Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

India has 22 major languages, written in 13 scripts, and 720 dialects. In this land, tradition and modernity are always at an interesting intersection. This diversity plays a important role in various aspects of communication design. In this context, navigation and way finding in India presents as an important area of study. Navigation and wayfinding are integral part of modern life in India. However, applying principles of modern design in the Indian context is often quite challenging. Empirically, an average Indian depends on local place names, landmarks, and other colloquial identifiers for wayfinding. Further, appropriate urban planning in recent years has taken a backseat in the frenzy of the urban development. This has an impact on the physical and “visual” infrastructure of the given geography. This paper discuss the key opportunities and challenges to study the local signage system in small cities and towns where large populations of uneducated or illiterate people, who are not able to benefit from the public signage system since most of them are textual or the pictorial, is not sufficient. A case study is presented of a typical Indian rural town to explore the problem. Here, the concern that needs to be addressed is about the cognition of signs and symbols vis-à-vis the exposure perceptions of the user. Further, the same applies to people of different state and cultures that contextually associate with symbology as per their cultural context and traditional values.