Budapest100

Project Overview

Project’s webpage:

https://www.panelwalksbudapest.com/bp100-eng

With my project Panelwalks Budapest, I wanted to provide like-minded modern architecture enthusiasts with self-guided walking itineraries to Budapest’s most intriguing housing estates. The project has developed as an extensions to my thematic Instagram account, @panelgrau.

My dream has always been to add a unique twist to the Panelwalks 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.

Budapest100 architectural & cultural festival

The festival has been running for 14 years, aiming to draw attention to the city’s architectural heritage and bring city residents and local communities closer together.It is organized by the Contemporary Center for Architecture.

In 2024, Budapest100 was themed around the architecture of 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 become an official festival activity. The Grey Trail invites festival visitors to explore the Kelenföld and Újpalota Housing Estates in Budapest by following a self-guided walking route.

My Role

Panelwalks Budapest is my project, so I am the concept owner, content creator, ‘art director’ and the designer of the website, too. However, I am not a graphic designer, therefore, I teamed up with my dear friend, Lídia Kecseti who was responsible for creating the map itself and improving the visual elements of the brand (logo, illustrations).

field study

survey

customer journey

service design

ui design

web development

project management

social media management

Spoiler: That’s how our map eventually looked

The concept

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.

An 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!

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

Memorabilia (Design Object) vs. Useful Map for Navigation

From day one, it was probably the biggest challenge we had to tackle. I wanted to have a more detailed, ‘close-up’ illustration of the landmark buildings of each housing estate. This is the approach that designers of illustrated maps normally take; however, it usually comes at a price.

You 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.

Financial Constraints & Distribution

The ‘democratic and inclusive nature’ of the map was crucial for us from the beginning of the project. We wanted the map to be available for free to everyone, visitors and locals alike. However, since it was a hobby project, we did not have the budget to print hundreds of maps in color on high-quality paper.

Research

1. Best practice analyis

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. Lidia identified three directions we might take with the design (flat vector graphics ; hand drawn/narrative style; photo elements/montage vibe)

2. Interviews, field study, survey

I decided to interview 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 wanted to learn more about how people with this niche interest prepare for their trips and how they explore and navigate once they're on the spot. I also inquired about their map usage habits and preferences regarding digital or print maps.

In addition, I conducted a 'field study' at Budapest’s popular tourist destination, St. Stephen’s Basilica, to interview tourists who were carrying maps.

3. Insights

4. How Might We?

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.

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.

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 solutions

Originally, we intended to test the map with more people, but due to time constraints, we only had the opportunity to involve one test participant. Despite being just one person who reviewed our close-to-final map version, their feedback was tremendously valuable

It confirmed our suspicion that we need to include text descriptions of the places people visit on the map.

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.

It was suggested that we indicate the addresses of all locations, not just hospitality venues.

The Final Version

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

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, after the event, we sent out a survey to people who submitted their stamped maps. We are still processing the feedback and will use it to improve the map for its upcoming new edition (we will remove Festival related information).

What we are most proud of

Solving a Paint Point

One of the main frustrations of festival 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 help 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