Critical Debates in Design - task 2 : Sign system

Pentagram’s Paula Scher has designed graphics for a Midtown Manhattan garage that make sure drivers never forget where the car is.

Signage as backseat driver: typography throughout the building directs drivers what to do and where to go.

Supergraphics are installed on the elevator doors.

In Scher’s original concept, she wanted to fill the windows of the non-descript structure with the question “Did You Remember Where We Parked the Car?” City zoning, however, required more traditional signage on the façade, which Scher has rendered in elegant neon. The interior signage acts as a kind of backseat driver as one moves through the garage. Set in Verlag, the typographic pileup includes instructions for drivers—“Slow and steady wins the race,” “Don’t stop here, continue,” etc.—and supergraphics identifying parking levels and elevators.

This is a really stunning sign system idea as being a backseat driver. It can better communicate visually with a driver than just a direction sign (arrow), however, it does work only in a few times then after that people would simply ignore due to its excessive detail when driving.