palette strategically, builds a mental model in the user, connecting that accent color with the most important information.
Using accessibility guidelines for type as well as simplifying as much written information as possible and translating it into graphic visual information, allows the system to be used by a larger population of non-English speakers and individuals of various reading levels.
research & concept
Seattle has one of the best park systems of any major city in North America, with many of the parks providing a temperate rain forest oasis in a bustling urban setting. Green Lake Park is unique amongst them. It is interactive, educational and busy, and serves as the centerpiece of a vibrant neighborhood. A major part of my research is having spent many hours at Green Lake, whether it be attending an annual cultural event like the Luminata parade or spending a normal afternoon fishing.
The Scandinavian and Japanese tradition of black and gray architecture influenced the color palette. This is often a pleasing by-product of scorching lumber in order to make it water repellent. An intensification of the surrounding color occurs while also lightly camouflaging the facade.
icon suite
Green Lake needs a lot of icons based on the sheer number of amenities, and they all need to be displayed together on a map. That being the case, they must be easily recognizable, economical, and consistent with each other and the rest of the design system.
I took a traditional approach to accomplish this, using the existing model of a classic icon to reach the widest audience.
signage family
The goal in designing the signage and wayfinding system was to keep it simple and give the viewer the information they need in the quickest way. By providing as many symbolic visual cues as possible and keeping text to a minimum, the information is accessible and conveyed efficiently.
orientation map
The map currently being used at Green Lake serves as more of a neighborhood map, too busy with information more helpful to the motorist than to the park-goer.
The solution to this was creating a new map highlighting only the major thoroughfares that lead to and away from the park. This created more space to represent distance and scale accurately and directing more of the focus towards the amenities.
point of interest
Green Lake is known as one of the best urban fisheries in western Washington with stocked trout available year-round and serves as a great place for the young angler to learn. It also boasts over
170 species of birds, especially waterfowl, because of the size of the lake and its duck island protected area.
A series of detailed sketches round out these points of interest signs highlighting some of the bird and fish species one may encounter.
path rules
There is a two-lane path that circles the lake, shared by walkers, runners, and bikers.
The current path signage is misplaced and can be confusing as to which side is a two-way lane
and what activities are allowed.
regulation
Over the years they have added new regulation signs to the park as new safety requirements present themselves. Often these signs are produced decades apart, seemingly by different institutions as well, creating an overall inconsistent visual message. The viewer might miss a
crucial sign regarding park rules because it didn’t fit the same visual system they have grown accustomed to.
A simple system for all signage in the park solves this issue. Creating a drag-and-drop scenario whenever a new safety concern arises.
public art
Bronze sculptures representing animals highlighted in the point-of-interest signage serve as public art. Keeping the statues small or life-size in scale will allow them to blend into the surroundings (the occasional larger-than-life peanut is the fun exception). I imagine Instagram photographers will appreciate it when real animals interact with these bronze rascals. Sculptures would be stamped with their scientific name for the curious of mind.
aqua theatre - placemaking
While my public art sculptures will celebrate the beauty and whimsy of our animal friends, the Aqua Theatre will celebrate the beauty of the human form while nodding to Seattle’s aviation industry. Large-scale 3D murals fabricated by local artists will be viewable from multiple viewing stations equipped with classic 3D (Cyan and Magenta) glasses.
