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Recently I was travelling back to my office from Melbourne's city centre via a train that circles the inner city - the city loop. Sitting alongside me were a couple of anxious middle-aged English tourists. They were debating whether or not they should get off at the next station - on their map the station was listed as Spencer Street - but the announcement was telling them that the approaching station was Southern Cross. I told them the name had recently changed and they happily hopped off the train and went on their way.
This got me thinking about the new name. Why has it changed from Spencer Street to Southern Cross? Which consultant or spin doctor had this amazing brain-wave? Certainly nobody from the design industry seems to have been consulted, or at least anyone from the design industry that knows anything about signage and way finding systems.
Looking around, its a nice looking station, with confident use of simple modern shapes and materials, unlike Federation Square which could have been so much better with just a little editing. The roof structure is a sight to behold - it seems like the architects have taken their inspiration from either Pamela Andersons's breasts or 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. Unfortunately the station signage is lost amongst the steel supports of this architectural marvel.
The advertising 'guff' claims that the Southern Cross Station will provide me with a truly 21st century travel experience. However, changing the station's name to Southern Cross makes the experience of wayfinding anything but 21st century. (And, as I look around me at the knackered commuters crammed into this standing-room-only carriage the experience seems more akin to taking a ride on the Punjabi Express - the only things missing are the baskets of chickens and the chai wallah.)
Travelers orientate themselves through a number of ways: memory or familiarity, landmarks, and street/place names being the most common. If I need to catch a train I will read a Met route map, and use a street or place name - including place names that relate to landmarks - to work out what train I need to catch, and when to get off that train.
The name Southern Cross does not help me. I know that if I get off at Flinders Street station I'll be at Flinders Street in the city. If I get off at Flagstaff Station, I'll be near Flagstaff Gardens. Parliament is adjacent to Parliament House and the recently renamed Melbourne Central station is smack bang underneath Melbourne Central. Southern Cross however, is only useful in telling me that, yes, I am somewhere in the southern hemisphere. And if you don't know that, then you really shouldn't be catching public transport on your own.
The name of a station aids wayfinding by providing travelers with a description of where they are. Spencer Street station was perfectly suited to this. If the name did need to change, then perhaps Docklands Station would have been more apt, given that Spencer Street straddles the new Docklands precinct.
This station is the city's main terminus for country and interstate trains and buses. Approximately 55,000 people pass through the station on a normal working day, and around 15 million people a year. Such an important station should not have fallen prey to marketing spin. We're told its all going to be finished in time for the Commonwealth Games. That's great for our visitors. Let's hope they can find out where to get off.
Alex Tyers
| Feedback by Mr Happy Pants | Thursday, 6 April 2006 |
"Another typical negative industry review (with its own string of comlementary feedback). What is it with designers? Sad, depressed and cynical sprayers just say more about themelves than about their target. My mum always said 'if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all'. Pity yours didn't."
| Feedback by Paul Ducco | Tuesday, 14 March 2006 |
"Another example of porrly managed budgeting, where signage and way finding are the first (or atleast on of the first) to be struck from large scale projects. A truly disappointing effort from those who funded the building and from those involved... who are meant to be offering their professional advice.
Paul Ducco"
| Feedback by Natalie Woolcock | Monday, 6 March 2006 |
"It seems every city with the approach of a major world focus event suffers from similar signage/naming fates. Munich, Germany is currently in a signage frenzy over their underground and suburban trains with the World Cup approaching in a few months. The introduction of English seeming to be logical, but not evident in the new systems.
As a local traveller, I'm constantly updated with new and wizz bang maps and signage each few weeks. They are not changing names, but actual train lines numbers (ie - the S2 which has been around for 20 years is now the S5, so S5 is changing to S9 etc...) So anyone with a slightly older than 3 day map is completely lost.
The most amazing update I saw was a linear map of the main stations taking you to the east and to the west of the city - but they had the stations somehow reversed - The main East station (which is in the EAST of the city) was on the far left of the map as you travel west! Now work that out!"
| Feedback by Dominic Banner | Thursday, 2 March 2006 |
"The Bracks' Government probably paid a consultant to come up with the name. And no doubting their fees would have been in the tens of thousands.
I haven't as yet checked out the signage of the place but will do so having read the article."
| Feedback by Ross Floate | Friday, 24 February 2006 |
"Agreed. The current fad for renaming already well-known venues is an unforgivable assault on our minds. The renaming of St Kilda Station to Metropol station thankfully was reversed, but I'm afraid this departure from convention is going to stick.
Maybe we can get some sense back in by simply renaming Spencer Street. Southern Cross Boulevarde has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Maybe they could plant some Elms...
Ross Floate"
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The views expressed this article are not necessarily those of AGDA. Please note that the information in this article is the opinion of the author only. I can therefore accept no responsibility for actions taken on the basis of this information. Copyright Andrew Lam-Po-Tang (andrew@lam-po-tang com), 1998-2008. Permission is granted to freely copy this document in electronic form, or to print, for personal use. Reprinting for non-personal use will require the express permission of the author (which I will generally be very happy to give).
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