Eg 12 digital by SEGD

NO. 12, 2015

eg EXPERIENTIAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE

1935

Ed Matthews opens first Matthews Paint store on Belmont Avenue in Chicago

1955

Ed Matthews Jr. joins Matthews Paint

1968

Moves corporate office to Wheeling, IL

1993 1995

Moves corporate office to Pleasant Prairie, WI

1985

Joins SEGD

2009 2015

Introduces MAP-LV Ultra Low VOC. Moves to Delaware, OH

WWW.SEGD.ORG

800.323.6593 • www.matthewspaint.com •

2012

PPG buys Acquires 1-Shot, Lacryl Matthews Paint and Field Master

CHICAGO

SECOND TO NONE

SMART WAYFINDING

BEYOND

LEGIBLE CITIES

GREATER GOOD

STUDIO

Design collaboration: DG Studios & mcgarrybowen

ACHITECTURAL DATA PLANKS

MULTISTORY DIGITAL TOWER

STREET SIDE IDENTITY

SEE MAGNIFICENCE FROM EVERY ANGLE...

...SEE YOU IN CHICAGO Michigan Avenue, otherwise known as the Magnificent Mile, attracts millions of visitors each year from all over the world. Now, this high-end shopping district has a new kid on the block... The Verizon Destination Store. GableVision recently completed this exciting project for Verizon featuring energetic digital displays, custom accent applications, a strong exterior logo brand and much more. To see details about this project, visit us at gablevision.com or gablesigns.com. And if you are heading to the SEGD Conference in Chicago, be sure to stop in and check it out!

SIGNS | DIGITAL DISPLAYS | LIGHTING

Society for Experiential Graphic Design A multidisciplinary community creating experiences that connect people to place

SEGD BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Vice President Treasurer

Jill Ayers, Design360, New York John Lutz, Selbert Perkins Design, Chicago Patrick Angelel, CREO Industrial Arts, Everett, Wash.

Steve Bayer, Daktronics, Brookings, S.D. Moira Gemmill (Ex Officio), Victoria and Albert Museum, London Jody Graff (Ex Officio), Drexel University, Philadelphia Cynthia Hall, Seattle J. Graham Hanson, Graham Hanson Design, New York Alan Jacobson, ex;it, Philadelphia George Lim, Tangram Design, Denver (Ex Officio) Amy Lukas (Past President), Infinite Scale, Salt Lake City Wayne McCutcheon (Past President), Entro, Toronto Bryan Meszaros, OpenEye, South Amboy, N.J. Stephen Minning, BrandCulture Communications, Sydney Steven Stamper, fd2s, Austin, Texas Gary Stemler, archetype, Minneapolis Julie Vogel, Kate Keating Associates, San Francisco

SEGD CHAPTER CHAIRS Atlanta Austin Boston Brisbane, Australia Charlotte, NC Chicago Cincinnati Denver Edinburgh Jacksonville Kansas City London Los Angeles Minneapolis New York Philadelphia Portland San Diego San Francisco Seattle Toronto Vancouver Washington, D.C. Wellington, New Zealand

2 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; eg magazine

Lynne Bernhardt, lbdesign@bellsouth.net Stephen Carlin, stevecarlin@coopercarry.com Jason Helton, jhelton@snallc.com Mitch Leathers, mleathers@snallc.com Michele Phelan, michele@96pt.com Sam Pease, spease@spdeast.com Jack Bryce, jack@jackbryce.com Kevin Kern, kkern@505design.com Scott Muller, SMuller@trademarkvisual.com Kyle Skunta, kskunta@selbertperkins.com Julie Maggos, j.maggos@interiorarchitects.com Hannah Anderson, handerson@msaarch.com Margaret Vennemeyer, mvennemeyer@bhdp.com George Lim, george@tangramdesignllc.com Angela Serravo, angela@tangramdesignllc.com Lucy Richards, lr@studiolr.com Steve Williams, steve@harbingersign.com Carol Lombardo, flagalpal@gmail.com Rick Smith, rsmith@dimin.com Simon Borg, simon.borg@populous.com Kris Helmick, kris@huntdesign.com Mohamed Khalfan, mo@signsandservicesco.com Adam Halverson, adamh@serigraphicssign.com Jese Yungner, yungner@visualcomm.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 Kathy Fry, kathy@mayerreed.com Mike Sauer, msauer@mayerreed.com Chris McCampbell, chris@kathydavisassociates.com Brian Dyches, bdyches@openeyeglobal.com to San Diego Tim Huey, tim_huey@gensler.com Danielle Lindsay, danielle.lindsay@som.com Cynthia Hall, hallcynthia1@comcast.net Annelle Stotz, a.stotz@interiorarchitects.com Cynthia Damar-Schnobb, cynthia@entro.com Andrew Kuzyk, andrew@entro.com Daniela Pilossof, daniela.pilossof@gmail.com Jeffrey Wotowiec, jwotowiec@cannondesign.com Nick Kapica, n.kapica@massey.ac.nz

Publisher Clive Roux, CEO Editor-in-Chief Pat Matson pat@segd.org Executive Editor Ann Makowski Founding Editor Leslie Gallery Dilworth Design Wayne-William Creative Contributors Tim Fendley, Tim McNeil, Jenny Reising, Leslie Wolke Executive and Editorial Offices 1900 L St., NW Suite 710 Washington, D.C. 20036 202.638.5555 www.segd.org

Subscriptions: US $80/year, International $125/year. Send US funds to eg magazine, SEGD, 1900 L St., NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC 20036. To charge your order, call 202.638.5555. Postmaster: Send address changes to eg magazine, 1900 L St., NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC 20036.

examines the latest technologies being integrated into wayfinding programs, from theme parks to hospitals to transit environments. And Tim Fendley (chief designer of Legible London and the hundreds of wayfinding programs that it has spawned worldwide) ruminates on what will happen next for city wayfinding.

Both of these themes are critical to what’s happening in the evolving and very dynamic practice of Experiential Graphic Design. We are in the very first chapter of how digital technology is changing the world and the practice of design, and almost anything is possible. As a profession, we’re in the very early stages of integrating technology into our ways of working and thinking. We are only just starting to experiment and play with the stuff to see what it can do! Let’s have fun discovering it together.

WWW.SEGD.ORG

eg magazine is the international journal of SEGD, the Society for Experiential 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.

Matthews Paint/full We also have a pair of features on wayfinding that reflect page/new art where this key practice area is heading. Leslie Wolke

NO. 12, 2015

EXPERIENTIAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE

Editorial, Subscriptions, Reprints, Back Issues 202.638.5555 segd@segd.org

If there are subthemes in these pages, I would call them Manifest Brand and Wayfinding in the New World. Our features on branded office environments for Motorola Mobility and LinkedIn are examples of how corporations are discovering that integrated and consistent expression of the brand—via all media channels, including the digital landscape as well as physical spaces—is how they can differentiate themselves in the marketplace and keep their employees happy. These two Chicago-based offices represent the state of the art.

Kathleen Turner kathleen@segd.org 703.657.9171

This issue celebrates the host city for our 2015 SEGD Conference, and from a design standpoint, Chicago is an easy sell. With its deep historic roots in architecture and its culture of innovation, there is no shortage of amazing things to do and see and learn in Chicago. Our conference theme is Experience Chicago, and we invite you to join us in the Windy City June 4-6 to do just that. This issue provides a sneak peek of what you’ll find.

NO. 12, 2015

Advertising Sales Kristin Bennani kristin@segd.org 202.713.0413

Design Destiny?

CHICAGO

SECOND TO NONE

SMART WAYFINDING

BEYOND LEGIBLE CITIES

GREATER GOOD

STUDIO

On the cover: Motorola Mobility’s new hackable, tech-savvy Chicago headquarters. See story, page 26.

Clive Roux CEO

eg magazine — 3

CONTENTS

1 UP FRONT (10)

Found

Hunter’s London flagship and Prairiefire in Kansas (14)

Review

Abbott Miller’s Design and Content (16)

Out There

The world’s thinnest watch, new Presa signage, and Arlon’s Best of Show

4 — eg magazine

2 FEATURES (23)

Second to None

From the Magnificent Mile to Lincoln Park, Chicago is a world destination for design and innovation. (26)

Hack Couture

Gensler fashions a hackable workspace for Motorola Mobility. (34)

Flight Path

At O’Hare’s newly renovated Terminal 5, Thirst creates murals that inspire and guide. (40)

3 INSPIRATION

LinkedIn’s new Chicago office makes work more connected, fun, and productive.

(66)

Connected

(48)

The Internet of Place

Sketchbook

The “life sketchings” of Tim McNeil

Thanks to technology, smarter places are guiding the way.

(68)

(58)

IA Interior Architects’ Chicago office

Beyond Legible Cities

Legible London’s chief designer ponders the future of navigation in smart cities.

Workspace (72)

Up Close

George Aye and Sarah Cantor Aye of Chicago’s Greater Good Studio

eg magazine — 5

Thanks to our supporters 2015 Industry Partners

2015 Friends of SEGD

PLATINUM

Gallagher & Associates fd2s Foreseer University of Cincinnati

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SEGD INDUSTRY PARTNER

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SEGD INDUSTRY PARTNER

3A Composites Ad Light Group archetype CREO Industrial Arts Northwestern University School of Professional Studies 2015 PLATINUM

SEGD INDUSTRY PARTNER

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2015 PLATINUM

SEGD INDUSTRY PARTNER

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Interested in adding your name to this list? Visit the Media Planner on segd.org to learn more about ways to get involved.

