World on Yonge is a new 4-ha (10-acre) mixed-use development just north of Toronto in Markham, Ont., with a single wayfinding and signage package visually connecting its various facilities, which include a public shopping mall, a hotel, two residential condominium towers, stores to serve residents, offices and parking lots. Toronto-based Entro and Forward Signs were commissioned by Liberty Developments to create this system, including site identification (ID) signage, interior and exterior directional signs, shopping and elevator directories, amenity signage, wide-format printed graphics and parking signs, along with standards for tenant signage.
World on Yonge是一个4公顷（10英亩）的多功能住宅小区，位于安大略省马克姆的多伦多北部，拥有单一的路径导航和标识系统，可以直观地连接各种设施，包括公共购物中心、酒店、两个住宅公寓大楼和为居民、办公室以及停车场服务的商店。Liberty Developments委托多伦多的Entro和Forward Signs设计公司为该住宅小区创建一个标识系统，包括身份识别（ID）标识、室内和室外方向标识、购物和电梯指引目录、便利设施标识、宽幅印刷装饰图形和停车标识以及租户标识使用标准。
“Forward Signs has been getting more involved in mixed-use projects, as developers are putting up more of them,” says Vincent Matthieu Gratton, an associate for Entro. “They came to us and encouraged us to approach the client, who was still looking for a design firm.”
Entro的合伙人Vincent Matthieu Gratton表示：“因为开发商现在更多地开始投入到这种多功能建筑项目中，因此前沿的标识项目也越来越多地参与进来，他们过来找到我们，并鼓励我们去接触那些仍在寻找设计公司的客户。”
They also worked with Darcon’s team of contractors and engineers to integrate signage into the built environment.
他们还与Darcon的承包商和工程师团队合作，将标识标牌整合到建筑环境中。
A balancing act
在标识设计之间寻求平衡
As an environmental graphic design (EGD) firm, Entro was tasked with developing a visual language for World on Yonge, which Forward Signs would then turn into reality.
作为一家环境平面设计（EGD）公司，Entro的任务是为World on Yonge开发一种标识视觉语言系统，然后再交由Forward Signs将其变为现实。
The client wanted to represent a modern, urban community with signs that reflected the energy and distinctive nature of the mixed-use space. Entro’s team, in turn, sought to achieve the right designs through a combination of vibrant colours, distinct patterns and elegant typography.
客户希望能够设计出一个现代化的城市社区，其标识可以反映出多功能空间的能量和独特性。与此同时，Entro的团队则希望通过结合鲜艳的色彩、独特的图案和优雅的排版来创造一个合适的标识设计。
“We tried to keep the designs specific to each facility, but with some consistency overall,” says Gratton. “We also made sure not to ‘over-sign’ the environment because the various portions of the development are distinct from one another.”
Gratton说：“我们争取对每个标识设施都进行针对性的设计，但是整体上也要保持相对的一致性，同时还要确保不要对整体环境的标识设计过于统一，因为开发的各个部分功能彼此不同。”
Indeed, the project was a balancing act, where the client and many tenants needed to be represented, but in a manageable way for visitors to comprehend.
事实上，这个项目需要我们在标识设计之间寻求一个平衡点，社区中的客户和许多租户需要标识来传达相关信息，但要以可管理的方式让拜访者理解标识含义。
Gratton says, “ though, it was a bit like designing for a hospital, where people are looking for different services and you have to triage them through different areas. There are so many services in one place, but the people visiting are looking for just one or two of those, so there may be no logical progression to their path.”
Gratton说：“简而言之，这就像为医院进行标识设计，人们需要寻找不同的服务，而我们需要根据需求对不同领域进行划分。一个场所能够提供多种服务，但是拜访的人通常只需要寻找其中的一两个，若没有标识的指引，他们寻找的路径方式可能不会那么快速直接。”
One source of potential confusion was the development’s nomenclature. There are two shopping zones: ‘World Shops,’ a series of retailers and offices on the ground floor of the residential Parkside Towers flanking Yonge Street, intended primarily to serve condo residents and hotel guests; and ‘Shops on Yonge,’ a more public-oriented mall that is not actually on Yonge.
