Duke Hall  |  environmental Signage

Duke Hall is the School of Art, Design, and Art History building at James Madison University, but it has no signage. I was tasked with creating an Environmental signage system for this building. This was my problem statement: “Duke Hall has a serious lack of signage that is creating a problem of confusion and misguidance. Not many people know that Duke Hall is an art building because there is rarely any art on display outside of the galleries. Duke Hall must employ a signage system to make its users feel at ease and confident when locating different areas of the building; such as, entrances, exits, classrooms, stairs, and specific art departments. It must also define itself as a home for the arts by showcasing more student work.” I completed ethnographic research, user-centered research and a questionnaire for art students. Throughout my signage concepts, I put importance on artwork display because after all, it is an art building. I didn’t allow my wayfinding system to take away from the art, so my signs are all white, clean, and simple. I took all of the photographs of the building you see below and used Photoshop to create mockups for each sign. Also, I specified the material being used and any construction processes needed for the signs.