The ‘Grey Trail’
Map and Experience Design
Designing a map and a stamp-collecting game for Budapest100 architectural-cultural festival

Why stick with me?

I know you have a lot of portfolios to review—it’s time-consuming. So why is this one worth your time?

Striking the balance between usability and desirability: Where form meets function: we managed to design a map that's both a reliable navigation tool and a visual masterpiece that earns it place on your wall.

Grey become the new Blue: We set out to design more than a map—we created an experience that echoed the Hungary’s most beloved hiking trail, the famous Blue Trail.

Project Summary

With my project Panelwalks Budapest, my goal is provide modern architecture enthusiasts with self-guided walking itineraries to Budapest’s most intriguing housing estates. My dream has always been to add a unique twist to the project: an illustrated map with a stamp-collecting game that fosters engagement and interaction between visitors and locals, creating a more memorable (and analog!) experience.

In 2024, Budapest100 architectural and cultural festival was themed around the 1970s, so my personal project idea seemed like a natural fit to the festival’s program. I reached out to the organizers, and the ‘Grey Trail’ has officially become a festival activity. Budapest100 is one of the most popular community-based festivals in Budapest. Over the past 14 years, it has attracted more than 165,000 visitors and won the European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award in 2023.

The Team

Panelwalks is my project, so I am the concept owner, content creator, ‘art director’ and the designer of the website. However, I am not a graphic designer, therefore, I teamed up with an awesome graphic designer and achitecture enthusiast, Lídia Kecseti. Lídia created the beautfiul illustrations and was responsible for the visual concept of the map. All the credit regarding the beautfiul visuals of the project goes to her!

Me and Lídia with the maps above Kelenföld Estate
Being proud participants of Budapest100 2024

The 'Grey Trail' Concept

Based o

1. Create visitor-local interactions

When we discover a new city, a new neighborhood we are not just looking for building, but in most cases experiences (hello, #vibetourism). Ideally, such interactions happen spontaneously, but in practice it is not that easy...

There are many obstacles to spontaneous interactions, such as language barriers, discomfort in seeking such situations, and a lack of trust due to not knowing the local context.

2. Analog experience

Nowadays tourists are staring at their smartphones reading two sentence long intros of the world most stunning sights from a random ‘X in 72 hours’ blog posts. I believe that exploring a city with a paper map provides a more intimate and in-the-moment experience, which we aimed to recreate with my Grey Trail Map.

It's a tourist paper map of Venice, proudly displayed on my friend's restroom door as a cherished travel memento. The emotional attachment still holds strong!

3. Stamp collection

There is a strong connection between stamp-collection and hiking, deeply embedded in Hungarian culture. The specialty of the National Blue Trail, Europe’s oldest trail that streches 2,500 km long across Hungary, is that it has stamping locations along its way.

The Blue Trail journey ends when you complete the whole route and your certificate booklet is full of stamps and dates. 

Free Illustrated Map
We will craft an illustrated paper map. It has to be effective for navigation but also beautiful enough be become a memorabilia
Stamp collection
The stamps will be in places popular among locals (bars, patisseries, restautants) so that hikers could get a sense of the genious loci.
Engagement on Social Media
To increase engagement, we decided on a themed giveaway where people could participate by sharing photos of their stamped maps.
Challenges
1. Balance between Usability & Desirability
If you focus on details...
... you easily end up with an ‘illustration’ that looks good on your living room wall but does not serve the fundamental purpose of a map—which is being a navigation tool.
If navigability is a primary concern...
... it may come at a price, as we might be forced to make compromises on how spectacular and visually appealing our map can be.
2. Availability
How will 'hikers' get the map?
People don't have printers at home anymore. Going to a printshop is kind of a hussle. Our assumption was that most people decide on things last minute and expect to collect everything on the spot.
Finding places to host the stamps
The concept looks good on paper, but of course it only works if we get buy-in from the venues. Besides the evident benefits ('lead generation') it creates extra husstle for the staff as they're required to handle the stamps etc.
3. How to motivate people to participate?
Finding incentives
... you easily end up with an ‘illustration’ that looks good on your living room wall but does not serve the fundamental purpose of a map—which is being a navigation tool.
Make the program appealing
... it may come at a price, as we might be forced to make compromises on how spectacular and visually appealing  our map can be.

Research

Visual Concept - Best practice analysis

We dug through our memory boxes for physical maps from our previous travels and studied the plentiful designs on sites like Pinterest and Dribble on the subject.

Three design directions: flat vector graphics, hand drawn/narrative style; montage vibe

Map Design & Content Design

Designing a functional map that is tailored to the target audience needs and the specific context is a challenging tasks. In order to provide the best experience to our hikers, we relied on my previous research that I had done for my Panelwalks project when designing the itineraries and crafing the guides.

I interviewed some ‘micro-influencers’ in my scene on Instagram, people who have accounts focusing on modernist architecture or traveling to Eastern European destinations where such architecture is prevalent. I made inteviews both verbal and written and also conducted a 'field study' at Budapest’s popular tourist destination, St. Stephen’s Basilica, to interview tourists who were carrying maps.

