Signs of the times

Once notorious for drug crime, Bogotá is now a popular destination for tourism. Steer Davies Gleave’s wayfinding strategy helps the tourists explore and learn more about this intriguing city.

While years of political instability once made it a place to be avoided, improved security, infrastructure projects and clean-up campaigns, have made Bogotá one of Latin America’s urban highlights, attracting over 630,000 tourists last year.

La Candelaria is an intriguing neighbourhood of cobblestone streets, historical squares and 400-year-old churches mixed with cafes, hotels and modern high rises. Conscious of the unique urban environment, it was important that the signing system for the Bicentennial trail was clearly visible yet respectful of its surroundings.

Following visual and accessibility audits to understand the flow of pedestrians, we created a two-mile pedestrian route linking 38 landmarks which reconciled historic accuracy and wayfinding opportunities into a sequence of numbered items. The trail can be followed regardless of where someone might join the trail, capturing both incidental citizens and tourists wandering around the area, as well as offering better support to organised tour groups.

The signage itself needed to serve several purposes: it needed to highlight the Bicentennial celebrations while also having a long-lasting presence, be plainly visible and provide clear and easy-to-follow directions, as well as information about the historical landmarks – while working within a wider visual identity. So we developed a combination of temporary signing elements (such as balloons, banners and totems), which specifically highlight the Bicentennial over a six-month period; and permanent waymarkers made of bronze and stainless steel, which would serve as long-lasting footprints of the celebrations. Supporting this is a comprehensive pocket guide.

Signing systems aren’t just about providing directions; they are part of the user’s wider experience of making a journey and, as int his case, discovering more about a  place.

The wayfinding strategy for La Candeleria gives visitors to Bogotá an insight into the city’s remarkable history while allowing them to easily and confidently explore the city that it has become today.

Leaving an (in)visible mark on Bogotá

Often the best wayfinding strategies go unnoticed by those using it – intuitively anticipating where people would need information to find their way so they don’t even have to think about it. If someone gets confused and feels lost or frustrate, then we haven’t done our jobs properly. Steer Davies Gleave has worked on several information design and wayfinding projects in Bogotá including comprehensive passenger information and station signing guidelines for TransMilenio, one of the most successful BRT systems ever built (which we also helped design). Most recently, we’ve won a project for Bogotá’s Integrated Public Transport System aimed at bringing buses, BRT and metro together into a coordinated information user experience. While we’ll definitely be leaving our ‘mark’ on the city, we’re hoping that anyone travelling in and around Bogotá won’t even realise it.