NO. 05, 2013
NO. 05, 2013
eg ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE
WWW.SEGD.ORG
Society for Environmental Graphic Design A multidisciplinary community creating experiences that connect people to place
CONGRATS SEGD
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HERE’S TO LEADING THE WAY FOR ANOTHER 40 YEARSS
SEGD BoarD of DirEctorS President Senior Vice President Vice President Treasurer
Amy Lukas, Infinite Scale, Salt Lake City Jill Ayers, Design360, New York Edwin Hofmann, Limited Brands, New York Mark VanderKlipp, Corbin, Traverse City, Mich.
Patrick Angelel, CREO Industrial Arts, Everett, Wash. Sander Baumann, designworkplan.com, Amsterdam Steve Bayer, Daktronics, Brookings, S.D. Richard Bencivengo, Lexington Design + Fabrication, Pacoima, Calif. Jennifer Bressler, Hunt Design, Pasadena, Calif. Peter Dixon, Prophet, New York Oscar Fernández (Ex Officio), University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Moira Gemmill (Ex Officio), V&A Museum, London Cynthia Hall (Ex Officio), Studio SC, Seattle J. Graham Hanson, Graham Hanson Design, New York Lonny Israel, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, San Francisco Alan Jacobson, ex;it, Philadelphia John Lutz, Selbert Perkins Design, Chicago Wayne McCutcheon (Past President), Entro/G+A, Toronto Bryan Meszaros, OpenEye, South Amboy, N.J. Stephen Minning, BrandCulture Communications, Sydney Dan Moalli, Obscura Digital, Brooklyn, N.Y. Steven Stamper, fd2s, Austin, Texas Gary Stemler, archetype, Minneapolis, Minn. Tucker Trotter, Dimensional Innovations, Overland Park, Kan. Julie Vogel, Kate Keating Associates, San Francisco Leslie Wolke, Leslie Wolke Consulting, Austin, Texas Alexandra Wood, Holmes Wood, London Joe Zenas, Thinkwell, Burbank, Calif.
SEGD cHaPtEr cHairS Atlanta Boston Brisbane, Australia Charlotte, NC
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Denver Edinburgh Kansas City Minneapolis New York Philadelphia
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Washington, D.C.
Lynne Bernhardt, lynne@sbs-architecture.com Stephen Carlin, stevecarlin@coopercarry.com Michele Phelan, michele@96pt.com David Spatara, wentworth_2003@yahoo.com Jack Bryce, jack@jackbryce.com Kevin Kern, kkern@505design.com Scott Muller, smuller@poblocki.com Kyle Skunta, kskunta@selbertperkins.com Jeff Waggoner, jeffwaggoner@fuse.net Cathy Fromet, cathy@studiographique.com George Lim, george@tangramdesignllc.com Angela Serravo, angela@tangramdesignllc.com Lucy Richards, lr@studiolr.com Rick Smith, rsmith@dimin.com Adam Halverson, adamh@serigraphicssign.com Rachel Einsidler, einsidler.r@design360inc.com Anthony Ferrara, anthony@designconcernus.com Anna Sharp, asharp@twotwelve.com Stephen Bashore, sbashore@cloudgehshan.com Ian Goldberg, igoldberg@cloudgehshan.com Chris McCampbell, chris@kathydavisassociates.com Lauren Kelly, lauren@laurenkelly.com Cynthia Hall, chall@studio-sc.com Cynthia Damar-Schnobb, cynthia@entro.com Andrew Kuzyk, andrew@entro.com Danielle Lindsay-Chung, danielle.lindsaychung@gmail.com Daniela Pilossof, daniela.pilossof@gmail.com Jeffrey Wotowiec, jwotowiec@cannondesign.com
Publisher Clive Roux, CEO Editor-in-Chief Pat Matson Knapp pat@segd.org Executive Editor Ann Makowski Founding Editor Leslie Gallery Dilworth Design Wayne-William Creative Contributors Wayne Hunt, Guest Editor Executive and Editorial Offices 1000 Vermont Ave., NW Suite 400 Washington, D.C. 20005 202.638.5555 www.segd.org
Subscriptions: US $250/year, International $300/year. Send US funds to eg magazine, 1000 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005. To charge your order, call 202.638.5555. Postmaster: Send address changes to eg magazine, 1000 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005. © 2013 eg magazine SSN: 1551-4595
WWW.SEGD.ORG
eg magazine is the international journal of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. Opinions expressed editorially and by contributors are not necessarily those of SEGD. Advertisements appearing in eg magazine do not constitute or imply endorsement by SEGD or eg magazine. Material in this magazine is copyrighted. Photocopying for academic purposes is permissible, with appropriate credit. eg magazine is published four times a year by SEGD Services Corp. Periodical postage paid at York, Penn., USA, and additional mailing offices.