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SEGD INDUSTRY PARTNER

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SUPPORTING

THANK YOU! We thank these innovative companies for their generous support of SEGD! Their contribution has a tremendous impact on advancements in the field — enhancing industry education, publications, and events.

2015 BRONZE

SEGD INDUSTRY PARTNER

2015

SEGD SUPPORTING PARTNER

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UP FRONT (10)

Found

Hunter’s London flagship and Prairiefire in Kansas (14)

Review

Abbott Miller’s Design and Content (16)

Out There

The world’s thinnest watch, new Presa signage, and Arlon’s Best of Show

FOUND

SECTION TITLE

10 — eg magazine

RAIN AND SHINE Hunter has been making its iconic rubber boots since 1856, and the British heritage brand is by now synonymous with Brits’ practical nature—and their famously wet weather. Hunter’s new global flagship on Regent Street in London is a playful take on the weather, the countryside, and a range of products that includes boots as well as a new line of clothing. Designed and created by Checkland Kindleysides in collaboration with Hunter Creative Director Alasdhair Willis, the two-story, 5,300-sq.-ft. shop brings the British countryside indoors.

DNUOF

On the ground floor, barn-like architecture frames a backlit photographic re-creation of a gabion wall, displaying Hunter’s famous Wellington boots. Boxy “hedges” (made from highdefinition photos printed on tensile fabric) surround a puddleinspired display and grassy floorcoverings. A 5-meter-high LED screen stretches between the two floors, playing custom brand stories, catwalk shows, and (of course), a weather report every half hour. (Photos: Keith Parry)

eg magazine — 11

FOUND

SECTION TITLE

12 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; eg magazine

ON FIRE

The newly opened Museum at Prairiefire in Overland Park, Kansas, pays homage to the sturdy tallgrass prairie and one of its unique aspects: it burns. VernerJohnson designed a composition of light-catching, color-shifting shards of tinted vision glazing, dichroic glass, and iridescent stainless steel panels that evoke a line of fire around the building. Inside the 41,000-square-foot natural history museum, exhibits were designed and created by Dimensional Innovations (Overland Park). The fiery glass was created by Goldray Industries (Calgary). (Photos: Michael Rob, interior; Lian Davis, exterior)

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REVIEW

Designer as Author Design and Content Abbott Miller Princeton Architectural Press, 2014 It’s especially appropriate that Abbott Miller is both the author and designer of his new monograh Design and Content. Miller and his wife and partner Ellen Lupton, after all, were pioneers in developing the concept of designer as author. Through their work with Design Writing Research and the eponymous book, they showed with confidence and daring that designers are in an excellent position to curate, interpret, and give form to any subject matter. Miller’s work beyond Design Writing Research bears out their bold claims. As a Pentagram partner, Miller has created a unique hybrid practice that alternates between the printed page and the physical dimension of exhibits, mostly for museums. Like the curator/writer that he is, Miller’s organization of his work is not by application, but by

“Miller has shown with confidence and daring that designers are in an excellent position to curate, interpret, and give form to any subject matter.”

14 — eg magazine

thesis. “Design is a measure of energy” is an essay about the fashion designer Geoffrey Beane, for whom Miller designed a show in 1999. In “The only way to do it is to do it,” Miller recounts his days learning how to work with photography and collaborate with photographers as a designer for Dance Ink magazine. And showing more recent work, “An exhibition is a room with a plot” is devoted to his exhibition design work, revealing a rigorous, cerebral approach to complex storytelling.

Ideas for a book, website, or exhibit review? Contact pat@segd.org.

The Recorder Monotype, 2014

Type Plus Unit 17 United Editions, 2014

The Recorder made its first appearance in 1902 and was published for almost 70 years by the company that produced monotype machines. Type foundry Monotype has breathed new life into the trade magazine, with a reimagined format by Luke Tonge and an editorial approach that examines type’s contribution to a broader cultural context. It will be published twice annually in partnership with paper company Mohawk.

The era of type as a passive, semi-invisible holder of meaning is long gone. Today, designers employ type in partnership with images and graphic elements in ways that turbocharge meaning and impact. Type plus aims its lens a host of contemporary practitioners from around the world, demonstrating how they use type to enhance meaning and lend emotive qualities to all types of communication.

Chicagoisms: The City as Catalyst for Architectural Speculation Alexander Eisenschmidt, with Jonathan Mekinda (eds.) Park Books, 2013 Chicago has long captured the global imagination as a place of tall, shining buildings rising from the fog, the playground for many of architecture’s greats—from Mies van der Rohe to Frank Lloyd Wright. It has also been an epicenter for modern construction and building techniques. From the perspectives of a diverse pool of curators, artists, architects, historians, critics, and theorists, Chicagoisms presents a multifaceted portrait of the “Second City” and explores “the influence and impact of the idea of Chicago.”

Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless SelfPromotion David Zweig Penguin, 2014 In a culture where so many strive for praise and glory, David Zweig finds heroes in the people who work on some of the most important projects in the world, but remain anonymous. One of the “Invisibles” he profiles is Jim Harding, director of environmental graphics for Gresham, Smith and Partners. Harding, featured in Chapter 1, has worked on wayfinding systems at some of the world’s biggest and busiest airports. His segment was excerpted by The Atlantic magazine.

Typography 34 Type Directors Club Harper Designs, 2014 The Type Directors Club publishes the only annual devoted exclusively to typography. Typography 34 presents the finest work in the field, culled from 2,300 international submissions to the 2012 Type Directors Club competition. Designed by Chip Kidd, 34 showcases innovations in typography across a wide variety of applications: books, magazines, corporate identities, logos, stationery, annual reports, video and web graphics, and posters.

eg magazine — 15

OUT THERE

INNOVATIVE MATERIALS, PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 16 — eg magazine

New product to share? Contact pat@segd.org.

GRAPHIC CONCRETE

CST-01

Graphic Concrete’s proprietary technology reproduces patterns and images on prefabricated concrete surfaces such as facades, walls, floors, and pavement slabs. It was invented by Finnish interior architect Samuli Naamanka, who was inspired to create an industrial product for large-scale surfaces and provide architects with a new tool for being visually creative. Since 2003, the process has been used in more than 600 projects around the world.

Chicago-based Central Standard Timing makes the world’s thinnest watch. At 0.80mm thick, it’s thinner than a credit card and was inspired by the capabilities of E Ink’s electronic paper displays. The patentpending CST-01 is assembled by laminating thin, flexible components into a 0.5mm pocket etched into a single piece of flexible stainless steel. An ultra-thin battery charges in 15 minutes from an external dock, lasts for over a month, and has a lifetime of 15 years.

Arlon Graphics’ premium adhesive-backed film was voted “Best New Product” at the 2014 SEGD Conference. It is digitally printable and conforms to curves, formed surfaces, and a wide range of substrates, offering a low-cost and versatile alternative to paints and wallcoverings. It’s offered in a wide color selection as well as various textures.

Why would a custom architectural signage and environmental graphics fabricator create an off-the-shelf signage system? Because “signage should be simple.” L&M created Presa, a flexible framing system that holds standard paper sizes, includes a versatile finish palette, can accommodate ADA messaging, and requires no tools for installation.

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eg magazine — 17

FEATURES (23)

Second to None

From the Magnificent Mile to Lincoln Park, Chicago is a world destination for design and innovation. (26)

Hack Couture

Gensler fashions a hackable workspace for Motorola Mobility. (34)

Flight Path

At O’Hare’s newly renovated Terminal 5, Thirst creates murals that inspire and guide. (40)

Connected

LinkedIn’s new Chicago office makes work more connected, fun, and productive. (48)

The Internet of Place Thanks to technology, smarter places are guiding the way. (58)

Beyond Legible Cities

Legible London’s chief designer ponders the future of navigation in smart cities.

House Ad/Experience Chicago

2015 SEGD CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE CHICAGO JUNE 4-6

The 2015 SEGD Conference will be located at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers

EXPLORE THE FULL AGENDA + REGISTER NOW! segd.org/segdconference/2015-experience-chicago 22 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; eg magazine

SECOND TO NONE Okay, maybe it’s called the Second City. But Chicago takes the back seat to no one. From the Magnificent Mile and the shores of the mighty lake to Oak Park and Lincoln Park and Millennium Park, Chicago is a city about design, architecture, and commerce. And it’s chock full of EXPERIENCE. The best shopping in the world? Check. The best pizza? You got it. Architecture, anyone? Impossible to know where to start. The best cultural, arts, and design attractions? Think the Art Institute, spectacular museums, an unparalleled park system, and attractions like Navy Pier and the Architecture River Cruise. Chicago is the perfect venue for a conversation about Experience, Design, Technology, and new ideas that are shape-shifting the landscape for EGD and XGD practitioners. Here’s a quick sampling of new things to do, see, and experience in Chicago!

