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Finding the way is a sign of the times

John Forrest, left, professor of design, and Matt Stuart, right, who was part of the student team chosen to design new campus signs, inspect one of the prototype signs along State University Drive North. A new signage system for the campus will be put in place this fall.

A little thing like a sign to find your way -- especially if you are new to campus -- can make a big difference. And it is a way to make the Sacramento State campus more welcoming, one of the goals of Destination 2010 as outlined by President Alexander Gonzalez.

As the result of nearly two years of work by design students, faculty and staff, the Sacramento State campus will soon see the arrival of approximately 100 new signs as part of the University’s “Way-Finding Program.”

Prototypes of the signs, ranging from large signs for directions to smaller ones to identify buildings, are already in place around campus. Permanent signs will be installed by the end of October.

“The students had a simple goal,” said John Forrest, a professor of design who helped lead teams of student designers. “They wanted to make the campus signs more appealing and helpful for anyone coming to campus. I think that they exceeded that goal.”

The work of the students grew out of a request from President Gonzalez to find a way to create better signage on campus. Instead of using a professional design firm, the University decided to involve Sacramento State design students.

During the 2005-06 academic year winter break, Forrest and Gwen Amos, also a professor of design, began meeting to plan how the project would proceed. “Before you start doing any design, you have to do the research,” said Amos, who helped the students develop their creative ideas. “In designing a signage system you need to know what information is needed on the sign, what is expected from the signs and what the signs could look like based upon your budget. With this information, we knew that this was going be to a great student project.”

But first they put together an inventory on all the current signs on campus and included information on the types of existing signs, their design and the wording on the signs. They also got input on signs from various campus offices -- the Department Public Safety, University Transportation and Parking Services, the Faculty Senate, Services to Students with Disabilities and others.

The project fit perfectly with the graphic design course on corporate identity and system design, Forrest said. The upper-level course looks at design problems from their origin and allows students to seek creative solutions and produce a final design. Forrest taught one section of the class and Bill Olmstead of the University Union led a second section.

The 40 students in the two sections were divided into eight teams for the project. Before the students starting working on designs, they first had to conduct their own research. They went out on campus to study traffic patterns and look first-hand at the existing signs. They felt the students also paid visits to places like hospitals and shopping malls to see how signage systems worked in other places. And the students also interviewed other students on campus to get their views on the usefulness of the current signs and how future signs could be more helpful.

The students also heard from architects who spoke on the use of materials for signs and structural issues associated with building a signage system. The students came up with several conclusions based on their research, Forrest said. They felt the campus seems to be isolated from the community and needs to be better identified by signs. And once inside campus, motorists didn’t know that they were on a loop road around the campus because no signs told them.

After the research and design, the eight teams presented their work to a jury of campus officials. The jury chose the designs of four teams, which then presented their plans to the President, who chose the final design.

Matt Stuart, a member of the winning design team, said the team wanted to take a thoughtful approach to designing the signs. “We wanted to develop a system that had a linear function. We didn’t want to have something that was extremely colorful or overly complex to read. We wanted a sensible system that got people to the parking garage nearest the building they want to be in and then guide them to that building.”

Stuart said the project was an ideal match for the skills of Sacramento State design students. “I think all the students felt up to the challenge of building a system because we were all coming from a great design program. We really felt like it was an honor to take part in the competition,” said Stuart, who now works as a graphic designer for the University Union. Stuart’s teammates included J.B. Ganton, Laura Fontana and Heidi Jacobs-Barton. He said class instructor Bill Olmsted provided cruciel design solutions to the team.

Forrest said the competition was not easy work, even for advanced design students. “The students really met the challenge,” he said. “We pushed them beyond their limits and they responded. In the process, I think they have become better designers than they otherwise would have.”

Based on the work of the students, the University has ordered more than 100 signs from a Virginia firm which will be delivered soon and installed on campus by Facilities Services under the direction of Robin Lovering, manager of project design and development in Facilities Services. “We are now going to have a very useful signage system that will be able to guide visitors and people new to the University to any place on campus,” Lovering said.

The campus will soon see a “Way-Finding Program” with new signs that provide directions for those arriving by car and identify parking structures, signs to direct people to buildings on campus and signs outside buildings that identify the departments and offices inside. Each type of sign has a different shape but they all incorporate the use of the University’s new logo. The final designs include some changes to the prototypes now on campus following suggestions from different offices on campus that had been involved in the design process. “Our students have done outstanding work that the entire University can be proud of,” Forrest said.