NO. 05, 2013
eg ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE
Editorial, Subscriptions, Reprints, Back Issues 202.638.5555 segd@segd.org
2013 marks the 40th anniversary of SEGD and this issue is a celebration of that moment in time. Just a few hundred years ago, 40 represented a good age for people to live to. Today, it’s closer to the midway mark, and for SEGD in particular, it represents an important milestone: a moment where a certain level of maturity has been reached, but the future is full of exciting possibilities. In environmental graphic design, this moment will likely be remembered as the turning point between analog and digital communication in the built environment: the turn from static, carefully curated and controlled communications toward fuller, fluid, and more informationdriven experience design. In this new era, the EGD role will include integrating billions of digital sensors, screens, and continuous dataflow into useful, compelling experiences. SEGD was always intended to be more than just signage, even from the beginning (as you can read in our Up Close interview with SEGD co-founder John Berry, p. 64). And this is true today, as we heard about EGD’s role as placemakers at the 2013 SEGD Conference in San Francisco last month. These are exciting times for environmental graphic designers who embrace new XLAB technologies and adapt to the new skills, competencies, and types of projects emerging today. SEGD’s mandate has been expanding rapidly over the past decade as digital technology and the role and importance of communication in the built environment have expanded. As we enter our second half-life, we are heading for the digital era of EGD. This is true not just in terms of the work of our members, but also for the design and operation of SEGD itself. What will we do with the flood of information, abundance of promotions, emerging content management systems, and rapidly growing forest of sensors, screens, and mobile devices? For EGD, today is like 1999 was for the mobile industry. There are lots of great possibilities as new technologies emerge, but no one has put together the killer app for digital environmental spaces yet. The business model is not clear; the desire for the technologies is rising, but without a clear design to make sense of it. Dare I say it? The economy is starting to pick up in the U.S. and will most likely do so globally in the next few years. There could hardly be a more exciting time to turn 40 and get into our second stride. Steal a few moments to reflect and look back on the SEGD view of the past 40 years reflected in this issue. It’s important to know where we have come from to remain grounded, especially considering how fast we are about to start moving as the wave of digital technology washes over the EGD profession.
NO. 05, 2013
Advertising Sales Sara Naegelin 202.489.8977 sara@segd.org
The Next Forty
On the cover: Lance Wyman’s 40th anniversary poster design for SEGD. See Sketchbook, p. 14.
Clive Roux CEO
eg magazine — 3
SEGD 40th Anniversary Issue 3 Foreword 10 SEGD: The First Forty From its roots in “architectural signing,” SEGD has evolved into a crossdisciplinary global community.
14 Sketchbook
ance Wyman’s 40th anniversary poster L for SEGD
18 40 Great Moments Wayne Hunt curates our selection of the 40 people, projects, events, and innovations that have impacted environmental graphic design.
64 Up Close Design entrepreneur John Berry, lately of Herman Miller and Design West Michigan, was the original mind behind SEGD.
eg magazine — 5
2013 eg SPONSORS AND PATRONS
Our sincere thanks to these companies for their support of eg magazine.
Lead Sponsors Pentagram
Patrons C&G Partners Donovan/Green Infinite Scale JACQZ Co. Kate Keating Associates Tracy Turner Design
Sponsors Robert Probst APCO Graphics Applied Image Hunt Design Selbert Perkins Design
For information about sponsorship, contact sara@segd.org
THANK YOU TO OUR 2013 SEGD PROGRAM PARTNERS 3A Composites
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8 — eg magazine
THEN
NOW
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM EXHIBIT 1988
LINCOLN CENTER
For this work, artist Jenny Holzer was selected to represent the USA in the 1990 Venice Biennale and won first place, the Golden Lion award.