EXPERIENCE CHICAGO

See The Art Institute of Chicago is world-renowned for its collection of Impressionist works, but rather than resting on its laurels, the museum opened its new Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing in 2009. Pentagram designed the museum’s new identity and collaborated with Entro Communications on signage and wayfinding. (Photo: Michael Dant)

eg magazine — 23

EXPERIENCE CHICAGO

Shop The once-staid Burberry luxury fashion brand has reinvented itself for the digital age. The new Michigan Avenue flagship (designed by Callison Bartluce Architects with Solomon Cordwell Buenz) turns the iconic Burberry check on its side on the black stainless-steel façade. Live runway shows and globally synchronized content are broadcast on floor-to-ceiling “digital walls” and interactive features allow customers to customize their Burberry trench coasts from more than 12 million designs. (Photo: Burberry)

Learn Numbers in Nature is the latest permanent exhibition in the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago’s quest to make science fun. Working with a team including Luci Creative and Ravenswood Studio, Leviathan created a dozen interactive installations including a mind-bending mirror maze that allows visitors to see if their proportions comply with da Vinci’s Golden Ratio. Leviathan combined analog controls such as knobs, wheels, and blocks with digital touchscreens, Kinect cameras, and Leap Motion sensors to invite visitors to explore the patterns found in the natural world. (Photo: Leviathan)

Roll, Baby Divvy means “divide and share” and that’s what makes Chicago’s new bike program work. The new fleet (now with 3,000 bikes, 300 sharing stations, and 23,000+ members) is just one more way Chicagoans and their visitors can enjoy the city by the lake. The Divvy brand was designed by Chicago agency Firebelly. (Photo: Chicago Department of Transportation)

Park It Opening this year, the new Maggie Daley Park is the Chicago Park District’s reinvention of 20 acres in the northeastern portion of Grant Park. Valerio Dewalt Train Associates developed site signage and a donor recognition element for the Daley Field House. Under construction now, the donor wall will pay homage to the city’s only truly noticeable topography—its park landscapes—with a topo map in CNC-routed birch. Above its undulating surface, a metal track system will carry donor names scaled to the level of giving. (Image: VDT)

24 — eg magazine

Get Inspired There’s no shortage of creativity in Chicago, and the city is home to design studios doing amazing brand, storytelling, and public art work. Pawn Works Sticker Works is an arts “facilitator” that showcases street art and helps bring large-scale contemporary murals to life. (Photo: Pawn Works)

Get There Chicago’s Regional Transit Authority wants to help transit riders make connections between the three bus and train service providers in the area. Carol Naughton & Associates is part of the design team creating an interagency signage and graphics program. A recent demonstration phase piloted signs for user testing at four locations. The next phase is implementation of the new signage and graphics at 19 more locations. (Photo: Regional Transit Authority)

Love INDO Projects is a Chicago-based design and fabrication studio that creates site-specific installations with materials diverted from the waste and recycling streams. A commission from Droga 5 responded to the negative commentary they received on their HoneyMaid graham cracker commercial about diverse families. The piece is made up of rolled-up deadstock paper carrying consumers’ messages about the campaign. Love wins. (Photo: Paul McGeiver)

Do Good Greater Good Studio uses human-centered research and design thinking to change behaviors and make the world a better place. Their work is wide-ranging, from an app that makes Chicago regional public transit more efficient for riders to redesigning school lunches. (Photo: Greater Good; more on page 72)

eg magazine — 25

MOTOROLA MOBILITY Client Motorola Mobility Location Chicago Project Area 605,000 sq. ft. Open Date March 2014 Budget Confidential Architecture, Interior Design, and EGD Gensler

Design Team Carlos Martinez (project principal/ design director); Nila Leiserowitz (project principal); Helen Hopton (project director); Alice Kao, Sheryl Schulze, Lauren Wanski, Bernie Woytek (project managers); Eunjung Chung, Todd Heiser (design directors); Mandy Graham, Seth Unger (strategy); Debbie Bock, Lynn Kubin, Adrian McDermott, Brian Pittman, Erin Spurgeon, Zheng Xiang (project designers); Michael Shaub (environmental graphic designer); Mark Spencer (technical director); Dave Winans (technical lead); Shannon Riddle, Ingrida Martinkus (project architects); Gareth Tucker (job captain); Katy Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill, Tifa Zhou, Alfredo Ruiz, Jennifer Alrutz (graphic designers) Fabrication Designtex (vinyl film and wallcoverings), Sunrise Systems (LED and LCD displays), Serigaphics (signage), Arktura (custom perforated metal) Photos Erig Laignel

26 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; eg magazine

Hack COUTURE Gensler fashions a hackable workspace for Motorola Mobility’s new Merchandise Mart headquarters, using experiential graphics to infuse a sense of company history and Chicago culture. By Jenny S. Reising

Designtex fabricated a 30x12-ft. map of Chicago by architect Daniel Burnham using glass film applied second surface to ¾-inch PETG panels. Sunrise Systems fabricated LED Chicago Transit Authority route lines with scrolling tickers that allow employees to view a real-time feed of what’s happening around Chicago, using Google Surfaces. eg magazine — 27

Hack COUTURE

The word “downsizing” doesn’t usually

go over well in today’s corporate world. Mention of the word is likely to illicit grumblings, fear, and worry. But in the case of Motorola Mobility, downsizing was exactly what was needed. The company’s suburban campus was too large and its buildings were not fully occupied. Collaboration became logistically challenging, and the company was not attracting hot young talent. So when Google purchased Motorola Mobility in 2012, one of the first changes was moving its headquarters and 2,000-plus employees from the sprawling 1.2 million square foot campus in Libertyville, Ill., to an urban space half its size in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, the former design center-turned-tech-hub. Not surprisingly, a move of that scale had to be planned carefully to ensure success. Enter Gensler. “Our job was to make the move exciting and attractive for those who would have to relocate or commute even farther,” says Michael Shaub, senior associate at Gensler’s Chicago office. To get people behind the move and ease the transition, Gensler’s Change Management team invited employee input, promoted the amenities of the move through posters and diagrams, and built an intranet site with information on commuting, finding a new place to live, and downtown neighborhoods. When it came to designing the 600,000-square-foot headquarters on 3.5 floors, Google wanted a radical new space that would signal a fresh start. “The client wanted to mirror what’s happening downtown: a lot of density, people sitting closer to each other, up/down mobility, making it easier to find and manage people,” Shaub explains. Labs and office and design space are no longer separate; instead, labs are at the heart of each floor, with design and management workspaces around them. Micro-kitchens on each floor create landmarks, with distinctive environments that evoke the variety of a city block. Employees provided input and voted on designs for the micro-kitchens to influence the look of their new “neighborhoods.” Gensler also created flexibility in the workspace design. Height-adjustable mobile workstations can be moved easily, portable totems for power and data can be rearranged as needed, and overhead fluorescent bars are aligned diagonally to encourage out-of-the-box planning. This idea of creating a “hackable” or reconfigurable workspace fosters a sense of ownership and gives employees the freedom to work in ways that work best for them. Graphic intersections To break down the large floor plate, Gensler organized each floor by color-coded quadrants. Nine themed micro-kitchens spread over the four floors feature unique designs that express the history of Motorola, its connections to Chicago, and the uniqueness of the Merchandise Mart space. For example, a micro-kitchen on floor 16 showcases two 16-foot-wide by 10-foot-high reproductions of George Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,” the iconic Impressionist painting on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. “We live with art in the city every day, and Impressionism was really innovative for its time, just as Motorola innovates,” Shaub explains. To create the murals, Shaub digitally removed

28 — eg magazine

In the 18th floor elevator lobby, a perforated, powdercoated metal skin envelopes the walls and ceiling, allowing views to the raw brick and concrete walls behind it. Arktura created the panels, which feature waves of energy emitting from the Motorola logo.

“

We live with art in the

city every day, and Impressionism was really innovative for its time, just

”

as Motorola innovates.

To create two 16x10-ft. murals in the 16th-floor micro-kitchen, Gensler’s Michael Shaub digitally removed the people in the iconic Impressionist painting by George Seurat (“A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”) and used custom software to recreate the artwork using random color combinations to create the tones. As employees gather in the kitchen, they become characters in the painting.

eg magazine — 29

Hack COUTURE

the people from the painting and wrote software that produces a vector-based set of dots to recreate the artwork in a similar way, using random color combinations to create the tones. As employees sit in the micro-kitchen in front of the mural, they essentially become the characters in the painting, bringing it to life. A 9-by-45-foot-long mural in the 19th-floor “Inside Technology” micro-kitchen depicts commissioned photography of life-sized Motorola phones through the decades, illustrating the decreasing size of cell phones over time. Each elevator platform also has a distinct graphic component. Wall coverings made of bursts of transistors referencing the history of Motorola mark floor 17. At the 18th floor elevator lobby, a perforated, powdercoated metal sheath envelopes the walls and ceiling with a Motorola logo emitting waves of energy.

portraits of Chicago, with moving vertical lines that transition to varying city scenes. In the 18th floor reception area, Gensler created a 10-by-30-foot LED curtain wall displaying content ranging from Motorola’s new brand design to phones floating in space to slowmoving images of nature. For a micro-kitchen on floor 18, Gensler used LED scrolling tickers to create a 40-foot-long-by12-foot-high visual representation of the Chicago Transit Authority route positioned over a translucent historical linework map of Chicago by architect Daniel Burnham. “The translucent material allows people to see activity in the café, but a noise barrier keeps things quiet,” Shaub adds. Sunrise Systems fabricated the panels and matched the LED colors to the CTA lines, then used Google Surfaces to create a real-time feed for what’s happening around the city.

