The National Science Center in Cracow is an institution established to support scientific activity. Its main task is to support Polish scientists by funding research and scientific projects through competitions. The National Science Center is headquartered in Cracow’s Moon Office building. It is a 5-story office building that offers about 5,500 square meters of usable space. In addition to office space, the building will include, for example, a canteen and conference rooms.
The main idea that guided us in the design of wayfinding was to refer to the institution’s logo. The colors and characteristic slants were taken from it, which were used to create dynamic compositions. Information carriers and graphics are graphite and white, while red is an accent color. The red color is as close as possible to the color scheme of the institution’s logo.
The system uses the typeface Zichtbaar, from Danish studio Playtype. It is a simple grotesque with a technical touch. The availability of quite a number of varieties and high readability makes it suitable for use in both small-scale continuous text and scaled single messages. The Bold variety was used for Polish texts, while the Regular variety was used to sufficiently distinguish English translations. The visual line of the signage system for the National Science Center also includes personalized, original pictograms. The icons are consistent with the chosen typeface – their shape follows directly from the elements of the letters. The use of the author’s pictograms makes the system consistent, as well as more user-friendly.
The 3D design part of the project is based on elements made from adhesive foil or cut from thin aluminum sheet. The complementary element is red, transparent and matte epoxy, referring to the logo of the institution. Door plates are made of white plexiglass or aluminum sheet.
