October 2011 Member News
APOLOGUE (Los Angeles) founder Tali Krakowsky recently curated a week of projects for AIGA’s Design Envy blog.
Krakowsky wrote about wearable computing in the form of a Solar Bikini by designer Andrew Schneider , an inflatable mobile music hall by artist Anish Kapoor , a media installation in the round by designer Ron Arad, a physical children's book that integrates an iPhone by Mobile Art Lab, and a speculative Augmented Reality concept piece for the future of driving by Michael Harboun with Dassault Systems.
ASI (Dallas) is supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October by raising funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Passionately Pink for the Cure campaign.
Donors can contribute online or by check or money order. To make donations, visit ASI at Susan G. Komen for the Cure – Passionately Pink. ASI's fundraising goal is $3,000, and the company is matching all combined donations raised throughout the month of October up to $1,000.
CALORI & VANDEN-EYNDEN / DESIGN CONSULTANTS (New York) announced that its Woodward Avenue Tributes program received a 2011 National Scenic Byways award.
C&VE was commissioned by the Woodward Avenue Action Association to design a branding and placemaking program for Woodward Avenue, Detroit's famed thoroughfare and a National Scenic Byway. The result is a series of illuminated towers that tell the story of Woodward Avenue and its compelling history in the Motor City region––from its origin as an Indian trail to its role as the heart of the automobile industry.
Two Tributes have been installed and two more are slated for installation in Spring 2012. Tributes are planned in each of the 11 communities along the 27-mile length of Woodward Avenue.
CANNON DESIGN (San Francisco) announced that Jason Busby has joined the company as Vice President of its healthcare consultancy initiative, Confluence by Cannon Design.
Busby's expertise includes strategic, operational, facility, and capital planning with experiences ranging from large integrated health systems and academic medical centers to critical access hospitals. Prior to joining Cannon Design, he was a principal with Kaiser Permanente’s National Service Delivery Planning and National Facilities Services consulting practice.
CHRISTOPHER CHADBOURNE & ASSOCIATES (Boston) announced that as of October 2, it will no longer be taking on new work beyond the contracts for which it has submitted proposals in conjunction with architects and fabricators. President and CEO Chris Chadbourne says the company will remain open to fulfill outstanding contracts to clients such as the National Museum of the United States Army, the National Law Enforcement Museum, the Pink Palace, the U.S. Marshals Museum, and the United States Institute of Peace.
“I make this announcement reluctantly because of my deep belief in the transformative power of museums in our culture and because it has been my deep pleasure and honor to have worked with a group of people whom I consider the brightest and most creative in the field,” says Chadbourne. “That includes first and foremost, my colleagues at CCA. They are an exceptional group of talented, committed professionals. But it also includes the institutions that entrusted their stories to us, the brilliant media consultants who have helped bring our stories to life, and all those who took our unique designs and made them sing, from consultants to fabricators.”
ENTRO (Toronto) has merged with Gottschalk + Ash International (Toronto). The company's legal name remains Entro Communications, but it will be known as Entro | G+A to reflect what partnerAndrew Kuzyk calls an "integration of company cultures."
"We're excited about it. We've had the desire to work together for a long time, but now it's really happening," Kuzyk says.
G+A was owned by DW+Partners, an ad, strategy, and packaging design agency owned by St. Joseph Communications. The merger will allow Entro to expand its scope from environmental graphic design to encompass G+A's specialties in print, identity, and place branding.
"The merging of our two companies represents an ideal fit of creative disciplines," says Kuzyk. " We're happy to continue the G+A legacy through good design."
G+A creative director Doreen Colonello is now Entro's design director, branding. Entro hired Udo Schliemann, former G+A design director, as its principal creative director earlier this year.
Entro | G+A will also be expanding into Calgary with the addition of Chris Herringer, principal at Chris Herringer Design Ltd. and former G+A Calgary design director.
Stuart Ash and Fritz Gottschalk, who founded G+A in 1966, are supportive of the merger, says Kuzyk. "We wanted to have their blessing, and they have been really supportive and happy to know that we'll be continuing their 45-year legacy."
Entro was founded 21 years ago by Kuzyk and Wayne McCutcheon. Entro | G+A includes 35 employees.
FROST* (Sydney) recently completed a new signage scheme for Everglades in Australia’s Blue Mountains. The scheme incorporates a palette of subtle greens to complement the Modernist garden and historic house, providing context to the site’s history and key features. It is part of an upgrade to the National Trust-owned site that also includes a new visitor center by architects Lacoste+Stevenson.
GRESHAM, SMITH AND PARTNERS (Nashville) announced the publication of ACRP Report 52, Wayfinding and Signage Guidelines for Airport Terminals and Landside, which it researched and wrote for the Airport Cooperative Research Program, managed by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. The guidebook aims to facilitate the safe and efficient movement of passengers within each airport and from one airport to another through the uniform application of wayfinding best practices and common design criteria.
“The increasing number of airport users in the United States, combined with the evolution of terminal design as well as the wide range of airport sizes and configurations, make wayfinding more complex than ever before,” says Jim Harding, director of environmental graphic design for GS&P and the firm’s principal investigator on the guidebook. “Our intent is that by airports adopting the wayfinding principles in this guideline, the overall airport users’ experience across the country will be improved.”
Prior to the publication of the report, there was no single document or guidebook available to airport operators illustrating best practices for wayfinding and signing the airport terminal and landside areas. The report provides guidelines for on-airport roadways and off-airport access roads; parking; curbside/ground transportation; and terminal, including concourses, gates, ticketing/check-in, security checkpoints, federal inspection services, and baggage claim.