Elements of surprise To encourage employees to choose the stairs over elevators, Gensler had a bit of fun with graffiti. Local artists were commissioned to create urban murals in the stairwells, and Gensler layered them with vintage Motorola logos that they masked, cut out, and applied to the walls before the art was painted on. After the graffiti was finished, they peeled off the masks to reveal the retro logos. Designers also placed cheeky life-size pictograms irreverently—half on walls, half on doors—at restrooms, elevators, and stairwells. One depicts a couple holding hands in an elevator, while another shows a man with legs crossed waiting to use the restroom. “We wanted to capture the spirit of the company and encourage people to have fun at work,” Shaub says. The EGD program also contains some changeable content. Six LCD monitors built into the 16th floor reception desk reveal time-lapsed

Oversized pictograms, hand-painted with the help of custom-cut stencils, are designed to be visible from far away, poking fun at everyday office life.

30 — eg magazine

Exceeding expectations Of the EGD program’s multilayered complexity, Shaub says, “The client had high expectations, but they gave us a long leash and we just ran with it. We really stretched our design muscles and layered as much internal culture into the graphic design program as we could to make it thoughtful and meaningful.” Also top of mind was Google’s goal of LEED Silver certification. Gensler kept much of what was already in the space—open ceilings, exposed ductwork—and only finished surfaces up to a datum line. Gensler tapped Designtex to handle fabrication and installation because of its like-minded positioning on sustainability and use of materials such as PVC-free window films and wall coverings. The biggest challenge for both Gensler and Designtex was a tight time frame. Gensler had nine months to complete the design, and Designtex had six months to fabricate and install 31,000 square feet of clear PET glass film and 17,000 square feet of wall graphics, in addition to the pictograms and other signage elements. But according to Paul Maddrell, creative director of surface imaging at Designtex, “The project was completed on time and on budget. Moreover, Motorola surpassed its LEED certification goal of silver and got platinum.” Just before moving into the new headquarters in March 2014, Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo. But the change in ownership hasn’t shaken employees’ enthusiasm for the new design. “We knew through Change Management that we had hit all the things that were important to employees,” Shaub says. “They were thrilled beyond belief to see the care and understanding that Motorola had for them.” Jenny Reising is a Cincinnati-based writer and editor who contributes frequently to eg magazine.

Gensler used photographs of real-size Motorola phones, old and new, to illustrate how the size of cell phones has changed over time. Colorful circuitry overhead adds to the ambience in the 19th-floor micro-kitchen.

To add vibrancy and fun to a steel framework at the 18thfloor stairwell, Gensler tapped a Logan Square artist to yarnbomb the frame. An oversized “18” in yarn is a reminder of the floor number.

eg magazine — 31

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FLIGHT PATH At Chicago O’Hare’s newly renovated International Terminal 5, Thirst creates murals that are both visual tapestry and guidepost. By Pat Matson

The two-story, 300-ft.-long mural begins in the entry/ mezzanine. It is opaque at the bottom to hide operational features, but translucent at the top to reveal the terminal’s steel grid and invite natural light to stream in through the atrium skylight.

34 — eg magazine

et’s face it. In most airports, it’s hard to know whether you’re coming or going. In the rush to get there or home, the parking garage is a trial, endless corridors look the same, gates are miles away, and the overall experience can be, well, less than energizing. In Chicago O’Hare’s newly renovated International Terminal 5, home-town creative studio Thirst improved that scenario. T5 master developer Westfield Group asked Thirst to create artful interventions to greet people arriving at the terminal. Conceived as architecturally integrated murals, these “moments of art” were also designed to be functional, serving as subtle wayfinding queues to direct travelers through the airport. Thirst was inspired by the idea of capturing the essence of the many unique journeys travelers would take, all from a common point: Chicago. Thirst’s installation tells that story of connection in three distinct landmarks: “Gathering Together,” a dramatic two-story, 300-foot-long entry wall; “Our City,” a continuation of the mural down the entry corridor; and “Our World,” a glass frieze above the central concessions court. The landmarks were installed in spring 2014.

Thirst designers Rick Valicenti and John Pobojewski were inspired by photos of Chicago taken from a NASA satellite.

At the lake’s edge, the warm tans and golds of the mural give way to the blues of sky and water. The kinetic, horizontal pattern of elongated bricks is a subtle wayfinding cue. eg magazine — 35

FLIGHT PATH

Thirst integrated wayfinding into the mural itself, adding fun and diversity to international restroom icons.

O’HARE TERMINAL 5 MURALS Client Westfield Concession Management Location Chicago Architect of Record Epstein Design Thirst Design Team Rick Valicenti (founder, principal designer), John Pobojewski (principal designer, programmer), Cameron Brand (designer, programmer) Photos ©Steve Hall / Hedrich Blessing In the concessions court, a 250-ft.-long frieze consists of a map of the world rendered by the flight paths between airports. 36 — eg magazine

“

We wanted to create something that would speak to the emotion of flight. It could have seemed cliche, but we also recognized there is an emotional experience that all people traveling through airports share at some level.

”

Follow the bricks to Chicago As part of the $26 million renovation, security functions were relocated to maximize real estate for shopping and dining in the 1.3 million-square-foot terminal—the largest in the Midwest. Westfield not only wanted to help travelers find their way through security and into new concession areas and beyond, they also wanted to create a memorable arrival moment, says Ziba Ghassemi, Westfield’s senior director of design, airports. “Our goal was to create a visually engaging, exciting journey for travelers from curb to gate.” The first of Thirst’s installations appears just inside the door, a two-story, seemingly abstract composition on glass. Inspired by photos of Chicago taken from a NASA satellite, principal designers Rick Valicenti and John Pobojewski created a software program that used NASA images and sampled colors to create vector graphics that they scaled to fit the proportions of the space. The pattern of elongated bricks glows in tans, browns, and golds and the underlying grid for the wall is based on Chicago’s primary street grid, so the overall result is an abstract map of the city. In the entry/mezzanine, the mural is opaque at the bottom and translucent at the top, a choice that not only lets natural light stream in through the atrium skylight, but hides the duty-free shop fixturing directly behind the glass on the lower level. The kinetic horizontal pattern of the elongated “bricks” also subtly encourages travelers to move to the right toward security. As travelers make their way down the corridor, the gold and tan bricks end at the lake’s edge, and the palette gives way to the blues of water and sky. “We definitely wanted to create something unique that would speak to the emotion of flight,” says Pobojewski. “We knew it could easily have seemed cliché, but we also recognized there is an emotional experience that all people traveling through airports share at some level.” Valicenti added that the mural’s sense of horizontal motion was important in moving people through the space. “We wanted to recreate that kinetic motion by representing flight patterns. It’s almost like being on the tarmac and taking off over the water as you move down the corridor.” He admits most people don’t “get it” on a conscious level, but they certainly feel it. “For most people, the faster they can get through security and toward their destination, the better they feel. This helps.”

The world is here In the concessions area, Valicenti and Pobojewski designed a frieze consisting of a map of the world rendered in flight paths, the shapes of the continents formed only by their straight lines between cities. At the edges, the map feathers away, suggesting cloud formations. Made up of 4-by-8-foot panels and more than 250-feet long, the frieze was inspired by data artist Aaron Koblin’s visualization of real-time FAA data on flights from different regions around the world, a project that Valicenti says marked a seminal moment in “data as design.” “As artists, we were inspired by how the map of the world can be recognized simply by tracing a straight line between every airport on the planet,” he explains. “We recognize ourselves through our connections.” Through the glass While the Thirst team explored several options for materiality, glass won out in the end because of its long lifespan, translucency, and architectural gravitas. Goldray Industries (Calgary) fabricated the murals by digitally printing Thirst’s design in a ceramic frit that is fused to the glass, creating a crisp and durable image. “In the past we might have done this with traditional mosaic tile, which was a common vernacular in public transit settings,” notes Valicenti. “There’s a little of that implied grout-line here, but it’s a different technology for a different time. It makes reference to the past without being burdened by it.” Rendering the colors true to Thirst’s designs posed a challenge, says Cathie Saroka, co-owner of Goldray. Ceramic frit, an ink made of ground glass mixed with pigment and a medium, is printed directly onto the glass, then goes through a tempering furnace up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, fusing the ink to the glass permanently. Only a very limited number of pigments, and particularly those using magenta, can withstand the heat. “It took a lot of experimenting and testing to get the colors as close as we could to the designer’s intent,” she adds. Pobojewski agrees, calling it “almost a paint-by-numbers exercise to get the right values. But we were pleased with the result.” In the end, says Westfield’s Ghassemi, the murals succeed in creating a memorable connection to Chicago, celebrating a very unique place, and abstractly expressing the transformational aspects of traveling. As Valicenti notes, “We see ourselves in our connections.” eg magazine — 37

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CONNECTED LinkedIn’s new Chicago office makes work more connected, fun, and productive for its Windy City sales team. By Pat Matson

it’s

not too broad a statement to make that LinkedIn has changed the very nature of connection in our world. Since it launched during the dot-com winter of 2002, the professional networking startup has revolutionized the way we build business relationships and search for employment. LinkedIn now counts 300 million registered members worldwide and employs 5,700 in 30 offices around the globe. When it came time to create new offices for its Chicago-based sales team, “Our goal was to create a workspace that employees want to work in,” says Joel Wood, LinkedIn’s Senior Project Manager, Global Workplace. “This meant designing various types of environments to support different modes of work that make employees feel more productive and enjoy where they work.” The company called on IA Interior Architects to envision a one-of-a-kind space that celebrates the associates and their city. Led by senior associate Neil Schneider and environmental graphics director Julie Maggos, the IA team set out to engage employees and visitors, create excitement, and reinforce the LinkedIn brand. The result is a space that’s smart and professional but not stuffy, and sophisticated but personal and quirky. It topped Crain’s Chicago Business’s list of Coolest Offices for 2014.

