Key Stages 3 - 5 Free Activity
Lesson Plan: Make your own wayfinding system
Jock Kinnear and Margaret Calvert were the team behind the design of the modern British road signs that we see today.
In the late 1950s Britain’s first motorways were opened and this created some big problems. Road signs up and down the country all had different types of lettering and different pictures. Road signs were different sizes.
It was Jock and Margaret’s job to come up with a solution that would be used across the UK.
Watch graphic designer Neville Brody talk about the Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinnear’s designs in the Design Museum film.
Things to do
Road signs help everyone get around, whether you’re driving, on a bicycle or just walking. But who created them and why did they design them to look the way they do?
Imagine that someone was coming to your home for the first time. Work out what you need to sign post in your home. What will they need to be able to find easily? What would be more important for them to find? What colours should your signs be?
Draw out your road-sign designs and colour them in. Stick your designs up around your home and get someone in your home to try navigating around them.
Share your illustration with the Design Museum on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using #DesignFromHome.
To read
Young Design Museum
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