Just Say Hi! What Happens in Public Transit - A Series

Written by Suzan Mecitoglu

Edited by Kha Den De / Lera

Do you frequently ride public transit with the same group of people?

Since I take the bus frequently, I see familiar faces almost every morning. Sometimes it can be awkward because you don't know how to approach a stranger or if they're willing to chat with you. It is essential to strike a balance between being friendly and respecting personal boundaries. I find that a simple and polite greeting like "Good morning" or "Hello" can be a great way to initiate conversation without being intrusive.

When I first moved to Mississauga, I asked a lady to help me make sure I was taking the right bus to get to university. After continuously seeing her throughout the next week I mastered up the courage and started talking to her. Since then, we would have small talks every morning. It created a positive atmosphere on the bus, making daily commute a more pleasant experience for both of us. During Covid we lost our connection but then crossed paths a year later, which was an unexpected but delightful event, that made me feel genuinely happy.

In a similar vein, I've struck up conversations with other commuters just because I see them every day. It is always a smile that initiates a friendly chat. The rush of getting to the destination often makes commute highly stressful and hurried so who would be against a warm informal conversation? Instead of constantly staring at our phones, I believe we could create our own commuter communities by making casual connections with people we meet throughout the course of a typical day. So the next time you're hesitant to start a conversation with a stranger, just say hello and smile. It will surprise you how much better it could make you feel!

London Underground, Oxford Street Station

Painting by Julia Abele

Tram number 7

Painting by Gulnara Dairova

People and Places

Written and Edited by Kha Den De / Lera

Sugar and Spice, Kensington Market

Photo by Kha Den De / Lera

Every time I find myself in a new place far or close by, whether it is a city or simply a neighbourhood, I feel both thrill and anxiety at the same time: "I am so excited to explore! ... Please let it be fun".

Such mixed feelings are quite common because we believe in a romantic notion of instantly falling in love with a city that is portrayed in many pop-culture movies and books. In reality, however, it takes time for a person to establish connection with a place.

“Cities are, by their definition, full of strangers” - Jane Jacobs

Relationships between people and places are created by... well, other people and places! As you meet people you like and discover places you enjoy, you get more and more attached to them. These touch-points are what make a place - your place.

Hence, people and places exist in an 'eco-system' where one affects another. A good public space brings people together and allows them to connect, which subsequently leads to a creation of community. As people continue to inhabit a space, signifiers of their presence start to appear and alter the character of a space. As such, you and your community become a driving force that initiate changes in the space.

The Outside

Photo by Kha Den De / Lera

In conclusion, people and places are interconnected more than one might expect. While certain spaces alter one's perception of a place or city in general, characters of those spaces are influenced by its occupants. So if you ever feel like you are falling in love with a place, it would be a fair assumption that you somehow contributed to that place's evolution or change.

Atelier Park Wayfinding

Atelier Park Wayfinding

Client: Cortel Group

Design Team: Gelare Danaie, David Schellinger

Prime Consultant: IBI Group

Location: Vaughan, ON

Project Completion: On-going

The Atelier Park Signage & Wayfinding is a project that captures both graceful design and practical utility that create a smooth customer experience.

Located at the major intersection of Keele Street and Highway 7, Atelier Park is advantageously connected to VMC Subway Station (Vaughan Metropolitan Centre), GO Train line, bus routes, and even pedestrian walkways and green spaces, which outlines the need for clear wayfinding system that would provide clear directions for all users.

DEXD team began the work by producing flow diagrams and documenting expected master flow patterns, which then allowed us to identify decision nodes that would most benefit from having strong directional and/or branded signs, as well as identify best locations for address signs that would be easily pinpointed by users.

Architectural Patterning

As part of our design exploration, we looked into pattern expression and its storytelling potential.

Drawing inspiration from Atelier Park's brand vision that conceptualizes Atelier as designer's workshop or studio, we examined the idea of suit fashion, particularly referring to suit lining. Patterns we considered ranged from subtle but sophisticated to strong and bold-colored. The final design is inspired by the first building to be built within the proposed complex, and its angled faceted elements that run the height of the building facade.

Wayfinding and Brand

Although our design inspiration comes from the brand vision and architectural design, we built on the concept and proposed new colors that would pair nicely with initial brand palette. Typeface and icons were also meticulously selected to match overall elegant feeling of the building and brand.

Animal Sounds and Multicultural Experience

Written by Alisson Talancha

Edited by Kha Den De / Lera

Canine and Feline Hotel

Photo by João Morgado

As someone who lives alone, I realized that working remotely is not all that fun. Not only you start feeling lonely but isolation also rusts your social skills. Back in February, DEXD team moved to a new office. We went from a hybrid schedule of seeing each other once every other week to sharing the space every single day from 9 to 5. Since many of us were relatively new to the company, lunch breaks were filled with extensive weather discussions and awkward staring at each other in silence.

That's when out of desperation I asked: "What do dogs say in your language?"

As a native Spanish-speaking person I always thought dogs say "wau" ("guau" in Spanish). But after starting to learn English I found out that English-speakers use "woof" to describe dog sound. This discovery made me curious, how come universal animal sounds are interpreted differently in each language?

Although this question should probably be intended to a linguist, something amazing happened when I inquired about the subject. I found out that in Turkish dogs say "hav hav," in Farsi "vak vak," in Russian "gav gav," and in Korean "meongmeong". However, the best unintended consequence of my question was that suddenly we were all engaged in a lively conversation about this silly topic, breaking the ice and allowing us to be more social.

This experience with my coworkers also made me think about how we interpret things differently depending on our backgrounds. Whether it's a fun conversation about animal sounds or a complex work subject, having various unique perspectives can be game-changing. The multicultural environment that we exist in, provides us with an extremely valuable opportunity to learn and exchange ideas, which is impossible in a different setting.

*For those who are still curious, I also discovered that roosters do not only say "kikiriki" as my Spanish-speaking mind thought, but in French, they say "cocorico," in Farsi, they say "kukuku," in Russian, they say "kukareku" and in Turkish they say "ü-ürü-üüü". Cats, however, seem to be the clearest in their diction, as in Spanish they say "Miau," in English "Meow," and in many languages, they have a similar "meow" sound.

GTAA Landside Security Mitigation Signage and Wayfinding Project

GTAA Landside Security Mitigation Signage and Wayfinding Project

Client: GTAA Toronto Pearson

Prime Consultant: Arup Cananda Inc.