Installed as part of the “Transforming Lincoln Center” project. Over 5,000 feet of white LED signs installed in the risers of the grand Columbus street stairway.
A personal message to my SEGD colleagues. Congratulations to SEGD on its 40th anniversary this year. I am in awe of the talent that exists within our membership, it’s a wonderful feeling. I could name individuals but the list is long. I have fantastic memories of annual meetings going all the way back to Cranbrook Academy. I have to admit Paul Miller and I did go skinny dipping one time in that beautiful group of descending waterfalls and pools, it looks like something out of a beautiful Japanese silk screen painting, irresistible. Now we have a younger group of engineers, technicians, marketing and sales people, they are the future, they know and understand my feelings about SEGD and we will always be a part of the team. Many thanks, Henry Appleton, President Sunrise Systems, Inc.
Clear. Creative. Custom. www.sunrisesystems.com phone: 781.826.9706 @ sales sunrisesystems.com fax: 781.826.0061
SECTION TITLE
1973 (JULY 3)
SEGD: The First Forty From its roots in “architectural signing,” SEGD has evolved into a cross-disciplinary global community embracing a wide range of visual communications that connect people to place. Here’s a look-back at SEGD’s first 40 years.
1986
The SEGD Education Foundation is formed. The first permanent SEGD office is established at 47 Third Street, Cambridge, above an erotic bakery.
John Berry, head of graphics and signing at the Detroit architectural firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, invites fellow designers to explore developing a national organization for architectural sign designers. Five attend: John Berry, Richard Burns, Jim Glass, Chuck Byrne, and Phil Meathe.
1987
1974
1975
In Houston, 18 attend a second meeting to explore the potential for developing a national organization. After much semantic and philosophical debate, the group names itself the Society of Environmental Graphics Designers.
In New York, a third meeting lays the organizational groundwork for SEGD. Chair John Berry and Vice Chair Jeffry Corbin draft bylaws. Task forces are established for Awards, Codes, Data Bank, Education, and Federal Guidelines.
(APRIL 9)
(APRIL 28)
The SEGD Design Awards are inaugurated and judged by attendees at the national conference at Cranbrook.
1988
The first issue of Messages is published, with Clifford Selbert as design director.
SEGD receives an NEA grant to develop national standards for industrial and worker safety symbols.
1990
The SEGD Education Foundation is awarded a $20,000 NEA grant to develop user guidelines for a system of national recreational symbols.
SEGD receives a $33,000 NEA grant to develop a model education curriculum for EGD.
1991
1989
The Americans with Disabilities Act passes, setting off a still-continuing dialogue within SEGD.
SEGD has 700 members.
Universal Symbols In Health Care Workbook
2002 2000
Members approve dissolution of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design as a 501(c)6, professional membership trade association, and the transfer of its assets to the new SEGD, a 501(c)3 educational nonprofit. SEGD launches its first website, with a generous donation by Steve Neumann.
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SEGD hires Craig Berger, its first full-time director of education, and with the generous sponsorship of Matthews Paint, expands its educational programming. SEGD launches pilot EGD programs at four universities.
2003
SEGD launches SEGDdesign magazine. The Sedgwick logo is retired and SEGD adopts a new identity, designed by Doug Morris.
Executive Summary
2007
Best Practices for Sign Systems
Produced by
With support from
2005
JRC Design, SEGD, and Hablamos Juntos conduct a large-scale symbols project that becomes the foundation for an extensive educational program focused on the use of symbols in healthcare wayfinding. The Healthcare Symbols Workbook is published.
SEGD holds its first educational workshop focused on “green” initiatives and publishes the SEGD Green Paper on sustainability in EGD.
2009
A revised version of the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is released, reflecting urban wayfinding allowances championed by SEGD and its members.
1976
With the help of John Follis, SEGD is legally incorporated in the state of California.
1977
The first SEGD newsletter is published by Jeffry Corbin. The first membership drive results in 50 members.
1992
SEGD’s name is tweaked to emphasize the field rather than its practitioners. The new name is Society for Environmental Graphic Design. SEGD publishes the first in a series of White Papers addressing various aspects of the Americans CM04 with Disabilities Act and technical guidelines for signage.
