The Effect of Signage Design Guidelines on Uniformity and Variety in Urban Retail Business Districts Nanhee Kim Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2009 Guidelines, identity and competing needs: The effect of signage design guidelines on uniformity and variety in urban retail business districts Nanhee Kim Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Art and Design Commons Recommended Citation Kim, Nanhee, "Guidelines, identity and competing needs: The effect of signage design guidelines on uniformity and variety in urban retail business districts" (2009). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 10833. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/10833 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Guidelines, identity and competing needs: The effect of signage design guidelines on uniformity and variety in urban retail business districts by Nanhee Kim A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS Major: Graphic Design Program of Study Committee: Lisa Fontaine, Major Professor Debra Satterfield Ferruccio Trabalzi Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2009 Copyright © Nanhee Kim, 2009. All rights reserved. ii For Hyunseo and Hyunhu, two best kids in the world For their grand moms iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................... xiii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. xiv CHAPTER 1 . INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2 . LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 5 2.1 Definition of Retail Signage ................................................................................ 5 2.2 Role of Signage in Retail Environment ............................................................... 9 2.2.1 Attracting new customers ......................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Branding a business in the minds of consumers ...................................... 11 2.2.3 Creating ―Impulse‖ sales .......................................................................... 14 2.3 What is an Urban Retail Sign System? ............................................................. 15 2.3.1 Role of regularity among signs in retail districts ..................................... 16 2.3.2 Sign system guideline approach ............................................................... 17 2.3.3 Stakeholders of sign systems .................................................................... 17 2.3.4 Designing commercial signage ................................................................ 18 2.4 Fundamentals of Visual Communication for Signage ...................................... 51 2.4.1 How meaning is formed ........................................................................... 51 2.4.2 Denotation and connotation ..................................................................... 57 2.4.3 Typography .............................................................................................. 60 2.4.4 Images (symbols) ..................................................................................... 63 2.4.5 Brand Identity ........................................................................................... 65 2.5 Uniformity vs. Variety ...................................................................................... 68 2.5.1 Repetition and uniformity ........................................................................ 68 2.5.2 Contrast and variety ................................................................................. 71 2.5.3 Balance and harmony ............................................................................... 73 2.5.4 Balancing unity & variety ........................................................................ 74 CHAPTER 3 . METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 78 3.1 Problem Statement ............................................................................................ 78 iv 3.2 Comparative Case Study: District Guidelines ................................................... 79 3.2.1 Observation of current design guidelines ................................................. 80 3.2.2 Seoul design guideline analysis ................................................................ 81 3.2.3 Kang-dong Stationery-Toy Street design guideline, Seoul, S.Korea ..... 109 3.2.4 Pella, Iowa, U.S.A. ................................................................................. 118 3.2.5 St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. .................................................................... 126 CHAPTER 4 . QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS .................................................... 140 4.1 Controlled vs. uncontrolled factors ................................................................. 140 4.1.1 Total amount of controlled factors ......................................................... 142 4.1.2 Amount of controlled factors ................................................................. 143 4.1.3 Most Controlled factors .......................................................................... 144 4.2 Other controlled factors in design guidelines .................................................. 145 4.3 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 146 4.3.1 Uniformity vs. Variety ........................................................................... 147 4.3.2 District Identity vs. Business Identity .................................................... 149 4.3.3 Balance between uniformity and variety ................................................ 150 CHAPTER 5 . DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ........................................... 152 5.1 Considerations for future research .................................................................. 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 157 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Stakeholders of Sign System (illustrated by the author)........................................... 18 Table 2. The standard relationship between vehicle speed and legibility distance in feet and meters. MRLD: Minimum Required Legibility Distance (Signline issue 51, 2007) .............. 38 Table 3. Standard Letter Height Guidelines for Commercial Signage according to speed of driver (Signline issue 51, 2007) .............................................................................................. 39 Table 4. Readability Time per Number of Words (Signline issue 51, 2007) ......................... 41 Table 5. Case study districts and locations (illustrated by the author) ................................... 80 Table 6. Comparison of each district of guidelines (Seoul design guideline, 2008) .............. 84 Table 7. Stationery-toy street number of signs (illustrated by the author) ........................... 110 Table 8. Five guidelines controlled vs. uncontrolled factors (illustrated by the author) ...... 142 Table 9. Total amount of controlled factors (illustrated by the author) ................................ 143 Table 10. Amount of controlled factors (illustrated by the author) ...................................... 144 Table 11. Most controlled factors (illustrated by the author) ............................................... 145 Table 12. Other controlled factors not included in the analysis (illustrated by the author) .. 146 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Common freestanding sign types (Bertucci, 2001) ................................................... 6 Figure 2. Wall or fascia signs on storefronts (Bertucci, 2001) ................................................. 7 Figure 3. Roof sign (Bertucci, 2001) ........................................................................................ 7 Figure 4. Canopy sign and projecting sign (Bertucci, 2001) .................................................... 7 Figure 5. Signage includes the classic arches and angles, McDonald‘s in Florida. (thebandfrom.com).................................................................................................................... 9 Figure 6. Signage displays brand identity, Las Vegas, Nevada (Signline issue 37, 2002) ....... 9 Figure 7. The bottle shape tells clearly the brand identity. (Popsign 2009 June, p.140) ........ 12 Figure 8. Fruit market, Spain (Popsign, September 2008) ..................................................... 14 Figure 9. Chocolate factory, San Antonio River Walk (Popsign, Sept. 2008) ....................... 14 Figure 10. Consideration Commercial Signage design (illustrated by the author) ................. 19 Figure 11. Effective elements of Sign System (illustrated by the author) .............................. 21 Figure 12. Las Vegas, Nevada (Signline issue 37, 2002) ......................................................