Documentation of the icon and symbol design process for

navigation and wayfinding.

Project Background Project Brief
Vadakkunnathan Temple is an UNESCO world A visual clue to enhance the experience of
heritage site and considered as a national the visitors by enlightening their journey
monument. Due to these reasons there is a rush of through the temple and find the necessary
people from all parts of the world to this temple to buildings.
see the scenic architecture that it holds. It's also
considered as a place for relaxation and sightseeing Scope of work
due the surrounding lush greenery. But sometimes 1. Understanding the space and placing
this enjoyment is disturbed by the lack of the signs accordingly to grab the
awareness on how to go around and see this attention of the public.
beauty.
2. Exploring the cultural heritage of the
Project Context temple and incorporating it as a style to
Being an area visited by multilingual people and the signs.
many new fresh visitors daily, its found out that its
difficult to find things out due to the complex 3. Understanding the psychology of the
architecture which consist of four identical doors. people visiting the place - ethnographic
Communication in the temple mostly happens in the research
native language which is malayalam. Thus the
people from other states and countries are not able 4. Exploring the other possible
to understand buildings and routes interventions inside the temple
Phase 1 - domain study
Phase 2 - study of information system
Phase 3 - analysing and synthesizing
Phase 4 - design execution
Phase 5 - documentation

Week 1 2 3 4
TENTATIVE TIMELINE

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5
Initial hand drawn map
of the temple
compound from
location
PRIMARY RESEARCH

Documents showing the UNESCO recognition to the temple which is framed and kept on the entrance wall.
Different entrances and the outside sanctum of the shrine at night light
 SECONDARY RESEARCH

The temple is situated on an elevated hillock in the

centre of Thrissur City and is surrounded by a massive
stone wall enclosing an area of nearly 9 acres (36,000
m2). Inside this fortification, there are four gopurams
facing four cardinal directions. Between the inner
temple and the outer walls, there is a spacious
compound, the entrance to which is through gopurams.
Of these, the gopurams on the south and north are not
open to the public. The public enter either through the
east or west gopuram. The inner temple is separated
from the outer temple by a broad circular granite wall
enclosing a broad corridor called Chuttambalam.
Entrance into the inner temple is through a passage
through the corridor.
Vadakkumnathan Temple is an ancient Hindu temple
dedicated to Shiva at city of Thrissur, of Kerala state in VADAKKUNNATHAN TEMPLE
India. This temple is a classical example of the
architectural style of Kerala and has one monumental
tower on each of the four sides
CASE STUDY

There are no specific interventions happened in the area of iconizing things in the temple. Yet some of the
images shown below are the ancient carvings in the stone which can be said as some sort of symbols used
by the ancient people.
There more sort of engravings inside the temple, due to photography prohibition inside the temple, many are
unknown to the non visiting world.
Some of these images are from the Jain temples of Wayanad, Kuttiyankavu bhagavathi temple and
paramekkavu bhagavathi temple.
INTERVIEWS

Name : Abhilash T C
Age : 38
Occupation : committee member in the devaswom board

Throughout the conversation the severe lack of information boards in this wide
area was highlighted. He has been the member in this committee since the past
three years and mentioned that he has witnessed many such issues when
people from north india are approached. And there were no facilities in person to
convey to people about the routes and regulations because there were lack of
securities also.

Name : Rejani jayaraj and Jayaraj T S

Age : 50 and 61
Category : retired daily visitors of the temple

While talking to Rejani who has been visiting the temple for more than 7 yrs in a
daily routine was not at all facing any issues in navigating through the temple or
even reaching towards any necessitates of the temple. Yet she mentioned about
the trouble faced by the fresh visitors in this vast area. Also mentioned the sad
situation of people unaware of the rules of temple.
A group of friends who visits rarely to This was a aged couple who Some newly married
temple belonging to the age grp of visits the temple very women who are new to the
30s to 40s occasionally town

They were unaware on the correct Through these years the thing They mentioned about the
navigation path and had no clue on they follow was to go behind number of times they lost
the necessities of the temple. the person in front of them for their way inside the temple
navigation. and took the wrong path.
STAKEHOLDERS

INTERNAL EXTERNAL

Thandri (1) Old retired people 50%

Mel shanthi (4) Working men and women 10%
Poojari (15) Teenage students 8%
Committee for welfare inside temple (35) People outside kerala 20%
For flower work Foreign visitors 5%
Lamp works Couples 7%
Cleaning
Cooking prasadha 75 percent of the visitors are hardcore devotees who come
Veterinary officials for prayers and rituals
Committees for the finance works (20)
Devaswom commissioner 15 percent are foreigners who intended on seeing around the
Devaswom manager temple rather than praying
Security staffs (4)
10 percent people come to relax in the vast calm
surroundings of the temple
Problems of the existing boards -

Instruction boards placed are too lengthy and in english and native
language (malayalam), people from other states find this difficult to read.
The boards are also placed in a way where no attention is gathered to it.
ANALYSIS

