wayfinding

Brighton and Hove's pedestrian wayfinding system is almost a year old but last week's trip gave me my first opportunity to check out the signs properly, having only noticed them from a bus last time I was in town. On the face of it they're very similar in design to the ground-breaking and award-winning Bristol Legible City system - the UK's first major city legibility project - introduced in 1997. But then there's a reason for this: Applied Information Group have had a hand in the design of both cities' systems (and others in Leeds, London, Glasgow, Dublin and Vancouver).

Because I love this kind of stuff, long before I moved here, Bristol's beautifully-designed series of direction signs, information panels and area maps was one of the few things I knew about the city. Justifiably it went on to win awards from both Regional Planning and the Royal Town Planning Institute.

The Brighton and Hove signs are equally well-designed and actually go a step further in giving pedestrians an estimation of the time taken to reach a given destination. As with Bristol, the maps are oriented to reflect the direction you're facing and there are indicators letting you know how far you can walk in 5 minutes, though there seems less emphasis on showing certain landmark buildings within sight in 3D. But they do use a wider colour palette. Moreover, being a larger city, Bristol's system places a certain emphasis on where you are within the city as a whole and signs are not just found in the central area. In Brighton this is less important - though I'm led to believe there are plans to expand the system.

For me, these wayfinding systems are not just about helping residents and visitors navigate the city; they provide a strong visual identity, bringing disparate areas together into a coherent whole (much as street name signs bearing the city logo whether they're in Mile Oak, Woodingdean, Portslade or Hollingbury do). My only fear in Brighton is the propensity to cover any signage in grafitti and stickers - in which case let's hope the council manages to keep them clean... and therefore useful...

the street cassettes of Brighton

During a very brief trip to Brighton last Friday I was pleased to finally catch sight of some of these fantastic repainted telephone wiring cabinets around town (apparently they're called PCPs - Primary Connection Points). The examples shown here are on Queens Road but there are more around the New England Quarter apparently. They're by Cassette Lord, a graffiti artist who moved to Brighton from Portsmouth in 2001. Personally, I love them: for the sole reason that each repainted cabinet succeeds at turning ugly (but necessary) street furniture, ordinarily unnoticed, into a work of art. After all, so much of the urban environment is depressingly bland: why shouldn't streetlamps be painted in rainbow stripes? Why not brightly-coloured railings? Why not cover dark green telephone cabinets with colourful lo-fi cassette graphics?  Full marks to Brighton & Hove City Council on this - they don't do everything right but they did initiate this project and have a pretty good record of supporting artists (as with the graffiti jams at New England Quarter a few years ago). A good example of some forward-thinking by a local authority, working with artists rather than against them. Nice work!

iPad love

Before Saturday the iPad was an item of technology I wasn't too fussed about. I wasn't particularly impressed by its launch, had no plans to buy one and couldn't imagine a time when I could afford one.

That was until I wandered into the Apple Store at the weekend.

I'd played around with the MacBook. Fumbled with the iPhone 4. I've lusted after both for a while now... But then I picked up the iPad. And fell in love. Again.

You've seen the ads by now. But everything they say is true. It's beautiful: incredibly easy to use; the display so detailed and crystal-clear. I've absolutely no use for one, still can't afford it and would be nervous whipping it out in public. But for browsing the web at home it's perfect.

Wonder if I can persuade M that we need one...

more travels around Cornwall

As a child of the south-east English coastline I remember being blown away on first seeing the beautiful turquoise sea off Cornwall during a childhood holiday. Back home the sea was grey-green, the beaches pebbly. Here, the sea was blue and inviting, the beaches golden. And there were palm trees!

Cornwall continues to hold an idyllic allure over me. On our trip to stay with M's sister and neice this year, nestled way down in the farthest reaches of Land's End, we enjoyed another performance at the stunning clifftop Minack Theatre (thanks to our hosts who both work there). Showing was the Stamford Shoestring Theatre's On The Razzle, a Tom Stoppard adaption of a nineteenth century Viennese play. Even with my poor attention span I managed to stick with the story to the end. Coupled with a lovely Minack Cornish pasty made for a very enjoyable first evening away.

On Saturday we had a mooch around the picturesque little fishing village of Mousehole before heading to Penzance and enjoying a tasty lunch in Archie Browns, a health food shop/deli/cafe that wouldn't feel out of place in North Laine. As the afternoon wore on we found ourselves at Penlee House Gallery & Museum which housed some beautiful old Cornish paintings.

Sunday was spent in Falmouth. I was expecting a more 'arty' place than I found. To be honest it was a bit bleak, but then the rain didn't help. Highlight of the day was definitely the fish and chips from Rick Stein's - superb and definitely recommended.

On Monday our hosts had to work so we went on a clifftop ramble from the Minack eastwards to a beautiful isolated sandy bay at Porth Chapel. For a change the sun was beating down and by the time we'd clambered down the rocks to the beach we were ready to jump in to the sea to cool down. Unfortunately, I completely overestimated how warm it would be at 11am and found myself running back onto the shore even more eagerly than when I'd run in seconds before. It was heartstoppingly cold. As I turned around I saw that a group of young women were enjoying a swim, up to their necks in the freezing ocean: hardier souls than me. I didn't have the courage to venture back in...

Later we met up with our hosts who'd finished work for the day at lunchtime. We sat outside the front of the house catching up with their artist neighbour who, the day before, had shown us a selection of his wonderful Cornish coastline-inspired paintings in his shed-cum-studio. I would happily have brought any back home for the wall above our fireplace; one in particular really caught my eye. But given the price of the print, let alone original, meant it will remain in Cornwall until someone with a lot more money than me comes along.

Before we set off for home in the afternoon we all enjoyed a cream tea at the cafe in the remote coastal hamlet of Porthgwarra. This was about as isolated as it gets: just a scattering of cottages around a cove accessed by a track. Ironically, despite being the only non-Cornish person present I was the only one to prepare their cream tea the true Cornish way: jam first, then cream on top (cream then jam is the despised Devon way!).

And so our 2010 trip to the south-west corner of England came to an end. Sadly, after this third trip, I still haven't gone surfing in Cornwall and still haven't got wet up to my neck in its sea. All the more reason to hopefully return again next year I guess...