Chalk artist Amanda Paulson “jumpstarted” a mural meant to focus on LinkedIn’s key brand drivers. Staffers are invited to add their own graffiti to Paulson’s permanent art. 40 — eg magazine

LINKEDIN CHICAGO Client LinkedIn Corporation Location Chicago Open Date June 2014 Project Area 40,000 sq. ft. (Phase 1) Interior Architecture and Environmental Graphic Design IA Interior Architects Design Team Carolyn Miller (principal/project manager); Neil Schneider (senior associate/project designer); Adrienne Harbarger (project designer); Tom Powers (executive director/ architect of record); Ruben Gonzalez (associate/job captain); Julie Maggos (director of environmental graphics); Meghan Van Noort (graphic designer)

Graphics and Murals Moss Environments (formerly Andres Imaging & Graphics) (custom wallcoverings and graphics), Rightway Signs (ghost mural in speakeasy), Chris Silva (Heart Chicago mural), Amanda Paulson (chalk mural) Suppliers Alfa Tech (A/V); KBM (furniture), Knoll (workstations, private offices, furniture); Interface (carpet); Axis, Enlighted System, Schoolhouse Electric, Tech Lighting (lighting); Inter Ocean (millwork); Bolon (resilient floor/walls); Filz Felt (felt walls); Feek (custom foam) Photos Eric Laignel

In the elevator lobby, a pair of LinkedIn logomarks is rendered in blue yarn, reinforcing the theme of connection and common threads.

eg magazine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 41

CONNECTED

On the central stair wall, a collage of LinkedIn portraits emphasizes the company’s mission to build connections among business professionals of different generations. LCD photo frames add dimension to the collection.

collaborative and individual workspaces. Associates have their own adjustable sit/stand desks, but are encouraged to work wherever they feel most comfortable. IA’s plan was designed to serve this very mobile workforce with an abundance of small meeting niches and cozy spaces that invite stopping for conversation and collaboration. “This group likes to move around a lot and they seek out the fun spots for hanging out and meeting,” says Schneider. “They’re on the phone a large percentage of the time, and they’re not tethered to a computer.” As a matter of fact, they’re just as likely to be cruising around the office’s sleek concrete floors on scooters, heading for the yoga studio, perching on foam cushions in a stairwell nook, taking a quick ping-pong break, or relaxing in cafeterias where three meals a day are served free. The IA team wanted to facilitate connection and the blending of different generations and backgrounds within the LinkedIn team, just as the LinkedIn platform does. A central staircase is the most obvious expression of this, linking the two floors while providing comfortable seating alongside for impromptu relaxing or collaboration. Along the stairwell, a collage of LinkedIn portraits emphasizes connection among people of varying ages and backgrounds. Reproduced on custom wallcovering by Moss Environments (formerly Andres Imaging & Graphics), the static portrait collage is punctuated with digital photo frames that scroll more portraits. The IA team also focused on the notion of connection through common threads, and expressed this via string art throughout the space. In the elevator lobby, a pair of LinkedIn logomarks is rendered in blue yarn. The main reception desk, slated for Phase 2 of the project, will be a string-art map of Chicago. Vinyl graphics on glass conference walls also reference the string motif, forming a relief of the company logo or unwinding to spell out the room names. Common threads Once IA got to know the LinkedIn team and its mission and values, “they gave us free creative reign to build the project,” says Schneider. IA’s interior and graphic design teams gathered for a major ideation session and together defined the story and messaging. A key factor was the nature of the Chicago LinkedIn team and the work they do. “This is a sales office,” explains Schneider. “It’s not engineers or finance people, it’s the folks who go after new business. So our job was to understand their drivers as a team and find the common threads to connect them.” Functionally, the two-story, 80,000-squarefoot office is an open plan split 50/50 between 42 — eg magazine

Old and new A second theme for the space was “old and new,” another take on LinkedIn’s mission to link professionals across generations. In a new space that’s clean and minimal, the design team tossed in retro and vintage elements with contemporary colors and finishes. Wingback chairs sport modern fabrics, brick walls bear ghosted sign graphics, and vintage channel letters identify a contemporary café space. One of the many hidden gems in the space is custom wallcovering that looks like traditional damask from afar, but on closer inspection, reveals that its pattern is comprised of many Chicago icons, including Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the Chicago Blackhawks logo, a gangster, and other images.

In the main conference room, a mural of local celebrities (Michael Jordan, the Blues Brothers, Vince Vaughn, and Oprah) is the first thing that video conference visitors see when they link in.

The speakeasy, inspired by gangster-era Chicago establishments, is named after LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. A ghosted mural on the brick wall is paired with large-format displays showing gangster film footage.

On closer inspection, what looks like a traditional damask wallpaper pattern is comprised of many icons of Chicago life, from Willis Tower to the Chicago Blackhawks logo.

eg magazine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 43

CONNECTED

“

We’ve introduced them to the power of graphics— that is, graphics done well and integrated with the other visual elements of the space.

Small conference rooms were designed to accommodate impromptu meetings for 2-3 people. Vinyl graphics render the LinkedIn logo in string and unwind to spell out the room name.

44 — eg magazine

”

No place like home The IA team also wanted to create an office that could never be mistaken as being anywhere else but Chicago—so the “neighborhood” spaces are inspired by popular landmarks, destinations, and local history. Environmental graphics were key to the mix. Hoffman’s Still at the 525 Club, a speakeasyinspired lounge, was named after LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and bears the address of the building. Here, a tin ceiling and retro furniture are set against a brick wall that contains ghosted graphics and a pair of large-screen displays showing gangster film footage. In the main conference room, vinyl graphics depicting Oprah, Michael Jordan, the Blues Brothers, and actor Vince Vaughan is the first thing that video conference callers see when they link in to the Chicago office. In another informal gathering area, the IA team created an homage to the famous Chicago River architectural tour with a mural that spans the walls and ceiling, recreating the view from a tour boat. To add to the Chicago vibe, the team also commissioned several local artists to create murals. Chris Silva’s Heart Chicago mural is a threedimensional, mixed-media piece that spans a long wall in the open workspace area. A companion mural by chalk artist Amanda Paulson focuses on LinkedIn’s key brand values and invites employees to add to it with their own chalk musings.

Give us more Maggos and Schneider consider the project a huge success because IA’s interior and graphics teams worked so closely together from the outset. “Rather than being an interiors project that we added some graphics to here and there, we created a very integrated storyline that integrates all of the elements—furniture, finishes, colors, lighting, and graphics,” notes Maggos. The team’s biggest challenge was a sort of embarrassment of riches. The client’s trust—and its appetite for a dynamic, quirky, and fun space—were such that they were constantly pushing the IA team for more. “They originally wanted things like a fire pole, a trapeze, and hidden doors,” remembers Schneider. “Their enthusiasm was great and really inspired us,” adds Maggos. “But at a certain point, we had to remind them of the design vision. With all the graphics, there’s a lot going on, and the challenge was to make it fun and also functional, professional, and sophisticated. We think we got the balance right.” They must have, because LinkedIn has hired them to create unique spaces for offices in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, and Sao Paulo. In the process, IA has created a set of standards linked to guidelines for future LinkedIn offices. “There is a new vocabulary for using graphic messaging to tell the brand story,” says Schneider. “We’ve introduced them to the power of graphics—that is, graphics done well and integrated with the other visual elements of the space.” The office’s 300 employees are happy with their new home away from home. “At LinkedIn, we like to say that relationships matter,” says Joel Woods. “The new Chicago office brings our employees together in a space that fosters collaboration and encourages them to work together in a fun environment.”

eg magazine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 45

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THE INTERNET OF PLACE

Smarter places are guiding the way. By Leslie Wolke

“You are here.”

The blue dot in the center of your smartphone’s map has a beat of its own, pulsating with each dispatch from the constellation of satellites above. It skips modestly on top of the city grid, an avatar that engenders confidence and courage as we navigate unfamiliar terrain. The route from gas-station maps to MapQuest printouts to GPS-enabled apps has been a fast trip, just about a decade’s sprint for most of us. Now our personal wayfinding device is our smartphone, with its GPS chip, Internet connection, and a seemingly endless cache of accurately rendered maps. But its most powerful feature is that blue dot—it provides the context we need to comprehend where we are and how to get where we want to go. 48 — eg magazine

Today’s experience designers and technologists are taking two major paths to cultivate our contextual understanding of the environment: making our smartphones smarter and making particular locations smarter. Smarter phones are on the way, packed with sensors that see in three dimensions, perceive when we are walking, running, or driving, and anticipate just the right moment to take that photo. The aim of Google’s Project Tango is nothing less than endowing “mobile devices with a human-scale understanding of space and motion.” Tango devices (still in development) will map and render surroundings in real-time and augment them with contextual information, giving us perhaps the most panoramic and insightful view of our world to date.