CM10
1978
Jim Glass publishes the long-time “bible” for EGD practitioners: The Environmental Graphics Sourcebook, Part One: Materials and Techniques.
1980
The first SEGD national conference is held at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. 150 attend.
CM16
SEGD presents its first international educational event, “Minding the Gap: Views from Both Sides of Pond” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Jessica W. London is named SEGD’s new CEO. CM22
Doug Akagi designs a new logo for SEGD. “The guy holding the arrow” is affectionately known as Segdwick.
1985
Sarah Speare is hired as SEGD’s first paid executive director. SEGD incorporates in Massachusetts. Produced by
AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARY RANGE
entry-level designers
$20,250
principals & owners
$69,900
1995
Membership tops 1,000.
Virginia Gehshan develops the Standard Form of Agreement for Professional EGD Services, the first model EGD contract.
The SEGD Design Practice Survey shows entry-level designers earn an average CM05 annual salary of $20,250; principals/owners average $69,900.
SEGD receives an NEA grant to document the history of EGD. The CM06 project is co-directed by Sarah Speare and Juanita Dugdale.
1994
CM11
CM12
Facilities & Administrative Services
1996
Betsy Jackson is hired as executive FA01 director. SEGD offices are moved to Washington, D.C., for better access to allied professions.
2012 FA03
Imaging
1998 FA02
MA01
Leslie Gallery Dilworth is named executive director.
FA04
MA03
FA06
MA05
FA08
MA07
SEGD’s award-winning segdDESIGN magazine is renamed eg magazine and redesigned by Holmes Wood (London).
Pentagram designs a new website and graphic identity for SEGD.
2010
1982
CM17
SEGD and Hablamos Juntos introduce the new Universal Symbols in Health Care, a set of 56 graphic symbols that make hospitals and other healthcare facilities easier to navigate for underserved populations and patients with limited English or reading proficiency. CM23
CM18
2011
SEGD debuts Xlab, an event designed to explore new technologies and how they impact design in the built environment. CM24
ADA guidelines for signage, the SEGD ADA Committee releases its SEGD 2012 FA05 ADA White Paper Update: Signage Requirements in the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design. Clive Roux, industrial designer and former CEO of the Industrial Designers Society of America, is named SEGD’s new CEO. FA07
eg magazine — 11
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SECTION TITLE
Lance Wyman Lance Wyman Ltd. This year SEGD asked me to create a limited-edition poster celebrating its 40th anniversary. I was inspired by the notion of SEGD’s passage into a new era, and I tried to communicate the idea of forward motion. The idea of passing through—of being at a crossroads—made sense to me, and that’s why I combined the “4” and the “0” in such a way that they form a full circle. As I think about the role of sketching in my design process, I see that it has changed over the years. In my early work, sketching and drawing by hand played an important role throughout the entire process. Now I go from first sketch directly to digital drawing. Now my sketchbook includes digital sketches. What hasn’t changed is the epiphany moment of capturing the essence of an idea with that first sketch. It’s a personal experience that isn’t exact or refined and you don’t have to show it to anyone. It’s the first step on the road to a solution.
14 — eg magazine
“The idea of passing through—of being at a crossroads— made sense to me, and that’s why I combined the ‘4’ and the ‘0’ in such a way that they form a full circle.”
