RebrandingTamsuito Strangers GDI2026

Tamsui is a unique historical town where diverse cultures are deeply mixed together. Over the centuries, it has been shaped by various influences, including the Spanish, the Dutch, and the Qing dynasty. In the 19th century, it opened as a treaty port, bringing in a wave of Western commerce and missionaries. Today, its old streets and colonial buildings beautifully reflect this rich blend of East and West, as well as tradition and modernity.

This project is an experiment about “strangeness” and the perception of space from specific cultural and personal perspectives.

You will observe, discuss your impressions, analyze, reflect, and synthesize your findings.
The project provides an opportunity to investigate the strong coherence between PLACE, ROLE / IDENTITY, and OBJECT.

This project takes “strangeness” as an approach to explore how space is perceived, interpreted, and experienced through specific cultural and personal identities.
Here, strangeness is not a form of alienation, but a productive distance that allows one to re-examine familiar structures of everyday life.

We walked around Tamsui on the first day to get a sense of the place. The professors showed us around and took us to interesting spots, architecture, and famous landmarks in Tamsui.

On the second day, we walked around again to search for “strangeness.”By observing the town from this perspective, we discovered many insights and were able to define the problems Tamsui faces.

Moreover, we interviewed the student who go to the university at Tamsui.

"Tamsui rewards attention. "
Tamsui is charming, but it is difficult to get the full picture on your first visit. Even the student who goes to an university at Tamsui didn't notice there are so many hidden attractive spots.

"New Signage for Tamsui"
A major issue is the lack of signage. We feel there are too few signs, making them difficult to locate. Furthermore, most existing signs only point to famous tourist attractions, whereas what makes Tamsui truly interesting is its "hidden, mixed culture."

Therefore, we are proposing a new signage system that matches the atmosphere of Tamsui. During our discussion, we decided to adopt a three-pronged approach for the signage design.


“If we can recognize that we know so little, a method for finding out how little we know will become clear as well.” Kenya Hara. 

So what if we rethink the guidebook?

What if it revealed the city’s hidden layers?

The goal: spark curiosity, exploration, and the unexpected.

To make visitors notice the charming points, we came up with A trail card campaign.

A trail card campaign that guides strangers through
Landmarks and invites optional Oddities, the fleeting
moments you canʼt plan,
★ Landmarks = reliable anchors (heritage / nature / food)
★ Lanes = the in-between details
★ Oddities = temporary, strange, unplanned moments

Chime
This chime is placed at each spot and serves as a marker with visual, auditory, and tactile elements.When the wind blows, the chime in the center produces a gentle sound.

I defined Key values to create cards.
The cards should lead users to get at the next destination, but they shouldn’t reveal all paths to allow them to explore and feel Tamsui by themself.

Cards' Concept

"The Guiding Light"

1 Distance & Elevation
To imagine what the path is like, distance information — including elevation — is quite important.

2 The Vagueness
If Google maps are provided, users focus on the maps. They gonna focus on feeling and exploring Tamsui city.
Via a QR code, you can check photos or videos helping users find places without “Google maps distractions”

We gave a presentation about our project in English to professors from more than seven universities.