The goal of Google’s Project Tango is to boost your smartphone with sensors so it can build a live 3D model of your environment.

At Ultrecht Central Station, the largest railway station in Amsterdam, long digital ribbons of information designed by Edenspiekermann help passengers prepare for the stressful “scramble moment” when the train arrives at the station.

Smart station platforms We’ve heard of smart cities and smart buildings, but how do you embed intelligence into a public gathering place or a transit hub? And how do you determine what information your visitors need? Sometimes a more pragmatic query leads to an unexpectedly “smart” solution. NS Dutch Railways and its sister company ProRail posed the question: How can we make our rail platforms safer and more efficient for passengers to navigate? The pressing issue was Ultrecht Central Station, the largest in Amsterdam and a major European transit hub serving 285,000 daily passengers. It was scheduled to undergo a monumental multi-year renovation, and planners wanted to make sure construction did not impede passenger flow. The rail companies selected design research consultancy STBY (pronounced “standby”) of London and Amsterdam to begin the inquiry. STBY researchers shadowed passengers on their journeys, culled through quantitative ticket data, and observed pedestrian traffic through and in the station. They distilled all their research into problem areas, the most acute being “the scramble moment,” when the train doors open and passengers enter and exit. The few minutes between arrival and departure were fraught with anxiety: which cars have seating? Where can I board with my bike? Is this first or second class? As STBY design researcher Marie de Vos explains, “this is the moment when a lot of time is getting lost… Time is money, so if we can make it quicker and more comfortable for the train travelers, that would be great for the client as well.” STBY’s comprehensive research narrowed the problem from the intangible “make it easier ” to a concise creative brief: “give departing passengers helpful information about the incoming train composition as early as possible.” Dutch design firm Edenspiekermann (founded by German typographer Erik Spiekermann) joined STBY to collaborate on conceptual solutions, all of which required massive data infrastructure to implement. Joost Holthuis, partner at Edenspiekermann, recalls that nearly half of all resources on the project were devoted to overcoming technical and operational challenges. NS Dutch Railways and its engineering partners installed infrared sensors inside train cars above the doors to count people entering and exiting by tracking body heat. Along with train configuration data, the real-time capacity information would help passengers decide where to board the train. The result is a 590-foot-long LED ribbon suspended on the Ultrecht Central Station platforms just above the track threshold. Ten minutes before the train arrives, it broadcasts everything passengers need to know about the approaching train including where the doors will open, seating capacity by car (color-coded red, orange, green), and special entrances. These ribbons will be rolled out to all major stations over the next few years. The same information will be available in the next release of NS Dutch Railways’ mobile app, but the key to resolving this problem was embedding eg magazine — 49

THE INTERNET OF PLACE

the information displays at the scramble points themselves, distilling sensor and service data into helpful on-the-spot guidance. As Holthuis explains, “Our pilot showed that apps are mainly used in passive situations where you have time to watch your device. In crowded and stressful situations when you have to hurry and carry bags, it’s difficult to use a device. In the user testing, the screen above the platform turned out to be more effective in the hassle of boarding.” Digitizing Vignelli’s vision for the NYC subway In February 2012, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) issued a bold public challenge: “Develop a strategy that will ensure a viable, maintainable, cost effective customer information system supported by advertising for the foreseeable future.” Nearly three years later, 145 touchscreen kiosks inhabit 30 of the system’s busiest stations. Each poster-sized, stainless steel-clad touchscreen dispenses real-time wayfinding guidance, interlaced with sponsored messages, to masses of transit riders. New York-based Control Group is one of the two companies MTA selected for the pilot study now underway. Design Director Paul McConnell acknowledges the competition is a “bakeoff,” with MTA rider experience teams evaluating the pilot deployments designed by his firm and rival CBS Outdoor. (They share the same enclosures designed by Antenna Group for an earlier system.) A single

victor will be awarded the contract at the end of 2015. The MTA is North America’s largest transportation network, shuttling more than 8 million passengers a day via subways, busses, and railroads. Over the years, the authority had deployed a number of digital signage projects such as digital overheads on platforms and outdoor displays at subway entrances. Few installations shared the same visual vocabulary and content sources, and as McConnell explains, “that operational inconsistency depleted rider confidence in the system.” Control Group’s plan was to create a systematic and cohesive design and interaction language tuned to the demands of riders and the form factor of the kiosk. “We wanted to deliver helpful information within a five to ten-second interaction, minimizing time and touches.” When not in use, the screens offer relevant information at a glance: next arrivals, connections, and service interruptions along with ad segments. To meet the requirement that the system be primarily self-funded, Control Group had to delve into service design and business planning. “There’s a lot of blur between user experience, technology, and just getting stuff done. If you’re a designer, you have to consider the business problem,” says McConnell. As the bakeoff continues, McConnell imagines an even more strategic project: “Just like Massimo Vignelli simplified the chaos of subway signage with the 1970 Graphic Standard Manual, it would be a thrill to draft the guidelines for the next wave of digital communication.”

New York’s MTA is installing wayfinding touchscreen kiosks on the subway platform—real-time wayfinding information at a crucial step in the passenger’s journey. To ensure a sustainable system, the kiosks also offering advertising opportunities.

50 — eg magazine

American Airlines is implementing the largest airport beacon deployment at DFW Terminal D, where passengers will use the AA mobile app to navigate, shop, and receive flight updates.

NEED IMAGE TO LAYOUT THIS SPREAD

Flight information at a glance Screens aren’t the only way to make an environment smarter. Fort Worth-based American Airlines is in the midst of a study to test iBeacons that provide contextual wayfinding information to users of their app. Over a hundred beacons have been installed on walls and ceilings of Terminal D at Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport. The devices use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to generate relevant messages on passengers’ devices. Phillip Easter, director of mobile apps and wearables for American, explains that the system is designed to answer a few of passengers’ most urgent questions: “Am I at the right gate? If I’m at the wrong gate, how do I get to the right gate? And what amenities are around me?” “Beacons offer a great deal of opt-in convenience,” he continues. “We want passengers to know where they are and we’ll let them know when there’s something important” like a boarding announcement or gate change. Plus, gate agents can manage their flights more proactively when they know where passengers are. His team had been exploring indoor navigation technology for years, but it wasn’t until Apple launched the iBeacon platform in 2013 that all the pieces fell into place: “These are exciting times—the technology is very accurate, low cost to maintain, and tuned to the majority of our customers who use our app on Apple devices.” Beacons cost less than $20 a

piece, their batteries last for 3 years, and a team can install a terminal’s worth in the course of an evening. When you use an app that has been built to communicate with beacons, your smartphone “listens” for beacon transmissions and displays relevant messages or features when you approach the range of a beacon associated with that app. All interactions with beacons are opt-in, so these are secure and private interactions. Over the course of the six-month pilot, selected users of the American Airlines app are invited to try out the new location-based features, such as navigating from point to point with the aid of the blue dot. With customer input, Easter and his team are developing valuable insights into how people navigate by smartphone. “People are walking, not looking down that much, and we can’t require them to engage. We can’t show too much information and we must make sure what we do show is hyperaccurate.” The system and new versions of the Android and iOS American Airlines app will roll out to major hubs this year. American is the first airline to partner with Apple on Apple Watch apps. “There are countless opportunities when you combine beacons with wearables—we will be able to provide snippets of glance-able information just when you need it,” notes Easter. He takes inspiration from Apple: “Do something simple and make it work all the time.”

eg magazine — 51

MORE WAYFINDING TECH TO WATCH

FROM PAYPHONES TO INTERNET PYLONS In November 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the winner of a competition to reimagine and repurpose the city’s anachronistic network payphones. The winner, CityBridge, is a multidisciplinary team including Control Group (designers of the MTA’s On The Go touch screen interface) and Antenna Design (designers of the On The Go enclosure and the iconic MetroCard vending machines).

A TAP ON THE WRIST TO TURN RIGHT Apple Watch, available early 2015, promises a range of features, from the cool (share a heartbeat) to the practical (reminders for appointments). Perhaps the most intriguing is the “taptic engine,” a tiny speaker pointed toward your wrist that alerts you by vibration. During the Watch launch, Apple’s Kevin Lynch explained that the watch will tap you on the wrist to tell you whether to turn left or right as you follow a route on Apple Maps. Soon we will able to literally (and gently) nudge visitors toward their destination—a real improvement over squinting at smartphone maps or obeying Siri’s commands.

The new system, called LinkNYC, will provide free gigabit Wi-Fi, access to 911 and 311, a mobile device charging station, and wayfinding information via an Android tablet embedded in a pylon. The deployment and ongoing maintenance will be funded by advertising revenues generated by the pylons’ large digital touchscreens. The city will take in an estimated $500 million in ad revenue over 12 years. This project raises pertinent questions about the role of advertising in the public realm; the role of city government in transforming a city utility into a profit center; and our role as citizens differentiating between ads, services, and urban clutter. The first of about 10,000 Links planned for the five boroughs will be installed in late 2015. (Photo: CityBridge)

PLAYFINDING WITH DISNEY’S MAGICBANDS Disney launched MagicBands, RFID wristbands, at its Orlando parks in 2014. They were developed to make a visit to Walt Disney World Resort more personal and seamless by securely connecting to guests’ tickets, FastPass+ reservations, and ride photos and videos. Disney hotel guests can it as a room key and to charge purchases to their hotel account. Disney says it is learning a great deal about visitor behavior and their adoption of wearable technology.