To purchase a Wyman poster, contact ann@segd.org or call 202.638.5555. eg magazine — 15
Downtown Disney Anaheim, CA
Pacific Design Center West Hollywood, CA
Pacific Design Center West Hollywood, CA
World of Coca-Cola Atlanta, GA
University Park at MIT Cambridge, MA
Port of Los Angeles San Pedro, CA
Los Angeles World Airports Los Angeles, CA
Dallas Cowboys Stadium Arlington, TX
Fremont East District Las Vegas, NV
The Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, NV
Northeastern University Boston, MA
City Creek Center Salt Lake City, UT
CNN Building Hollywood, CA
Seven Hills Park Somerville, MA
Canal City Hakata Fukuoka, Japan
Universal Studios Universal City, CA
los angeles I chicago I boston I shanghai
w w w. s e l b e r t p e r k i n s .c o m
A R T ,
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
&
E N V I R O N M E N T A L
D E S I G N
Great Moments in EGD
1900 Paris Metro Entrances
1912 Neon Signs
1950s Las Vegas Strip and Downtown
1957 Helvetica
1966 Sea Ranch Supergraphics
1967 Expo 67 Montreal
1973 Hollywood Sign Recognized as a Monument
1973 Formation of SEGD
1979 Architectural Signing and Graphics
1983 Gerber Signmaker and Die-Cut Vinyl Letters
By Wayne Hunt, Guest Editor
A small group of pioneering designers first met and formed SEGD 40 years ago, and they can be credited with giving a name to the discipline we now call Environmental Graphic Design. But EGD has been evolving for many more than 40 years, and there have been many great EGD moments both before and since SEGD was formed. Innovative places, people, technologies, projects, books, breakthroughs, and events—many more than 40—can be credited with helping to shape the discipline. Here’s my list of the big things that changed the status quo, influenced us, and helped build, define, and refine a design discipline. I chose 40 moments that had a major impact on me, my peers, and the emerging design field that we now call environmental graphics. For the several projects listed I could have selected many others, similarly influential and important. Sorry I couldn’t include all the great suggestions from my fellow SEGD Fellows and other veteran SEGD members who provided valuable input.
1992 Gurnee Mills
1990s LED Signage
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1993 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
2001 Apple Store
1920s Porcelain Enamel Signs
1920s Times Square
1933 London Underground Map
1955 Disneyland Signage
1961 Mathematica
1964 IBM Pavilion, 1964 New York World’s Fair
1964 Mobil Oil Service Station
1964 Ghirardelli Square
1968 Mexico City Olympics
1968 127 John Street, New York City
1969 NYC Subway Sign Standards
1972 ASI Changeable Strip Directory
1974 DOT Symbol Signs
1974 9 West 57th St, New York City
1974 Atlantic Richfield Plaza Signage
1978 Smithsonian Pictograms
1984 Los Angeles Olympics
1984 Macintosh Computer
1987 United Airlines O’Hare Airport Walkway
1987-97 IDENTITY magazine
1993 The ADA White Paper
1990s High-Pressure Plastic Laminate for Signage
1993 Touch-Screen Technology
1995 Morgan Stanley Times Square
2004 Clearview
2009 Wayfinding Apps
Wayne Hunt, FSEGD, founded Pasadena, Calif.-based Hunt Design in 1977. He and the firm have planned, designed, and implemented more than 200 signage and graphics and exhibit programs worldwide. Wayne is the author of three books on signage and graphics and an adjunct professor at Art Center College of Design. He often combines his two passions: drawing and travel.
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1900 Paris Metro Entrances (Hector Guimard) Designed in the Art Nouveau style, these graceful gateways still define the Parisian streetscape. Timeless integration of typography and form. The first modern placemaking based on a sign? (Photo: Paristep.com)
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1912 Neon Signs Invented by British chemists around 1900 when they electrified the gas krypton, “neon� soon became a powerful medium for large advertising signs, transforming downtowns around the world. Selfilluminating letters were magical and made signage not only possible after dark, but compelling and even romantic. This old-school technology remains an interesting option for today's designers.
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1920s Porcelain Enamel Signs The start of the modern permanent sign business. Porcelain enamel replaced paint for durable, colorfast marketing and advertising signs; still-pristine 100-year-old Coca Cola signs attest to its durability. Still the first choice for outdoor permanent displays and signs.
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1920s Times Square This popular gathering place came into its own as modern illuminated signs and neon transformed the Great White Way into one of the first wall-towall media environments. The famous square continues to evolve today with new technologies, and has influenced other public spaces around the world, such as Las Vegas and Ginza. (Photo: Thunder Bay Books)
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1933 London Underground Map (Harry Beck) The first “designed” map that reinterpreted below-ground reality for better understanding above ground. The ancestor of today’s ubiquitous sleek urban rail system maps. (Image: Transport for London)
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1955 Disneyland Signage One of the first and best examples of graphics playing a major role in placemaking. Walt Disney used hundreds of colorful signs, icons, posters, and graphics to help define places, eras, and situations. Theme parks, museums, and even retail environments everywhere followed his lead. (Photo: ŠDisney)
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1950s Las Vegas Strip and Downtown Building-sized neon signs and animated facades came to define a city and reflect a destination lifestyle.
