Blogs, News, and Other Links: February 2010

Children's Hospital in Poland

Portfolio of signage, wayfinding, and graphics for a Polish children's hospital [Kasia Kaczmarek]

Healthcare Wayfinding

Thoughts on healthcare wayfinding [GNU Group]

The Value of Glocalization

Thinking locally and nationally when in comes to wayfinding and signage [Corbin Design]

Setting Sights on the Arrow

Article about that most basic but important symbol: the arrow [AIGA]

Changing Landscape of EGD Education

EGD education at universities [Arrows & Icons]

Cisco Simplifies Digital Signage

Cisco offers their Digital Media Creative Services [CNN Money]

Signage at new Red Sox training facility

A look at the signs at the Red Sox new spring training facility in Florida [signweb.com]

Lousy Signage in Well-Designed Buildings

Our company in the Boston area, like architectural signage firms everywhere, routinely receives bid requests from general contractors for the "signage" subcontract portion of construction projects. Unfortunately, we usually encounter documentation that is so seriously flawed we are unable to prepare an accurate bid.

Here are just a few of the problems we have seen:

1. The signage documentation package normally includes a written spec, but almost never includes drawings, a sign message schedule, or sign location plans.
2. The sign contractor is required to submit construction shop drawings for signage, but is given little information about critical variables such as overall size, typestyle, or graphic layout. In other words, design responsibility for the signage elements is assigned to the signage contractor.

Environmental Graphics and Design Excellence

The coveted Harleston Parker Medal was established in 1921, and is awarded annually to recognize "such architects as shall have, in the opinion of the Boston Society of Architects. . . completed the erection for any private citizen, association, corporation, or public authority, the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument or structure within the limits of the City of Boston or of the Metropolitan Parks District".

A nine member jury empanelled by the BSA has recently issued its report and recommended that the Harleston Parker for 2009 be awarded to the Parker Community Boathouse designed by Anmahian Winton Architects. The entire report of the BSA jury may be seen here.

In the words of the report: "The boathouse stood out amongst the nominations this year in its ability to embody many of the different notions of beauty that had been advanced. The building is a striking presence on the water. Its rich wood panels and articulated facade draw attention to the structure, yet it remains elegant and simple."

Our firm made a small contribution to the boathouse by implementing an architectural signage program for the project. The program consisted of several sets of stainless steel lettering, some donor recognition signs, and a small number of Identia Sign System plaque signs to identify functional spaces within the building.

The design of the signage was handled in a collaborative manner by the architect, the owner, and our office. We believe the design character of the signage is instructive: it is restrained, well detailed, and simple. It is also consistent with a design orientation that endorses the idea that signage is a functional background product that should be subordinated to architectural priorities, and which ought to complement architectural features, rather than compete with them.

This point of view does not imply that signage should be overlooked. It only suggests that signage should take its appropriate place within the entire building system and perform its task effectively, and without excessive fanfare.

Blogs, News, and Other Links: December 2009

Sign09 Vienna Seminars

A summary of one day's worth of seminars at Sign09 in Vienna. [designworkplan]

Patient Room Information

Study of patient room information signs [Corbin Design]

New Signs At Parkinson's Center

New signs at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix [DD&F]

Wayfinding Project at Ski Resort

Wayfinding project for ski resort in Australia [ID/Lab]

Branded Environments

Article on branded environments and identities [Arrows & Icons]

New Techniques for Autodesk's Headquarters

Article on how Autodesk's new building utilized BIM and IPD techniques [HQ Construction]

Blogs, News, and Other Links: November 2009

Green Signs and Platinum Status

Identia Online subscribers Archetype Signmakers responsible for green signage at new college campus building that contributes towards LEED Platinum accreditation. [SignWeb]

New Airport Identity

Identia Online subscribers Indigo Signworks create main identification sign for Hector International Airport in Fargo, ND. [Sign Builder Illustrated>]

New Signs for Cooper Union

New signs designed by Pentagram at Cooper Union in NYC. [Pentagram]

Designing Intelligent Navigation Systems

Wayfinding design article [Sign Builder Illustrated]

EGD and LEED

Article examines how EGD can contribute to LEED certification. [Arrows & Icons]

LSU's New Wayfinding System

Louisiana Statue University works on new wayfinding system. [lsu.edu]

Signs Point to More Business for GNU

Profile of EGD firm, GNU Group. [San Francisco Business Times]

Using Identia Online: Take-offs

Identia Online is a great tool to help with take-offs and estimating. Instead of using paper plans and a highlighter, create a project in Identia Online, load the location plans, and start placing markers!

Use the "Add Marker" button to place markers on the plans. Create one or more sign types to organize the markers. If you wish, add sign messages based on information from the plan. When you are finished, print out the sign schedule PDF and use the summary page to get a count for each sign type. Later, you can flesh out the details of the sign schedule, or export the data as an Excel file.

Blogs, News, and Other Links: October 2009

EGD and the ADA

Interview with several EGD firms about designing within ADA regulations. [Communication Arts]

Innovative Signage at Boston Food Bank

Optical illusion greats drivers on side of new Greater Boston Food Bank building. [Boston Globe]

AIGA Symbols

A collection of sign symbols in the latest issue of Arrows & Icons. Also in this issue: an article about New Jersey's statewide wayfinding program. [Arrows & Icons]

Wayfinding Starts in the Parking Garage

Signage is often overlooked in hospital parking garages. [Healthcare Design]

Using iPhones for City Navigation

Will iPhone apps change the future of city wayfinding?.[designworkplan]

Gas Pumps and Wayfinding

Compares wayfinding to the process of filling up.[Corbin Design]

Tampa Riverwalk Solor Signs Case Study

Solar powered wayfinding signs in Tampa. [The Green Resource Guide]

The Cost of Healthcare: EGD Edition

How responsible EGD can help reduce costs for health care facilities. [FocusEGD]