Voxpop

As London sets about redesigning its wayfinding ahead of the 2012 Olympics, how could street signage in your home town be improved to help travel on foot and encourage exploration?

I’m pretty new to Edinburgh and from what I can remember from my walks around the city, the signage is pretty good. But the most important thing about encouraging exploration on foot is creating interest along the walk. That’s much more memorable than being told what’s around the corner.

Simon Farrell, Managing director, Tayburn (pictured)

Nottingham is cluttered with boring signage. Most of it is for traffic or not essential, and it can all be rationalised to far fewer elements. What is needed is a clear hierarchy of messages, perhaps some colour-coding. And give people some inspiring ideas and reasons to explore.

Mark Shaw, Managing director, Jupiter Design

My confusion on my arrival in my adopted city of Manchester was compounded when I was trying to find the gay quarter, don’t ask me why. Wags had helpfully daubed out the initial letters and hinted at the potential pleasures available up Canal Street. Thanks, boys.

Alan Herron, Joint creative director, True North

Street signage is incredibly important to any city. It physically embodies how the city welcomes the visitor and speaks volumes about how seriously the city council takes this responsibility. In Leeds we scrapped the original Victorian signs in favour of cheap vinyl on aluminium – read into that what you will. As our city continues to grow and the number of people visiting and living in the city increases, we should look to the Continent: cities like Barcelona have wayfinding systems that are supremely functional and fit brilliantly with the city.

Ian Thompson, Creative director, Thompson

Glasgow needs a wayfinding system that is actually visible on the street. It’s currently so recessive that it’s effectively invisible. Going forward it’s time to inspire, entertain and inform. In six years’ time, handhelds will be covering all sorts of stuff, and clearly some form of active GPRS/Google Earth setup is going to allow us to join up all sorts of places and activities in whatever form ticks your box. I’m thinking urban extreme orienteering finishing in Easterhouse.

Stuart Gilmour, Creative director, Stand Design (pictured)