Clinton signage 151028

The Clinton School for Writers and Artists

signage

Clinton School Signage

The new Clinton School is a beautiful building with gleaming white hallways and stairwells with tile accents.

We would like to add signage that: does not compete with mandated signs (eg: emergency exists) clearly indicates to students exactly which floor or classroom they are about to enter communicates “this is an environment for artists and writers� brings a sense of respectful play to the halls

We propose achieving the signage goals with low-tech, hand-made, communicative colored chalkboards.

This system would reference the hand-drawn chalk mural the students created with Timothy Goodman on the approach to the old Clinton building.

We also want to encourage students to easily add hand-drawn messages and original posters to advertise their bake sales, clubs, sports events, fundraisers and more.

We envision incorporating a reminder of the Hawk Habits into the signs by lettering them at the very top of each sign:

time management responsibility engagement perseverance

We’ve identified the following specific signage needs:

1

elcoming W students each day in the foyer

2

elcoming W students to the cafeteria

3

rawing D attention to the led displays in the cafeteria

4

ifferentiatD ing each floor

5

ivening up L the stairwells

6

ifferentiD ating each classroom

7

dding school A spirit to the gym

8

aming and N celebrating the eighth floor clearly one of clinton’s greatest assets

Following are examples...

See the attached plan for the finishing the streetfront signage

1

A means of welcoming students each day - we envision a sandwich board in the foyer with at least a message that says something like “Welcome! It’s Tuesday, November 1, 2015. The JV Soccer team is playing in Central Park at 2pm’’

2

A means of welcoming students to the cafeteria - we envision signage opposite the elevators using a magnetic chalkboard with a permanent line drawing of Principal Levin and his “thought of the week” in a speech bubble. This would be accompanied by hand drawn messages and/or magnet mounted posters.

We’ll replace Principal Skinner with Principal Levin.

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3

A way of drawing attention to the LED display in the cafeteria - giving it a personality by sharing an occasional knock-knock joke to encourage students to read the substantive messages displayed.

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4

A means of differentiating each floor - with color coded chalkboards opposite the elevators - again displaying hand-drawn messages and magnetmounted posters. time

5 5

sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc e

sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc time e

Each floor would have its own color, chosen to harmonize in a building-wide palette. time

sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc e

time

sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc e

time

sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc e

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sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc e

4 4 5

sponsibilit y engagement p ement re erseve manag ranc time e

5

A way of livening up the stairwells - by adding a strip or two of “restaurant order holders� to easily switch out posters of any size.

6

A way of differentiating each classroom­— with a sign that indicates the classroom number, name and a fun bio of its teachers.

Each teacher would be able to choose an icon to represent thier room and subject matter.

7

A way of adding school spirit to the gym - again using ‘restaurant order holders’ to add and remove posters easily.

8

A way of celebrating the eighth floor - clearly one of Clinton’s greatest assets . We like the idea of giving this amazing and versatile space its own name such as The Hawk’s Nest (a far cry from ‘the cage’, its current nickname). And we envision two magnetic chalkboards between the elevators used as (a) a calendar of upcoming “Hawk’s Nest” events and (b) a place for hand drawn messages and posters.

Imagine if The Hawk’s Nest became a destination for Clinton special events like the one referred to in this recent communication:

We also want to make students stewards of the Clinton brand.

We imagine creating a Clinton Creatives agency made up of students who would take ownership over the school brand and come together to think of creative ways to promote internal initiatives and events. These students would use their talents in the written word, art, theater, music, and film to promoting a school dance, the new lunch menu, or the school’s sustainability efforts.

And we would draw from our community to bring in occasional experts to inspire them.

We would like to create the signs described above (a minimal investment if we can wrangle the materials at cost) and work with the custodian to install them (as we have the signage on the outside awning and windows) in the month of November.

Then we would like to bring students together in the second or third trimester of after school to start the Clinton Creatives agency. We would work with the administration, teachers and PA to determine which upcoming initiatives and events the students should focus their talents on.

For example, if the school’s sustainability efforts are deemed a first priority, we would work with the students to discover how and why Clinton promotes sustainability and create engaging messages and actions to move their classmates. The results might be creating posters, handouts, a lunchtime recycling challenge - whatever the kids dream up.