TRANSLATE TEXT AND CONVERSATIONS WITH GOOGLE Last year, Google acquired Quest Visual, a small company best known for their WordLens app. Point your phone at a passage of text and WordLens translates it in real time and overlays the translation right on the camera viewfinder. Now the WordLens magic has been embedded in the Google Translate mobile app for iOS and Android, along with a powerful audio translator. Speak into the microphone and your phrases are translated and “spoken” in the language of your choice. Suddenly we are all omniscient travelers, navigating the globe with ease. 52 — eg magazine

Digital pylons greet and orient visitors in their preferred language in the entrance lobby of New York University Langone Medical Center.

Alleviating anxiety for non-English speakers Passengers on trains, subways, and airplanes may be jittery about making their connections, but visitors to hospitals often face a much higher level of anxiety. Few places are as confusing as hospital facilities: intimidating acronyms and maze-like corridors and contiguous buildings baffle first-time visitors. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit New York University Langone Medical Center (NYULMC)—the four-block-long medical complex on First Avenue. The campus is anchored by Tisch Hospital and flanked by NYU Medical School facilities and physician offices. Rising to the north is Kimmel Pavilion, a major expansion of inpatient and outpatient facilities that will open in 2017. In 2008, the medical center launched an initiative entitled “Campus Transformation,” an across-the-board effort to improve the patient experience through expansions in facilities, services, and supporting technical infrastructure. Administrators selected New York-based design firm Two Twelve to develop a wayfinding strategy as part of the effort.

NYULMC’s chief executive officer Dr. Robert Grossman defined Two Twelve’s scope as “much broader than standards for signage, integrating all the tools needed to reassure our visitors that they’ve come to the right place and can easily reach their destination.” As Two Twelve founder and principal David Gibson explains, “Our solution was to design an integrated and cohesive wayfinding system composed of both traditional and digital tools specifically designed to overcome the unique challenges of the environment and the visitors that traverse within it.” A primary goal was to help NYULMC’s large population of non-English speakers. The medical center offers on-site interpretation services in many languages, with the top three languages consistently ranking as Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian. In 2012 alone, interpreters assisted in about 30,0000 encounters with speakers of these languages. To help these visitors self-navigate, Two Twelve designers, led by creative directors Anna Sharp and Laura Varacchi, came up with an innovative blend of static and digital signage they

eg magazine — 53

THE INTERNET OF PLACE

named the “digital pylon.” Positioned at decision points on the ground floor of the Medical Center, these monoliths direct visitors to ground-floor destinations. On the embedded digital screens, directions to nearby destinations are shown in English, with their equivalents rotating in the three major languages. Buttons on the bottom of the screen allow visitors to skip ahead to their preferred language. They can also click on any destination to display a map to it in their preferred language. The Two Twelve team collaborated with the consultancy Citizen Design Research headed by Sylvia Harris to test several iterations of prototypes with non-English visitors. Gibson recalls the value of taking time to test the concept: “For example, we witnessed the growing expectations we all have of touchscreens as information devices.” Today, the pylons are in place and while they provide non-English speaking visitors with directions, they also broadcast the larger message that NYULMC welcomes and serves patients from around the world. Upcoming expansions to the digital wayfinding suite will include wayfinding kiosks, a wayfinding section of the institution’s website, and a content management tool to manage all the information.

54 — eg magazine

An embedded future As designers, technologists, and owners collaborate to embed intelligence into the places we visit, we become more confident in our travels and grasp a more accurate—and perhaps deeper—understanding of our place in the world. Leslie Wolke (lesliewolke.com) is a wayfinding technology consultant and writer based in Austin, Texas. She is collaborating with Two Twelve on the NYULMC project described in this story.

Screen graphics are coordinated with the static signage system and printed information.

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WHAT NEXT FOR LEGIBLE CITIES? 58 — eg magazine

The chief designer of the Legible London wayfinding program ponders the future of navigation in smart cities. By Tim Fendley

or a city, a decade is but a would have minimal impact. moment. But in design a lot can, The response was guided by and does, happen in 10 years. three core observations. First, A decade ago, a team of cities have complex management information designers sat down to systems: central government; think about an open wayfinding brief mayor(s), boroughs; representative from an organization representing the organisations (BIDs, BIAs); and center of a world city. This followed a more. report by Jan Gehl Architects, for the Second, information for same organization, focused on the pedestrians was delivered by all need to activate and pedestrianize of the above and there was little the center of cities, to give the city back to walkers. Many of the Gehl recommenPor t man dations were implemented: city squares given a new lease of life; pavements widened; al fresco dining; M A RY L E BO N E Marylebone Village and street activity encouraged. Many might be unaware of the catalyst, but most have felt its impacts. The brief identified the confusing and general lack of S t C h ri s to p h e r guidance for pedestrian information. It requested a set of “guidelines.” The organization was the Central London Partnership, led by Pat Bond Street Brown. The information designers G ros ve n or were at Applied and we called our response Legible London. I think by M AY F A I R now you can guess the city. S ou t h M olt on Our response was not a set of guidelines. No matter how well designed and written, guidelines PA

T EN

British Dental Association

Wigmore Hall

ST EY RL

Steps

C a ve n d i s h Cavendish Square

Steps

Cavendish Square

Royal College of Nursing

St Peter’s

E AC PL

Royal Society of Medicine

LANE

YLEB

MAR

T TA

House of Fraser

STR

ING

DER

STR

EET

IN PR

Oxford Circus

H&M 25

’S

Jurys Clifton PL AC E Ford Hotel

S WE

L PS G

33 9

EIM

N Y D

C AV

ISO

John Lewis

NEW

VEN

Handel House Museum

STO

BLE

K’

ONE

SED PLA LEY CE

EET

Claridge’s

Debenhams

110

South Molton Street

Boots

Berkshire Hotel

Argentine Embassy

West One Shopping Centre

LE 2

HMV

M A RY

BO M UR EW N E S

St Christopher’s Place

S TR

S O U T H M O LT O N L A N E

Gap

S O U T H M O LT O N S T

Mariott, Grosvenor Square

Canadian High Commission

Marble Arch

Reiss

24hr

DU W

The Mandeville Hotel

Embassy of Italy

Grosvenor Square

Manchester Square

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Wallace Collection G

EBO

Durrants Hotel

RY L

Selfridges

R TE S

Marks & Spencer

CH W AN ME

Admiral Court

I LT

Sussex Hotel

Portman Square

Paddington Street Gardens

Marylebone Road

Baker Street

Churchill Hyatt Regency

Radisson SAS Portman Hotel

Mapping designed for pedestrians is key to helping people navigate the city.

eg magazine — 59

WHAT NEXT FOR LEGIBLE CITIES?

or no coordination among them. We found 36 wayfinding systems in the central area alone. And third, people—the users of the information—want to learn one system and one system only. We found 4% of people using the 36 systems and 44% using the London Underground map for walking. Almost everyone buys into the tube map, even for something it is plainly unsuited for. We proposed the city needed a system, not guidelines—a system that would present a single way of doing things for its users, the people walking around London. In the process, we would design the best way to impart complex information by using human geographic cognition, we would develop a legible language, and we would set up methods to allow all the city’s organizations to play their part.

Ten years later and the response we made that day has, like Gehl’s ideas, largely come to fruition. There are more than 1,200 miniliths, midiliths, and monoliths on London’s streets, located at key junctions, outside tube stations and on main routes. Legible London appears on bus shelters, on 600 cycle hire stations, on billboards, and in print. It was the system for the 2012 Olympics and has been adopted and is run by London’s transport organization. It is official. The system has gone through the most rigorous testing and at every turn its impact and benefit to the city has been proven. It is used more than one billion times a year. Its return on investment is around the heady ratio of 5:1. For a transport system, 2:1 is powerful. It has gone beyond London’s boundaries. Legible Londoninspired solutions have popped up

1. Local character, global standards

We have all benefited from global tools: Twitter, Facebook, Google Maps, and many others. They share a knack. They are the same wherever you go. One of the real differences we encounter every day is our environment, the places we live and work and travel to and through, and even here global brands such as GAP, McDonald’s, and Starbucks are creating replica High Streets. I believe the differentiation and distinctiveness peculiar to places will have more, not less, importance in the digital age. Events, unique gatherings and face-toface meetings will become more powerful. And local flavor, accent, and attitude will be ever more sought after. The response will be to represent this difference at the city level. Its character will come out through language, local knowledge, and place names. Cities have city-wide transport systems for good reason. They will have wayfinding systems to match. The fundamental methods created with Legible London will be used wisely and interpreted in each city. This means local character and identity will come through but using a method that we all learn to understand.

