Navigating St. Lawrence Market

by all | 11 February 2014 8:30 am

By Peter Saunders
Earlier this year, National Geographic—while promoting one of its books, Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe—ranked Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market as the best food market anywhere in the world. One of the reasons the publisher cited for this honour was how the historic facility, where “more than 120 retailers dispense everything from seafood to coffee,” has been kept fresh and vibrant.

“Redeveloped between the 1970s and 1990s after long neglect, the area’s mix of homes and businesses showcases urban regeneration,” the magazine reported.

Coincidentally, St. Lawrence Market—which has operated continuously for more than 200 years, since opening in 1803—is now undergoing another phase of redevelopment. The North Building is slated to be replaced by a new, glass-filled facility in 2014. And in the meantime, Toronto-based Shikatani Lacroix Design (SLD) was recently commissioned to develop a cohesive wayfinding system for the South Building.

Market analysis
In late 2009, once SLD had won the job following a request for proposals (RFP), the design firm published a report on how wayfinding was taking place in St. Lawrence Market and how it could be improved.

“We approached the job with a complete analysis, then came back with our thoughts,” says Sheryl Keller Ziesmann, SLD’s design director for wayfinding.

 [2]The report began by addressing poorly identified entranceways before progressing indoors, where directories and signs implemented at different times were scattershot and difficult to see, failing to provide a ‘sense of arrival,’ along with further navigation. New wayfinding signs would need to both fit into the environment and stand out enough to prove useful.

[3]“You look at the whole experience from when someone arrives,” says Ziesmann.

The South Building is a bustling meeting place for farmers, artisans and city dwellers. Most simply explore its many corners and levels without looking at signs, but some require more effective direction throughout the building. SLD’s comprehensive system needed to meet Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) accessibility standards, help visitors find restrooms and other amenities and provide better orientation in general.

“The intention was never to unify all of the market signage, but the wayfinding needed to be improved, because no one could find the stairs, washrooms and elevators,” says Ziesmann. “While 95 per cent of the customers just come in and wander, others want to know immediately where something is, so identifying the amenities was one of our main priorities. Another was getting new visitors down to the shops on the lower level, which we achieved with large red arrows on posts near the stairs.”

Complying with ODA was also a top priority.

“The city’s implementing it rigorously in new buildings,” Ziesmann says, “but it’s hard to put accessibility signs in a big market where people will actually find and touch them.”

To respond to these varying needs, SLD used a combination of maps and directories with braille dots and tactile characters, complemented by 7.6-m (25-ft) red ‘street post’ signs.

“We brought in people from the municipal government and checked in with the Canadian Institute for the Blind (CNIB),” says Ziesmann. “We used their colour contrast specifications for greys and whites and looked at Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) standards. They’re great resources, as the signs have to work for everyone.”

Post production
The post signs echoed the names of the streets surrounding the South Building (Front, Market, Jarvis and Esplanade), as well as adding a ‘Main Street’ through the middle and representing the city’s major ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ Streets. The ground-floor naming system was then reflected in the basement level with Lower Front, Lower Market, etc.

“It’s both a replacement system and an add-on,” Ziesmann says. “The existing system was missing consistency in sign colours, shapes, fonts and messaging, so it all blended into a clutter, rather than becoming recognizable as a system. The market’s manager felt a new system was really needed and had been after the city for funding for a long time. Visitors look for consistency and we pushed a simple red and grey scheme.”

The indoor street posts were topped with shapes representing the various sections of the market—including silhouettes of a rooster, fish, flower, sausage, cake and wine bottle—to add personality and break through other visual clutter, as the more than 50 specialty vendors in the South Building all have their own non-standard signs.

“Our clients—which included the city and the manager—didn’t have a specific idea about what they wanted,” Ziesmann says, “so we had a lot of freedom, as long as the signs fit into the esthetic of the market and were somewhat subtle. They didn’t want them to stand out and ‘scream.’”

The sign posts were manufactured and installed by Zip Signs, based in Burlington, Ont. To ensure the weathered wood posts would be sufficiently sturdy, a steel pole was inserted into each and then into the floor beneath. The positions of these signs were chosen based on common walking paths and decision points.

“The clients were very happy with the sign posts,” says Ziesmann, “and the vendors are already getting asked less frequently about the washroom locations.”

Downstairs, meanwhile, given the lower ceiling, some directional signs were hung instead of posted in the floor. Illuminated washroom signs were replaced with non-illuminated—but still bold and eye-catching—graphics.

“Due to a lack of maintenance, the older signs weren’t illuminated anymore anyway,” says Ziesmann. “And some washroom doors did not have signs on them at all, failing to meet standards for accessibility.”

Throughout the sign system, the typography was inspired by the market’s original exterior signage.

“The marketing manager wanted the system to fit into the history of the building, which already includes a gallery featuring the city’s collection of historic photos,” says Ziesmann. “One of our goals was to pay homage to the heritage of the site, whereas the new North Building will have a much more modern feel. We feel wayfinding plays a big role in branding; it is so different from project to project.”

Work in progress
At the same time as the wayfinding signs were installed, interior designers renovated the lower-level washrooms and added wood laminate to the main lobby. The redesign process continues today with the implementation of directories and other signage elements.

“Every entrance will have a set of vendor directories and there will also be some exterior ones,” says Ziesmann. “It won’t fully come together as a wayfinding system until it’s all in.”

Graphics will be added to the lobby doors and cut letters will identify exits to each street more clearly. The city, the market manager and SLD all recognize completing the process takes time.

“They had hoped to get this done in three or four months, but instead the project came and went over several years,” says Ziesmann. “That said, we liked working on it in little steps. The market manager made sure the tenants would be happy, while the city handled administration and made sure the signs would be accessible.”

With files from Shikatani Lacroix Design. For more information, visit www.sld.com[6].

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/navigating-st-lawrence-market/

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