Having a daily count of around 2000 visitors daily and towards 5000 towards the weekend its been really hard to
navigate through the temple and its necessities with lack of awareness.
One the main challenges of devaswom was to navigate the foriegn visitors who comes around the festival time.
After talking to various age groups and types people these were some concerns that needed to be answered by
some visual language intervention there :

● Which is the entry exit doors for the public since the four walls are completely alike ?
● How to go around the temple from one deity to another ?
● How to pray and why pray in specific points ?
● Where to wash hands before entering inside the temple ?
● Where can I report an emergency that happened?
● Toilets are located far away from people eyeview
● Were to wash hands after having prasadha from temple ?
● Confusion on footwear counters since there were two of them
● Conveying of the devaswom rules to locals was not happening
● Public parking clasing with devasom parking
MAPPING
Inner sanctum and shrine placements
STRATEGY MAPPING AND PERSONA BUILDING

Name : Dasan
Age : 67
Pov : Homeless man

Devaswom provides
food to the people in the
swaraj round who has no
one to look after
Name : Urmila Kolhatkar
Age : 45
Pov : Devotee outside of kerala

Coming after long travel they tend to search for washrooms before entering
in
Name : Ramu and Kesu
Age : 40 and 8
Pov : Sightseeing around the temple

There are some people

Who come around to
enjoy the time near the pond and see elephants.
Name : Tara Quinio
Age : 31
Pov : Foreigner at Thrissur
pooram

These people basically tend

see around the temple
before moving in
Name : Parukutty
Age : 77
Pov : Daily visitor

Their track is directly towards

The inside of the temple as
their main purpose is the
worship the deities.
TOUCH POINTS

Parking
Do not sit slabs
Toilet
Office
Security block
Counter area
Footwear
Food block
Washarea
Pond
Elephant area
4 gates
Inside counters
Start points
Mini waterfall
Exits
Do not cross
Prasadam
Murals
Special points
Food Footwear Elephant Security & Parking (4)
counter corner Devasom

Pond Offering Toilet Temple vehicles Parking (2)

counter
MOOD BOARDS

Finding color psychology of the area

Stone carved works
Wood carved works
Gold plated works
INSPIRATION 1 - Ancient mural paintings
INSPIRATION 2 - Ancient palace people - war times
IDEATION

Security

Cultural program area

Washarea
Elephants Vehicle Men

Footwear Waterfall Women

 Drinking water Offering counter

CCTV Food

2 Wheeler 4 Wheeler Insert ring finger

Prasadam Way in
Clap - Tie Talk to nandi

Touch root to head Write Om

Wash hands and legs Stack stones

Variation in cross symbol

Begging is prohibited
Do not cross

No phones

Do not sit

No infants
INITIAL DIGITALIZATION
Pond
Cultural program area
Placement explorations
Selected eight
Digital variations
Improvised digitalization
TEXT EXPLORATION

Explored Texts :

Berlin Sans FB Demi

Noto Sans Malayalam Condensed

Bradley Hand ITC

Chilanka

Bahn Schrift
Uroob

Georgia
Rachana

Franklin Gothic Medium regular

Noto Sans Malayalam Condensed
semi bold
INITIAL B/W PROTYPE
SECOND B/W PROTYPE
FINALISED B/W PROTYPE
COLOR EXPLORATIONS
DIGITAL TESTING
FINALISED COLORED PROTOTYPE
Final (Improvised - Borders)
INITIAL PROTOTYPE
 (3 ft Dist) (10 ft Dist)
(7 ft height) (5 ft height)

(5 ft Dist) (16 ft Dist)

(5 ft height) (7 ft height)
First Testing

Board size : 16 * 4.7 inches

Distance (Feet)

3 Ft 5Ft 6Ft 10Ft 16Ft

Height (Feet)
5Ft

7Ft

The table shows a comparative visibility between the taken measurements

User 1

Name : Bineseh
Age : 35
Visibility check :

User 2

Name : Santhi
Age : 54
Visibility check :
FINAL PROTOTYPE FOR VISUAL ERGONOMIC TESTING
Making of the larger prototype
Testing on the boundary walls
 (7 ft Dist) (10 ft Dist)

(15 ft Dist) (40 ft Dist)

Second Testing

Board size : 31.8 * 9.8 inches

Distance (Feet)

Height (Feet) 5ft 7ft 10ft 15ft 40ft

4 ft

The table shows a comparative visibility between the taken measurements

Making of the final
prototype for placing
near the road
Testing at 7 feet with various distances

(3 ft Dist) (3.5 ft Dist) (15 ft Dist)

Testing at 5 feet with various distances
(10 ft Dist)

Close up Side angle (25 ft Dist)

Response on visibility from public

User 1 User 2 User 3

Name : Bineseh Name : Santhi Name : Krishna Raj

Age : 35 Age : 54 Age : 30
Visibility check : Visibility check : Visibility check :
Final Testing

Board size : 31.8 * 9.8 inches

Distance (Feet)

5 Ft 10 Ft 25 Ft 50 Ft 75 Ft
Height (Feet)
5Ft

7Ft

The table shows a comparative visibility between the taken measurements. And from the user
experience it was inferred that the board is giving visibility till a 75 feet distance from both the heights.