Experience Design
2025
This project proposes a wayfinding system for Queen Victoria Market, one of Melbourne’s most complex and layered public spaces. Spanning multiple blocks with open sheds, enclosed halls, historic buildings, temporary stalls, and changing event layouts, QVM presents a unique navigational challenge. Any intervention must balance clarity and flexibility while respecting heritage constraints, diverse user groups, and the market’s strong cultural identity. The system needed to work across day and night conditions, support first-time visitors as well as locals, and remain adaptable within a constantly evolving environment.
The design adopts a graphic-first, modular approach that prioritises immediate recognition over dense text. Zones are distinguished through colour and large-scale graphics, supported by a consistent icon system for amenities and directions. Rather than relying solely on letters or names, each category is communicated visually so visitors can orient themselves quickly, even in crowded or noisy conditions. Typography is kept neutral and highly legible, allowing graphic elements to carry most of the spatial information without overwhelming the historic setting.
A key visual feature of the system is the use of a knitted-bag texture layered with category icons. This motif draws directly from the everyday experience of the market, where produce is packed, carried, and exchanged, and where visitors are encouraged to bring their own shopping bags. The woven texture acts as both a visual metaphor and a memory cue, referencing sustainability, reuse, and the tactile culture of market shopping. From a distance, the bold shapes and colours clearly signal zones, while up close the knitted pattern reveals detail and texture, rewarding slower engagement.
Colour choices are informed by both function and context. Each zone uses a controlled palette derived from its products and spatial qualities, such as deep blues for wet areas, greens for fresh produce, and warmer tones for food and specialty retail. These colours are softened with a neutral base that aligns with the market’s existing materials, ensuring the system remains legible without competing with heritage architecture. Together, the colours, icons, and woven graphics create a coherent visual language that is flexible, recognisable, and rooted in the everyday rituals of Queen Victoria Market.