BMC ropes in JJ students to give signages a gloss …….Sharad Vyas
Mumbai: The drab signages put up by the BMC will now get a better look and design, thanks to the municipal corporation tying up with students of the Sir JJ School of Art. The aim is to give the city more informative and peoplefriendly signages.
Hundreds of students pursuing degree courses in creative painting, portraiture and graphics will soon start helping the corporation in creating effective graphic art for large directional signs and information boards outside municipal hospitals, ward offices and other civic properties.
The initiative, undertaken by various civic departments and the municipal printing press, will kick off the project with the designing of the civic body’s ‘Save Water Campaign’, which was recently launched to spread the message of water conservation.
“We plan to take students on a visit to our lakes at Tansa and Vaitarna. It would give them a visual idea of the water crisis and the sort of message that needs to be sent across to the citizens. These students are full of ideas on photography, heritage and graphic, and therefore, what we can’t say in a thousand words, they can convey through a graphic,’’ said manager of the municipal printing press, Kishor Surti.
The civic officials have already held the first round of talks with the school administration and are also looking to hire students on a freelance basis. As part of the campaign, posters and advertisements will be put up in BEST buses, hoardings at railway stations, hospitals and malls.
“It is important to have proper signages outside hospitals and government buildings, not only for tourists and people from outside Mumbai, but for city residents too. In civic signages, the details are often missing,’’ said Prakash Apte, urban design consultant with the World Bank. He said visual elements and graphics in signages are not given enough thought.
“Often, signages at municipal buildings and offices are not self-explanatory, leaving citizens at a loss. If the students could add more visual elements to these signages, then it would only help solve the problem,’’ Apte said.