ARCHIVE: Category Archive for: Colleges and Universities

How to Navigate a Wayfinding Redesign

Wayfinding redesign projects benefit from designated leaders, established standards, and experience-based user feedback on proposed solutions. A building’s redesign can be a cornerstone of wayfinding. Design elements that facilitate wayfinding can include lighting, color, functional pathways, and even acoustics. By considering the building and its users together, a wayfinding redesign can be intuitive and effective.

How Signage Can Transform Schools and Education

When it comes to education, signage has the power to transform not only a school building, but a student’s educational experience. Like most signage trends, signage in academic settings has seen a shift in terms of materials used, manufacturing techniques, and ideas of how school signage should function. At Metro Sign and Awning, we use the latest technology and educational trends to create functional and beautiful signs that improve the educational experience for both students and faculty. Electronic Messaging Systems (EMCs) The majority of schools today have at least one electronic messaging system in or outside their building. These are one of the most prevalent types of signage seen in the educational field today because of their incorporation of the latest technology

We’ve enjoyed working with Fitchburg State University (FSU) for several years, and we sincerely appreciate the ongoing relationship we have with university officials and staff. From a clean, easy-to-read design to ensuring the perfect color match for that famous Fitchburg green to producing signs and finishes that are as durable as can be for the many outdoor wayfinding signs, virtually every member of our team has played a part in improving campus signage. Multi-tasking Wayfinding Signage Like all signage projects, wayfinding is advertising – but more than that, it must satisfy many different criteria. In addition to being visually appealing and brand-enhancing, wayfinding signage in particular must be functional – for someone unfamiliar with the area, clear directional signage can

Arches punctuate the distinctive architecture of St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA. The 150-year old institution has a dedicated faculty, alumni, and more than 350 students, many of whom live on St. Mark’s campus. When it was time to update interior signage, it had to be carefully designed to add to, rather than distract from, the historic private school. Metro Sign & Awning had created other signs for the school, including a hand-carved donor sign. The sign was created by our in-house Design Department to echo the school’s distinctive arches and hand-crafted by our Fabrication Department. For this most recent project, the administration contacted Metro Sign & Awning’s Keene, NH location for conceptual designs for the new interior signage. Strong,

Effective wayfinding signage goes beyond branding, and it provides far more than directional signage. Think about signage on college campuses. As an article in College Planning and Management put it, it’s “more than part of the landscape.” Campus Signage Projects: Wayfinding, Branding, and Better Design Standard university signage identifies buildings, provides guidance to visitors, complies with regulatory mandates (like ADA standards) and whether it’s placed on the interior or exterior, signage must perform 24/7. Metro Sign & Awning works with public and private schools, colleges and universities to create effective, beautiful, and cost-efficient signage for students, parents and visitors. Our talented designers and fabricators and experienced installers get it right the first time, reducing change orders, headaches, and budget and

You’ve seen our vehicles and team members at various schools, colleges, municipalities and libraries over the past years. North Reading High School, East Boston Public Library, Suffolk University, City of Holyoke Park Program, Museum of Fine Arts, City of Lowell Façade Revitalization Program…. just to name a few. We work with fabulous architects and designers including Arrowstreet and Roll Barresi, and some of our fabrication designs are created by our own Metro Sign and Awning design team. We’re thrilled to announce that Metro Sign and Awning is now an approved member and provider of the Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC). This means that as an MHEC member, is that your organization can now benefit from our expertise in signage design and installation,

“Wayfinding” is a fascinating word that conveys its own meaning very clearly – which is precisely what you expect from “wayfinding signs” themselves. But it’s far from easy to create a series of signs that are unified, logical, and authoritative in design, yet variable enough to convey highly specific information clearly and unambiguously to people who are quite often in a hurry, stressed, confused, and possibly lacking in local language skills. So it’s no surprise that, to many designers, wayfinding signage projects are among the most challenging tasks in all of signmaking, and – when satisfactorily accomplished – among the most rewarding. Here are some interesting facts you probably don’t know about wayfinding signage: Wayfinding Signage Should Go Beyond