Lawein? Where to?: Communicating the Past, the Future and Where To Go Next [A Thesis on Street Signs]
With today’s technology, the traveler is becoming more detached from the city he is visiting and more connected to the virtual city. A traveler used to wander around, looking for things to see and places to visit. Today, with GPS navigators and maps on phones, people know their exact location and where they are going. Those devices are making signage obsolete. Signs will become ineffective and people will take the city for granted, going directly to their destination by following the direction of a voice or a screen. I believe it is a chance for street signage and graphics to change their purpose. Signage should tell the city’s story. It should be there to entice people to look at the city, to understand its history and to meet its people. This book groups my thesis research and writing and my proposal for a new street signage system for the city of Beirut.