Research Insights

People regard physical city maps as souvenirs, and for navigation they prefer to use digital maps, apps
Practicability/ usability is the highest priority when it comes to map usage. In case of physical maps, most people consider their non-dependency on technology as their main asset
Using digital maps is practical but it doesn't give a sense of fullfilment
Most people use digital maps already when in the planning/preparation phase (for research, marking sights, planning routes)
People appreciate the 'analog experience' that physical maps offer (tangibility, sense of accomplishment, self sufficiency)

How Might We...

Based on the insights, we crafted two HMW questions:

How might we create a physical map that people can use for navigation effortlessly?

How might we help people rediscover the self-fulfilling nature of classic map usage?

Design Process

Introducing the whole design process from a map or graphic design perspective could be a subject of a separate case study. I would not go into details about it as it was my partner, Lídia who actually drew the illustrations and map and as such brought my concept into existence. Instead, I would just like to highlight some high-concept dilemmas we faced:

Orientation & Proportions

It is one of our first drafts, that shows the initial concept. First, Lídia was experimenting with vector graphics and proportional representation of the buildings. My idea was it helps people to understand the relationship between buildings and thus makes in-site navigation easier. For the same reason, we also wanted the map oriented with the north at the top.

Proportional representation

Shift towards a hand drawn style

It quickly became apparent that proportional representation has several drawbacks. It doesn’t allow us to highlight exciting details on the buildings and restricts our ability to illustrate their unique character. Additionally, some buildings or sculptures have details that are more important than their shape. Using proportional representation would also make the map less visually appealing.

Some buildings or sculptures have details that are more important than their shape

Information design

It was challenging to determine essential map information and its integration with the website. The 'Grey Trail' webpage provided program details, while 'walking route' pages offered sight descriptions. We debated between QR codes linking to relevant pages or including all details on the print map.

Testing our solution

Originally, we wanted to test the map with more people, but due to time constraints, we only had the opportunity to involve two test participants who could get their hands on the close-to-final version of the map. Despite this low number the feedback we received was tremendously valuable.

We need descriptions for the sights
The test confirmed our suspicion that we need to include text descriptions of the places people visit on the map. Of course it required a lot of extra efforts last minute but decided to give it a go.
Map design pitfalls
We received feedback on some details, such as the absence of an orientation marker and the lack of indication for the distance of the walk, showing only the duration.
Addresses are crucial
No matter how great our solution is for navigation, people may still tend to check the locations on their phones. It was suggested that we indicate the addresses of all locations, not just hospitality venues.

Addressing the Challenges

Do you remember the three challenges we identified? Let's have a look at how we addressed them:

1. Finding a balance between Usability & Desirability

We managed to craft a map that looks good on your wall and is also a decent navigation tool.

2. How will people get the map?

A close cooperation and coordination with the organizers helped us to find multiple ways for distributing the maps -thus making it easier for users to join the experience. I also created a separate page on Panelwalks where users could find detailed information about the program as well as download the map.

3. How to find incentives for people to complete the tour and collect stamps?

In a way, life is all about timing. One of my best friends had started an urban-themed sweater brand a few months before the festival. We decided to team up for a collaboration and designed two sweaters specifically for the event—one for Kelenföld and one for Újpalota Housing Estate. The sweaters became an instant hit, and people got very active. We organized a raffle where people could participate by sharing online and emailing their 'completed' maps (a map with all the stamps collected). The main prize was a sweater.

The Final Version

Finally, let’s take a look at the final version of the map that Grey Trail hikers could use during the festival!"

The front side of Kelenföld map (route, stamps, addresses)
The back side of Kelenföld map with the descriptions

The Festival Event

Grey is the New Blue!

The level of the program’s success has totally surpassed our expectations. According to our calculations, based on the number of printed maps that were taken from the venues and the fact the we have met several ‘hikers’ who printed out their maps at home:

At least 400 visitors took the walks and we received 67 giveaway submissions via Instagram or email

It was heartwarming too see how creative and enthusiastic people got for the submissions
Stamped maps submitted to us via email

Summary & Follow-up

What we learned from our users?

It is impossible to put into words what an amazing experience the two-day event was for us. Instead, I will focus on the lessons we learned as designers.

We were in a fortunate position to observe and meet our users, which allowed us to gain valuable feedback.

Furthermore, following the event we sent out a survey to people who submitted their stamped maps. The survey was filled out by 22 respondents. The insights we gathered was to used to improve the map for it's post-festival edition (a version that lacks Budapest100 related information, stamping etc.)

What we are most proud of:

Solving a Paint Point
It turned out that one of the main frustrations of Budapest100 visitors is that guided walks have a limited capacity (usually 20 people) and they are booked out almost instantly. People were happy to learn from the program that this year there's a remedy for their usual disappointment.
Sparking Discussions
We received a lot of positive feedback indicating that our walks helped people develop a closer emotional connection with this type of architecture and with housing estates in general. Our texts sparked discussions among participants, prompting them to recall and share their own experiences.
Evoking the Blue Trail Experience
It's a small detail, but I love it: strangers carrying maps were greeting and smiling at each other along the way, just as hikers do in Hungarian forests as they pass by
Thank you for your attention!
Want to see more?
Check out my personal project, Panelwalks Budapest's website for beautiful prefab blocks and history of Budapest's post-war architecture
Go to Panelwalks
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