The report is available from the Transportation Research board at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/acrp/acrp_rpt_052.pdf.
GS&P managed the research project. The Texas Transportation Institute, Big Sky, Human Factors North, and SEGD and the Airport Sign Managers Network provided consulting support.
GS&P was recently selected to provide design services for a comprehensive signage upgrade at Philadelphia International Airport and completed recent wayfinding and signage projects at the new Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal in Atlanta, Denver International Airport, Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport, and Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport.
HARBINGER (Jacksonville, Fla.) has moved its headquarters. The new address is 5300 Shad Road, Jacksonville, FL 32257. Harbinger is the former Quality Sign.
INFINITE SCALE DESIGN GROUP (Salt Lake City) is providing event design and integrated branding for the Pac-12 Football Championship game on December 2, 2011.
Infinite Scale has created a joint venture with AAA Flag & Banner to execute the Pac-12 Championship Game. Infinite Scale will handle the design, strategy, and project management combined with AAA Flag & Banner for planning, printing, installation, and strike down. Both bring proven big-event experiences and successes in their respective areas, including Super Bowls, Olympic Games, the Orange Bowl, and NHL All-Star Games.
LEE H. SKOLNICK ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN PARTNERSHIP (New York) recently completed an architecture and design project for the Rubin Museum of Art Education Center in New York. The museum focuses on the Arts of the Himalayas, so Skolnick’s designs were influenced by the deep, saturated colors and patterns of the culture. The center includes an iconic elliptical stairway that uses a photo of Tibetan prayer flags applied to 3-Form resin panels.
LORENC+YOO DESIGN (Atlanta) recently completed three new projects for Vanke, China’s largest residential real estate developer. The projects included visual narratives, architectural jewelry, sculpture, signage systems, and gateways.
The firm also recently completed a trade show exhibit for Brookfield at ICSC’s RECON show and new signage programs for Four Winds Casino in Michigan and the Atlanta Financial Center.
LUCITE INTERNATIONAL (Cordova, Tenn.) introduced a new, thinner, light-guiding continuous cast acrylic sheet in its Illumination series. The .236mm sheet is made for LED-lighted retail shelving and other applications where illumination is a key design factor.
In partnership with Brazil-based Bérkel Chapas Acrilicas Ltda., the company has also added four Rio Designer Series cast acrylic sheet products now available in stock in the U.S. through its LuciteLux line of acrylic sheet products. The new colors can be seen on the Lucite website, www.lucitelux.com.
POBLOCKI SIGN CO. (West Allis, Wis.) has developed a summary of the new federal ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) for signage, which were updated in 2010 and are scheduled to go into effect nationally in 2012. States may adopt these new requirements early and some may require more restrictive standards.
The summary was created for professionals who design, specify, or manage a signage program. It can be downloaded from Poblocki’s Facebook page. Like this on Facebook
SIGNS OF SUCCESS (Lynbrook, N.Y.) now offers UL-approved, trimless interior/exterior LED illuminated signage. The architectural-quality signage features bright and even, variable-temperature illumination, ultra-thin stroke construction, and serviceable LEDs. Letters can be any combination of face, side, or halo illuminated and as thin as one inch.
STUDIO SC (Seattle) was one of 25 design firms that participated in AIGA Seattle’s Design Marks, a part of the inaugural Seattle Design Festival, which launched September 16. Each firm selected an influential cultural landmark in Seattle—SC chose the historic King Street Station—and created a location marker and a video exploring the landmark’s impact on culture and the history of Seattle. The markers, which are located throughout downtown Seattle, were on display until September 25.
Studio SC is also working with the Seattle Center to develop a digital media display network on the Center’s Monorail platform, and to create a new exterior signage program for the Center House.
UNIFIED FIELD (New York) announced that its founding partner and chief strategist, Eli Kuslansky, was a guest lecturer October 12 at Trinity College in Dublin.
In his presentation, “Make it Real,” Kuslansky explored advances in the world of immersive media installations, including interactive graphics, 3D technology, and cross-channel integration.
Unified Field has created interactive displays for visitor centers, museums, and cultural centers worldwide, including recent projects for the Sony Wonder Technology Lab and Goldman Sachs & Company.
U.S. SIGN SERVICES (Lake Mary, Fla.) has a new website at http://www.ussignservices.com/contact.html.
WEIDNER ARCHITECTURAL SIGNAGE (Sacramento/Los Angeles) has produced a new 40-second video that can be seen at http://www.weidnersignage.com/VideoLibrary.
The company has also added three new members to its team. Mike Reuscher rejoined the estimating department, Doug James (a licensed architect) is the company’s newest project manager, and Matt Marr joined the art department doing construction drawings.
YESCO (Salt Lake City) hosted Arizona Congressman David Schweikert at its Phoenix facility October 18 in an event coordinated by the International Sign Association.
“We welcome any opportunity to demonstrate first-hand how our industry works to members of Congress,” says Lori Anderson, ISA’s president and CEO. “Rep. Schweikert will learn how sign companies help America’s small businesses market themselves and keep our economy strong.”
“We are very excited to share the latest innovations in sign technology with Rep. Schweikert,” says Jake Winklepleck, YESCO’s vice president. “We are extremely proud of the products that our 92 hardworking employees—many of whom are his constituents—create in this outstanding manufacturing facility.”
“As a family-owned business, YESCO is a true American success story,” adds Anderson. It was founded in 1920 with a $300 investment, and now operates nationwide.