Last Updated on June 12, 2023

Plymouth Wayfinding is the focus of this post, with a look at how the city is improving its urban navigation system for visitors.

Plymouth in England. The ocean city and wayfinding

The potential for the city of Plymouth has always been known and many attempts in the last 30 years, since the Devonport Dockyard began to close down bit by bit, have been made to re-rejuvenate the city.

The dockyard used to employ 20% of the population of the city and was a major naval base.

Walking around the centre on a weekend in the Union Street area, it would be normal to see a number of sailors walking around in their full regalia to represent their naval status.

Plymouth Hoe in England
Walking up onto Plymouth Hoe

These days the city has changed to being a large student city, matched by the change from Polytechnic to University status, for what is now Plymouth University.

Various attempts at redeveloping the city have occurred over the last 30 years but none have been sustainable.

Another attempt though is underway and spearheaded by Amanda Lumley of Plymouth City Council, as the chief executive of ‘Destination Plymouth’.

As a part of the attempt to develop Plymouth, Devon, in the lead up to the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim fathers departure on the Mayflower from Plymouth in 1620, wayfinding and navigation around the city is a part of the planning – and looked at below.

Barbican signage directions
What is known as fingerposts signs direct visitors around the Barbican.

The city is now undergoing a lot of changes and at the start of the year, the first stage of a new wayfinding system. The new system is impressive in that the signs are clear and positioned in many strategic decision-making points.

The one question perhaps is why the city has moved away from a focus on differentiating itself from other UK cities (all of which Plymouth has to compete with) and away from the branding by colour, which sets Plymouth apart.

Twenty-five years ago (in 1988) when the 400th-anniversary celebrations took place to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada, a new Plymouth wayfinding system signage was introduced.

Signage was set up to guide people between locations such as the city centre, Hoe, Barbican and the transport hubs, as you can just about see in the photo below (it was taken 26 years ago with an old Kodak disposable camera so please excuse the photo’s quality).

The new Plymouth wayfinding system in 1988 used the colour for which the city is best known – green. Branding the city with green, one might argue, creates a brand that highlights the space, greenery and freedom, which is at the heart of the message that ‘destination Plymouth’ is now promoting.

Grouping Plymouth together, in terms of signage style, is perhaps not the best option when compared to the efforts in the 80s.

One wonders though why, with the push to brand Plymouth as England’s ‘Ocean City’, directional signage which uses a sea blue background with white lettering is not used in the signage system throughout the city?

Plymouth sundial
Queen visits Plymouth for the 400th-anniversary celebrations in 1988.

The city centre areas are relatively easy to navigate for those of us who already know the layout of the city, and herein always lies the challenge for those installing a new wayfinding system in an urban area such as Plymouth.

Plymouth Wayfinding Map

Map of Plymouth City Centre and Barbican

It is possible to walk between all of the main areas in the centre and these are bordered by the train station, the ferry and cruise port, Hoe Road, the Barbican and the bus and coach station.

The big problem up until now has been the disconnect between different parts of the centre, particularly with the quite miserable looking and degraded Bretonside Bus station.

On arriving at the bus and coach station, as up to a quarter of a million people have done each year, leaves the visitor confused and certainly not inspired.

The very positive news though is that some time in 2017 (or 2018 at the latest), a new coach station is being opened in the heart of the city (and will be re-named the ‘Mayflower Coach Station’ – a move towards branding the city based on its history, rather than on its connection to France.

You Are Here Maps

You have probably already seen the post on You are Here Maps and from that post you might agree that YAH (You are here) signs are inherently flawed because, whilst they can initially help locate themselves, once the user walks away from the signage, the masses of information which the sign detailed is largely forgotten.

These signs, in other words, for their size and costs offer a very limited benefit. Many YAH signs are positioned around the city, particularly in the Hoe and Barbican areas.

Plymouth wayfinding you are here map

Signage Clustering

One of the big problems Plymouth now faces, as the city goes through many drastic changes with developments such as the new coach station, is the problem of over-signage (aka signage clustering).

Signage, in the form of directional signage for helping you in your wayfinding efforts around the city, has to compete for space with the expanding amount of city marketing signage.

The push to brand Plymouth as the ‘Ocean City’ and to highlight events such as the ‘Ocean City Festival’ means that signage, such as the huge banner in the middle of Royal Parade, competes with the wayfinding signage. The balance is precarious but at the moment it works., but will need to be managed very carefully.

Plymouth Ocean city
Ocean City Festival promotion

Learning from the Past

One step forward and one step back is perhaps the way to describe Plymouth’s progress in the last 30 years. Many of you might remember that there was a CityBus information booth where the above sign is now placed.

Although for bus information and schedules, it also acted as a sort of tourist information centre at the same time, i.e. somewhere where you could ask for directions. I have to be honest and admit that I am not actually sure where one would find the tourist information centre now.

The hope is that the tourist information centre will be housed in the new coach station in 2017 to make it easy for those arriving in the city to grab a tourist map and to be introduced to information on all of the local attractions.

Signage design course

Guiding People

Wayfinding, as many of you will know, is far more than just about directional signage.

Wayfinding, in fact, is about the much bigger picture and includes, for example, directing people to also improve the commercial viability of travel space, whilst guiding people from A to B (such as from the train station to the Hoe) is important from a sustainable point of view.

The future of the city depends on this level of understanding and I will be documenting the sustainable wayfinding needs for Plymouth in a coming post.

Useful Information

If you are planning to visit these resources might help you:

Plymouth hotels