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1957 Helvetica (Max Miedinger) Thousands of sign programs later, no comment needed.
“ Helvetica— to look further is in vain.” Massimo Vignelli
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1961 Mathematica (Eames Office) Funded by IBM for the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry, this hands-on experience was the first truly interactive science exhibit and set the stage for today’s intensively interactive museum experiences. Versions of it are still on display today. (Photos: © Eames Office LLC)
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1964 IBM Pavilion, 1964 New York World’s Fair (Eames Office) The first big multi-media/multi-screen experience stole the show. Inside the ovoid IBM Pavilion designed by Eero Saarinen, the Eameses created a nine-screen film extravaganza that visitors watched from grandstands that were hydraulically lifted more than 50 feet for the screen viewing. Who knew that people could watch and learn from nine screens at once? (Photo: © Eames Office LLC)
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1964 Ghiradelli Square (Benjamin Thompson and Associates) The first major adaptive-reuse project in the U.S. Eclectic signs, graphics, color, and animation were front and center, reactivating the old factory into an international destination. Profound influence on not just environmental graphic design, but place-making and architectural preservation.
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1964 Mobil Oil Service Station (Chermayeff & Geismar) If not the first, certainly the most thoroughly “branded” retail environment of its day. Seamless integration of graphics, industrial design (by Eliot Noyes), and architecture, with a distinctive custom logomark as the centerpiece. American street corners were never the same after. (Photo: Chermayeff & Geismar)
eg magazine — 31
1966 NYC Subway Sign Standards (Unimark/Massimo Vignelli) This disciplined, intelligent system amazed with clarity and detail, transforming a chaotic, confusing system into an organized framework of signage and visual communications that the public could comprehend. The huge design guidelines binder remains a classic.
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1966 Sea Ranch Supergraphics (Barbara Stauffacher Solomon) Entire walls of colorful stripes and shapes showed the potential of graphic design as architectural language.
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1967 Expo 67 Montreal Transformed the decades-old world’s fair idea into a total environmental design experience. Paul Arthur masterminded the signs and directional information including pictograms, Burton Kramer was responsible for wayfinding, and many of the world’s best designers made the pavilions interpretive showcases. Was a must-see for designers and architects of the era. (Photo: Chermayeff & Geismar)
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1968 Mexico City Olympics (Lance Wyman) In one of the most influential EGD projects of all time, graphics defined the venues, the sports, the city, and an entire culture.
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1968 127 John Street, New York City (Rudolph de Harak)Â One of the first high-rise projects to integrate neon and structured typography into the streetscape. de Harak added warmth to the Modernist skyscraper and showed how graphics could animate the urban environment. (Photo: Courtesy Poulin + Morris Inc.)
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1972 ASI Changeable Strip Directory Modest? Yes, but it and other ASI products transformed signage for buildings. Clean, simple, and magical behind bronzed glass. And, the architects liked it.
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1973 Hollywood Sign Recognized as a Monument Los Angeles adopts a 50-year-old advertising sign as its icon and gives it landmark status. Now, the most famous sign in the world. It’s no Eiffel Tower, but we’ll take it. (Photo: Hollywood Sign Trust)
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1973 Formation of SEGD Who knew that when five designers met in Detroit to talk about forming a group to share information about “architectural signs,” they would create the center point of a dynamic and evolving design discipline? Still cookin’ after all these years. (Original SEGD logo design: Doug Akagi)
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1974 Atlantic Richfield Plaza Signage (John Follis & Associates) Follis masterwork. The first big-time corporate sign program on the West Coast. Countless projects (and practitioners) were influenced by the scale and thoroughness. And yes, Helvetica was the font.
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1974 9 West 57th Street, New York City (Chermayeff & Geismar) This big red sculptural address numeral was photographed, celebrated, and copied by designers around the world. (Photo: Chermayeff & Geismar)
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1978 Smithsonian Pictograms (Lance Wyman) Still relevant today, a visual language of recognizable places. No words were needed. Hundreds of sets of pictograms have been designed since, for everything from theme park attractions to computer keyboards. (Images: Lance Wyman)
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1979 Architectural Signing and Graphics (John Follis and Dave Hammer) This was the EGD bible for more than 25 years. Follis laid down the principles of practice in a new field and provided much-needed guidance for a new generation of designers.