潜在混淆的原因在于开发区的命名方法。在这个住宅小区中存在的两个购物区域分别是：“世界商店”，位于Yonge街Parkside Towers住宅楼底层的一系列零售商和办公室，主要用于为公寓居民和酒店客人提供服务；“Yonge商店”，一个更加面向公众的购物中心，但实际上它并不在Yonge街上。
“We struggled with the fact the Shops on Yonge aren’t on Yonge,” says Gratton. “We needed to ensure there was enough sign visibility to draw customers through the complex to the mall.”
Gratton说：“我们一直在努力解决Yonge商店不在Yonge街上所造成的混淆理解，我们需要确保足够的标识可见程度，以帮助顾客在复杂的小区体系中找到商场的所在。”
Setting the stage
设计并安装标识
With these needs in mind, Entro and Forward Signs built an overarching system that allowed some room for tenant-specific customization.
考虑到这些需求，Entro和Forward Signs公司构建了一个总体系统，专门为租户定制了一些空间。
“Each store in the mall would have its own sign, so our strategy was to design the mall’s wayfinding signs with dark backgrounds and colourful bands to catch the eye,” says Gratton. “You have to set the stage early, because after the tenants move in, the space feels very different. The colours in these sign bands also represent the diversity of the neighbourhood. We echoed them with mosaic backgrounds on amenity signs.”
Gratton说：“购物中心的每个商店都有自己的标识，所以我们的策略是对购物中心的寻路标识进行设计，使用深色背景和彩色条纹来吸引人们的注意力。你必须尽早进行设计，因为在租户入住后，整体空间给人带来的感觉会改变。这些标识的颜色也代表了相邻商店的多样化，相应的我们将使用相对能够给人带来视觉舒适感的马赛克图形来与不同的标识颜色相呼应。”
A similar colour scheme was carried through both shopping zones, but with a different EGD approach, as the Shops on Yonge feature smaller corridors, which affect sightlines, and World Shops are more open-concept with fewer retailers. Similarly, only minimalist signage was needed throughout the condo towers and hotel, but it followed a common esthetic.
两个购物区都采用了类似的配色方案，但采用不同的环境平面设计方式，因为Yonge商店的走廊较小，影响视线，而世界商店更开放，零售商较少。同样，整个公寓大楼和酒店只需要极简主义的标识，但它们需要遵循相同的美学原理。
Given the confined corridors of the Shops on Yonge, public restrooms can seem somewhat hidden, so Entro designed oversized ‘supergraphics’ to indicate their locations. In the food court, meanwhile, a sign was designed for installation on a bulkhead, but when Entro and Forward Signs arrived at the finished site, they realized the bulkhead included two large vents. The first attempt at the sign was taken down and redesigned as a graphic with holes in the letter ‘O’ in ‘food’ and ‘court,’ allowing air to vent through the sign without affecting its position and message.
由于Yonge商店的走廊比较狭窄，公共卫生间看起来有些隐蔽，因此Entro设计了超大尺寸的“超级图形”来指示它们的位置。同时，他们在美食广场设计了一个标识用于安装在墙壁的隔板上，但当Entro和Forward Signs到达完工地点时，他们发现隔板上有两个大型通风口。于是他们将标识拆卸下来并尝试重新对图形进行设计，他们利用“food”和“court”词语中的“O”字形进行设计，使标识在设计后可以巧妙地让空气得以流通而不影响标识的安装位置和传递的信息。
Outside the mall, the main, circular logo sign was built using glazing panels to allow light through into a tenant’s space at the front of the building, as well as a view out to the courtyard.
在商场外面，主要的圆形标识是使用玻璃面板建造的，这样的设计可以让光线均匀地照射在建筑物前面的租户空间以及庭院的风景中。
One of the more significant wayfinding challenges was the parking garage, as there is only one serving the entire complex.
其中一个更重要的导视设计挑战是停车场，因为整个建筑群只有一个停车场。
“It was hard to envision it beforehand,” says Gratton. “How do you get hotel guests driving through the garage to stop at the right place for the hotel parking spaces?”
