Research Of The Planning Of Waterfront Landscape Sign Systems Of The Cities In Jiangsu Along The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

As the economy develop rapidly in China's cities, international exchanges become more frequent every day. As a special language, landscape signs not only give people visible, reliable and credible information but also emphasize the features, culture and spirit of the cities. Taking the urban waterfront landscape sign system along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Jiangsu Province as an research object, this article builds its design theoretical framework with system theory and CIS theories from the concept of landscape sign system, the application functions, physical and material classification, the origin and development of the landscape sign and the research of related theories. Through on-the-spot inspecting its status, the author finds some main problems: lack of unified planning, low design level; low social awareness of the importance; lack of systematic theoretical research. Based on above, the author conducts deep study about its three major elements: design principles, elements and contents. The author puts forward the following 5 design principles: the principle of humanity, the principle of science, the principle of aesthetics, the principle of environment and the principle of geographical characteristics. This paper expounds design elements (color, text and graphics) and design content (image identifier, information labels, orientation sign and management sign). The author tries to make the design concept with an example of the sign system in Suzhou. Using this example and with the combination of theory and practice, the author offers some useful references to the planning and design of urban waterfront landscape sign system.