Marine Drive
Wayfinding System
8 Directional Signs
2 Sculptures
3 Mockups
2025
This was a signage project with a focus on important neighborhoods in cities of our choice. I went for my home city of Mumbai, and decided to work on a system inspired by diverse materials and forms within the area. The main appeal of the neighborhood is that it is located west of the city’s southern peninsula, and is a walkable promenade with access to the Arabian Sea, the city’s skyline, and prime sunset views. Along with having a CBD, it also houses multiple sports venues, including the Wankhede Stadium.
The architecture in this neighborhood was made either following the Art Deco or modern styles, and prominent building materials include glass, steel, and concrete. Thus, the architecture informs the signage design’s structure as well as material structure. Motifs include tetrapods as well as waves, highlighting the promenade’s location between “land” and “sea”, while the color scheme is inspired by the color of the sea on a rainy day (since it rains for nearly half the year in Mumbai). The color scheme only slightly deviates from that of highway signage or the green of sports stadiums.
The initial couple of ideas explore these design decisions as sculptural forms. What would it mean for a bus stop or landmark to be built with this formula? In my plans, I aim to use acrylic or plastic to get the desired transparency, and stainless steel for the rest of the structure. Here, the greenish-grey color would be achieved using powder coats.
Then, I went on to explore the actual signage system. The goal was to come up with multiple options for pedestrian and vehicular directional signage made specifically for landmarks within the neighborhoods.
I then had to consider if these designs worked in the real world, for which I had to work on mockups made using Google Maps information to ensure the visual language doesn’t clash with the existing signage, architecture, and other distractions within the neighborhood. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to take pictures myself of these locations, so the quality of the mockups is thus subpar.