Applied Information Group has been appointed to define a wayfinding strategy for the digital media centre at the heart of the £16.5m development by The Sharp Project in East Manchester.

When it is completed in Autumn 2010, the 200,000 sq ft complex (pictured) will offer digital facilities to professionals and start-ups in the field.

Visual personality and wayfinding aim to ensure the visibility of the enterprise, and the accessibility of a complex site that comprises six distinct parts and spans the equivalent of a city block.

AIG creative director Malcolm Garrett, who will lead the design team, said: “It is great to be coming home. I grew up in Manchester and went to art college there when the city’s creative reputation was in its infancy; I still have close collaborative links with Manchester and Salford Universities. Being involved in an enterprise that will nurture future generations of digitial creatives, in the city that gave me my own start, completes the circle.”

The Sharp Project is part of the New East Manchester urban regeneration programme that is bringing business and economic benefits to the area. At the same time, it will enhance Manchester’s growing reputation as the country’s ‘media city’ and consolidate its position as a major centre of cutting edge creativity.