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1983 Touch-Screen Technology (Hewlett-Packard) Map directories that interact with the user transformed self-guiding and access to user-specific information.
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1983 Gerber Signmaker and Die-Cut Vinyl Letters The first commercial vinyl character cutter—probably single-handedly responsible for the death of hand brush lettering. VDC letters are still a staple of sign making and museum exhibits.
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1984 Los Angeles Olympics (Sussman Prejza) Another candidate for most influential EGD project of all time. Unusual colors, stripes, font use, and riffs on classic buildings turned modernism upside down. The ultimate event branding design, the look also played well on TV. And, a landmark of collaboration as more than 25 graphic design firms joined in to roll out the innovative program. (Photos: Sussman Prejza)
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1984 Macintosh Computer (Apple) Yes, the Mac started the personal computer/device revolution worldwide and changed many fields, and perhaps culture in general. But graphic design was transformed almost overnight to a near limitless electronic process. Between 1985 and 1990, century-old techniques of pasteups, camera art, and handcrafting disappeared. Post-script typography, file transfer, photo alteration, and illustration programs soon followed and a “new� graphics industry was born. This was not evolution, it was revolution.
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1985 DOT Symbol Signs (Cook & Shanosky Associates for AIGA) A seminal breakthrough in universal non-verbal communication, these symbols are still in use today at an airport near you.
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1987-97 IDENTITY magazine Published by the ST Media Group as an offshoot of Signs of the Times magazine, it beautifully reflected EGD’s evolving self-image for many years and was the precursor to segdDESIGN and eg magazines.
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1987 United Airlines O’Hare Airport Walkway (Michael Hayden) Neon sign technology shaped into a moving spatial experience. Now redone with LEDs, Michael Hayden’s 750-foot-long sculpture entitled Sky’s the Limit —commissioned for the Helmut Jahn-designed United terminal at O’Hare— remains an engaging visitor experience. (Photo: City of Chicago)
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1990s High-Pressure Plastic Laminate for Signage Zoos, museums, and parks have never been the same. Neither has the porcelain enamel business. (Photo: iZone Imaging)
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1990s LED Signage Biggest signage and graphics lighting advance since Edison. And, like the signs, everything changed. And is still changing. (Photo: ŠSimone Giostra & Partners/Arup-Ruogo)
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1992 Gurnee Mills (CommArts) Here was the first shopping environment driven almost solely by graphic design—the actual architecture was in the background behind graphic storefronts, flying indoor billboards, pop art sculptures, floor-toceiling thematic layers, and eyefuls of color, typography and image. Every surface and view shed in each direction was a graphic composition. (Photos: Timothy Hursley)
eg magazine — 53
1993 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Ralph Applebaum Associates) Changed the paradigm for historical exhibits: the visitor as participant. In creating this powerful, immersive experience, Appelbaum achieved a delicate balance between fact and emotion. A masterful piece of visual journalism; no museum experience has been the same since.
54 — eg magazine
1993 The ADA White Paper (SEGD) A coming-of-age initiative for SEGD and a big step in understanding and interpreting federal guidelines for design inclusive of those with disabilities. For the past three decades, SEGD has interpreted ADA guidelines for the EGD community and provided leadership to improve them.
eg magazine — 55
1995 Morgan Stanley Times Square (Poulin + Morris) One of the first integrated digital building fronts and another great chapter for Times Square. Others followed, leading to today’s dazzling, Blade Runner-like must-visit destinations. (Photo: Deborah Kushma Photography)
56 — eg magazine
2001 Apple Store (Eight Inc.) Sleek and museum-like—the ultimate branded environment. Eight Inc.’s concept store for Apple is the best example yet of seamless melding of product and place. (Photo: Eight Inc.)