Gratton：“在设计前我们很难想象，如何让酒店的客人开车穿过车库停在正确的酒店停车位中。”
Entro addressed this issue by labelling the garage’s elevator lobbies with colour-coded wide-format graphics. A master plan was also needed to indicate various groups’ specific parking space allotments, especially those for tenants.
Entro通过使用含有彩色编码的宽幅图形标记车库的电梯大厅来解决这个问题。还需要一个总体规划来区分不同群体的特定停车位分配，特别是对租户的分配。
Parking spots in an above-ground lot, meanwhile, are only intended for drop-off and pick-up visitors, with a 15-minute time limit.
与此同时，地上停车位只适用于下车和接送的游客，时间限制为15分钟。
Manufacturing and installation
制造和安装
Forward Signs built most of the signs out of aluminum and acrylic, as per Entro’s specifications.
依据Entro的规格标准，Forward Signs使用铝和亚克力材料制造了大部分的标识。
“We wanted to use the acrylic pieces to provide a dimensional ‘magnifying glass’ effect,” says Gratton. “This gives the sign graphics more punch, given their size.”
Gratton说：“我们希望使用亚克力板材来提供一个立体的‘放大镜’效果，这个尺寸会使标识图形更具冲击力。”
Tactile arrows and pictograms were also added to the indoor signs. Outdoors, the opposite approach was taken, with recessed pictograms representing various services and amenities specially illuminated.
室内标识也添加了触觉箭头和象形图。在户外，则采取相反的方法，使用嵌壁式象形图文来表示各种服务信息和专门的设施照明指引。
In other cases, vinyl graphics were applied directly to walls, directories—for which the client had already developed the map graphics—and other select surfaces.
其他区域则是将乙烯基图形直接应用于墙壁、目录（已经为客户开发的地图图形）和其他表面的安装。
The sign system was installed in two main phases. In the first, approximately one-and-a-half years ago, retail signage ‘bands’ were installed outdoors, with set parameters for retailer logos. The buildings’ addresses were displayed as pinmounted numbers illuminated by downlighting near each entrance. And wayfinding signs were integrated into the underground parking garage.
标识系统分为两个主要阶段安装。在大约一年半前的第一次，零售标识被安装在户外，并为零售商徽标设置了相关参数。建筑物的地址显示以在每个入口附近被照亮的固定数字的形式出现。并且导视标识也被整合到地下停车库中为车主指引方向。
In the second phase, which wrapped up earlier this year, signs were installed in and around the hotel, the last portion of the development to be built. By this point, the mall was open and more than 80 per cent of its stores occupied by tenants.
在今年早些时候结束第二阶段的施工后，酒店内和周围都安装了标识系统，这是开发项目的最后一部分。到目前为止，商场已经开放，超过80％的商店被租户租用。
Fulfilling a vision
实现愿望
As the various portions of World on Yonge opened, it began to fulfil its developers’ vision of a space for residents and visitors to live, work, shop and play.
随着World on Yonge各个部分的开放，它开始实现其开发者的愿望，为居民和游客提供生活、工作、购物和娱乐的空间。
“It will really cater to the local area, but the intent later on will be to market it beyond the community,” says Gratton. “It provides a lot of convenience in an area where residents have typically had to drive from one strip mall to another for the same range of products and services. ”
Gratton说：“这将真正迎合当地的需求，但之后的目的是将其向社区之外进行推广。它为居民在小区商场之间寻找前行的方向提供了很多便利。”
This convenience, certainly, is part of an ongoing trend in real-estate development, which Forward Signs and Entro both hope to tap into in the future.
当然，这种便利将是推动房地产持续开发的一部分动力，Forward Signs和Entro都希望在未来能够和这个项目继续接触。
“There’s a huge market for mixed-use development signage,” says Gratton. “A lot of the time, the real estate developers try to do it all themselves, without realizing the importance of a more specialized approach to signage. There’s a science and a process behind it.”
Gratton说：“多功能住宅小区标识市场巨大，很多时候，房地产开发商都试图亲自参与进项目之中，而没有意识到专业标识在这方面的重要性。我们还有许多东西需要学习。” |