eg magazine — 57
2004 Clearview (Don Meeker and James Montalbono) Not only did they design one of the most legible fonts ever, they got it approved by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. Created to improve visibility for an increasing number of aging drivers on more than 50,000 miles of U.S. interstate highways, Clearview may also bear the distinction of having the most far-reaching impact of any EGD intervention ever. Meeker says design can be a form of “social activism.” (Photo: Meeker & Associates)
58 — eg magazine
2009 Wayfinding Apps Maps, wayfinding, interpretation, all in your handheld device. Download in advance or on site with just a click. Now with GPS. Is this the future of wayfinding? (Photo: W&Co.)
eg magazine — 59
example: www.mmcarvings.com › signage › usc-ronald-tutor-campus-center
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We have designs on your glass. Supplier and installer of glass film featuring Lumisty, which makes glass change from transparent to translucent, depending on your angle of view. Pictured here, the glass is foggy from an angle but is perfectly clear when viewing straight-on. Logos and unique designs can be cut from Lumisty or printed on the surface, and the film can be combined with 50 different transparent colored films. www.lumistyfilm.com 978-263-9333
PROVIDING SOLUTIONS FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT For contact information see our ad on page 1 of this issue.
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Project: “Wheels” 2010 Santa Monica, CA Artist: Anne Marie Karlsen 58 ft x 51 ft Fireform Graphic Tile
Rated in the Americans for the Arts 2011 ‘Year in Review’ as 1 of 47 of the most outstanding public artworks in the country. Commissioned by the Santa Monica Arts Commission
Photographs by Bill Short Photography
eg magazine — 63
UP CLOSE John Berry
What was your goal when you invited fellow designers to your office in July 1973? At that time, architectural firms were grappling with how to use graphics and information to move people through complex environments. With Smith Hinchman, I was working on signage and graphics for the Atlanta airport, a large hospital, and a NASA research center. I discovered there was no database or professional organization that dealt with these issues of visual communication, which combined industrial and graphic design. I knew Rich Burns through our undergraduate studies at Indiana University, and we stayed in touch over the years. He was one of the five people at that first meeting, and was a major force in shaping SEGD. What happened at that first meeting? We compared notes a lot! And we talked about the idea of an organization. We thought we might fit as a subset of another existing organization, so we approached AIGA, AIA, and IDSA—to no avail. By the second meeting, we knew we were going to have to start something ourselves.
In 1973, John Berry was head of the interiors, graphics, and signage department of the large Detroit architectural firm Smith Hinchman Grylls (now SmithGroup) when he invited a group of fellow designers to explore the idea of a new organization for professionals involved in “architectural signing.” In 1980, he moved on to Herman Miller, where he was Vice President of Corporate Communications for 16 years. Now, he is Executive Director of Design West Michigan, a non-profit that advocates design as an economic engine for the region, and he consults with Kendall College of Art & Design (Grand Rapids, Mich.) to develop new design programs. He spoke with eg magazine about the founding of SEGD.
64 — eg magazine
Did you have a sense that a new design discipline was being born? Not really. We were all out there doing our own thing, and we all recognized the value of sharing information. There wasn’t a sense that we were doing something as big as we were really doing. We were just a group of people who got along and we each had our own interests that were bigger than self-promotion. What about that name? Why not the Society of Architectural Signing? We saw our role as broader than that. The built environment was certainly part of it, but so were parks. And exhibitions were also a factor. The word “environmental” didn’t have the same connotations then; there was no concept yet of sustainability. We chose “environmental graphics” to mean
“I see no boundaries for this field. We don’t know exactly where it’s going, but that’s exciting too.” the human environment both natural and built—the world in which we live and work and play. When did you feel that SEGD was a real success? A significant pivotal moment was our very first conference at Cranbrook Academy of Art, in 1980. We had never planned a national conference before, but it came together in a pretty powerful way. That beautiful, design-centric setting, with manufacturers and designers and clients together, created a very unique social and professional exchange that resonated with a lot of people. And it still does. How do you feel about the way your “brain-child” has grown up? I love how SEGD has grown and matured. I’m very impressed with the organization. The inclusion of technology and the assimilation of what that means for visual communications and how people share information is exciting. I see no boundaries for this field. We don’t know exactly where it’s going, but that’s exciting too. New materials and technologies and new understandings of cognitive processing and how the brain works make it even more exciting. The need for environmental graphics will always be there because the need for communication will always be there.
NO. 05, 2013
NO. 05, 2013
eg ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE
WWW.SEGD.ORG