60 — eg magazine

in Sweden, China, Australia, the U.S., Canada, and Russia, as well as across the UK. They all have similar beacon-style units featuring to-scale maps and heads-up orientation (of course), with integrated directional information. It has become a global standard. A great British export. But here’s the rub. Aspects of the architecture of the system are fundamental, and some need adjusting to suit the environment. Considered thinking, planning knowledge, and expertise are required. My concern is that many of these imitations are simply that, and the global standard is limited to look and feel. I see this as the first wave of Legible Cities, and the field will mature. In a decade, Legible London has gone from a glint of an idea to a global standard (of sorts). I think six things will impact its influence over the next 10 years.

2. Planning as important as design

In 1961 the designer Herbert Spencer walked a route from Central London to London Airport (now Heathrow), documenting road signs, and highlighting in Typographica 4 magazine the confusions and sometimes dangers of unregulated and “non-designed” roadside messages. Two years later the issues he raised led two designers, Jock Kinnear and Margaret Calvert, to create an information system for UK roads. It standardized the appearance of all signs throughout the country and still lives today. It has informed many other countries. Consistent look, purpose-designed typefaces, and defined sizes (relating to road speed) were indeed advances. The more significant innovation, however, was that the system established a national use of progressive disclosure. It demanded a reduction in visual noise by limiting use of agreed symbols and names, and it defined rules for where and how signs are placed. These innovations are harder to spot for the non-information planners among us, but they are crucial and they work.

Where have you landed? In Europe or the U.S.? In an age of global sameness, differentiation and local flavor will be increasingly important in cities. (Image: Applied)

the next 10 years their importance will become more understood and better debated. Their terminology will be defined and it will demand that cities have more expertise to manage them.

3. Technology at the heart of Smart Cities

Legible London has become the global standard, duplicated in different guises around the world. (Image: Applied)

Forward to today and Richard Simón, my colleague at Applied, walked the same route as Herbert Spencer to see how 50 years have treated the system. The visual guidelines and the layout remain. The typeface is timeless. However, the system has been infected with interference: a proliferation of new signs. All were designed within the guidelines (which is good), but the principle of simplicity is being lost. Safety demands a minimal amount of information. We now face an essay at almost every junction. Such planning rules are not as visible and therefore it is harder to know if you have got them right. Over

The idea of a seamless journey is central to Legible City thinking. Delivering it with hundreds of touchpoints is a different matter. Thankfully, the last few years have seen a dramatic opening of data for public use. There are rivers of event, activity, and transport data linked to locations, and this flow will strengthen in the era of Big Data. Add in that soon we won’t have to worry about getting an Internet connection, or paying for it. All Wi-Fi will be free, roaming charges long gone. The future is one of connecting people to places to data, and at the same time delivering a common picture of a city. We envisage intelligent systems to connect the physical world with the digital: one system to allow the city’s organizations and businesses to communicate in a common tongue, via whatever medium is requested. With this approach we can ensure that quality is high, cost is low, and data is live. In a word, smart.

eg magazine — 61

WHAT NEXT FOR LEGIBLE CITIES?

“

One of the real differences we encounter every day is our environment, the places we live and work and travel to and through, and even here global brands such as GAP, McDonald’s, and Starbucks are creating replica High Streets.

”

4. Function will match form

There is currently an over-fixation with aesthetics, most notably with the form of objects within wayfinding projects. Signs are just one aspect, and their design should be matched if not surpassed by the function of the system. As Steve Jobs said: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Looking good is not the same as being good. Legible London’s functional architecture has been copied many times. It is pretty robust and will deliver in most cases. But I wonder how many times the architecture has been understood, and delivered to suit unique places. The future will see more respect, time, and effort to craft and manage the background data and system architecture. This will take expertise and organizational responsibility. More time will need to be spent evolving the system to adapt to inevitable changes in the city, not just leaving the system to fend for itself. We will have central control systems and people in roles to manage these.

62 — eg magazine

5. Organization will be official

In the UK during the early 1990s, the field of “urban design” gained traction after a slow burn from its modern emergence in the 1960s. There was a continuous need to explain to clients, mostly city governments, what urban design was and why it was important. It was rare a city had an urban design officer; now every local authority has. The field has matured, with representative organizations and its own language—defining it as a profession. Wayfinding will also grow as a profession. We will grow our language, develop accepted models, find our own organs of communication (of which the Society for Experiential Graphic Design [SEGD] is the founder), and we will establish the domain, located between urban and information design. City wayfinding systems will be run by wayfinding officers and there will be management teams, and roles and structures, not just consultants.

Urban design at work, before and after in New York City

6. Budgets will not be borrowed

Wayfinding hasn’t had a home. It can belong to the marketing department, the visitor information team; is it a part of the streetscape manual? Projects are sometimes initiated by the heritage team, by local business organizations, or by developers. Should it be run by the transport authority or the city planners? The result is that budget is the driver, and budget can come from any, and sometimes a collection of, these departments, organizations, and sources. Legible Cities will move away from begged and borrowed budgets with, invariably, a focus on capital expenditure, the initial build and launch event. They will move to economic case-driven, multiple agency-funded schemes that are wide reaching and revenue funded from the heart of local government. Over time, the failures of the “look good but can’t afford to manage it” solutions will give way to clients and cities that demand longevity, flexibility, evolution, and control. Legible Cities will become an essential part of the transport and visitor information systems of the city,

funded by pooled resources from all interested and dependent parties. Legible London has made real the concept of a Legible City and has set a global standard. This is currently focused on the interface. The next iteration will see the architecture of the idea being used to its potential. I think there will be a renaissance of city coordination. Wayfinding standards will rise and more people will find cities easier places to wander and walk. Our vision for Legible London was to enable people to explore, enjoy the city more, and have the confidence to get lost. No matter where they found themselves, they could find the help they needed by simply reaching out. How good will it be when we can travel to any city and have the same right to roam? Tim Fendley is the founder of Applied and the designer of Legible London. He designed Bristol Legible City and drew the strategy for I Walk New York. He has recently set up Living Map Company to realize his vision for legible mapping.

eg magazine — 63

INSPIRATION (66)

Sketchbook

The “life sketchings” of Tim McNeil (68)

Workspace

IA Interior Architects’ Chicago office (72)

Up Close

George Aye and Sarah Cantor Aye of Chicago’s Greater Good Studio

Tim McNeil Professor of Design, University of California Davis Principal, M/M Design Spontaneous, rapid, gestural, impressionistic, fluid, preparatory, observational, documentary: these are just some of the words that describe why sketching for me is both a design tool and a form of personal expression. I typically sketch when I’m travelling. It serves as a memory log of the places I’ve been. Sketching indirectly influences my design work, enhancing my visual acuity and growing my mental reference library. Sketching allows me to synthesize what I observe and do away with the clutter and superfluous elements. It allows me to be self-selective, alter reality, leave some parts unfinished and draw attention to specific details.

These two books were completed when I travelled in India and contain not just sketches but also found objects. I desperately wanted to capture the country’s overwhelming color and texture.

66 — eg magazine

There is a distinction for me between sketches that further a design concept/idea and the ones I render in my sketchbooks. The sketchbook becomes an “object” and the double-page spread creates a tantalizing panoramic format where slices of reality become windows into the past. The sketches and side notes form a collection of short stories. Turning the pages, I can remember exactly where I was sitting and what I was feeling when I made the sketch. For 20 minutes (my self-imposed timeframe), sketching focuses my attention. I’m oblivious to anything other than what I’m trying to capture. I find it therapeutic and incredibly rewarding—it’s an obsession. I read recently that an obsession is something we don’t necessarily do well but aspire to do better (Gopnik, 2014). That’s how I feel about my sketching.

“ I’ve been keeping

sketchbooks since I was 16 years old and I have many. They are very important to me and represent a visual record of my lifetime experiences.”

As a designer, sketching is my most valuable ideation tool during the design process. I rely on it significantly in the classroom as well to quickly provide feedback and direction to my students.

eg magazine — 67

IA Interior Architects, Chicago

Playful scale, cropping, and rotation turns the IA Interior Architect logo into a high-impact typographical backdrop to the reception area.

68 — eg magazine

IA Interior Architects designs environments for a diverse range of client types around the world. When it came time to express its own brand in its Chicago offices, the design team was determined to not only show off for potential clients, but also celebrate its local style and the personalities of its staffers. The reception area artfully blends old and new: ornate elevator grill work pays homage to the building’s history, juxtaposed against cutting-edge materials and systems. The IA brand is displayed in a playful typographic treatment embedded in mirrored glass behind the reception desk, and also animated in a digital display. IA introduces itself with its mission and vision writ large on client conference room glass. Flanking the reception area, IA projects and people are featured prominently on sleek and easily updatable display walls. Some aspects of the office design were crowd-sourced. Employees chose the conference room names—popular Chicago music venues—and share favorite quotes on design that appear in unexpected spots. Staffers express their creativity and get to know each other by teaming up to create displays for a dedicated art wall. The first of the rotating displays was a map of Chicago made of—you guessed it—fabric swatches.

Want to show off your Workspace? Contact pat@segd.org

Staff teams show off their talents and get to know each other creating displays for a dedicated art wall. This piece is a map of Chicago made of fabric swatches, labeled with favorite shopping, museum, and restaurant destinations.

Architectural drawing symbols create a lively graphic on glass at work rooms adjacent to the open office.

eg magazine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 69

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Responding to the Gates Foundation’s challenge to redesign the global childhood medical record, Greater Good designed a two-part system: a pictorial paper record and a necklace with beads indicating vaccinations given and needed.

George Aye and Sarah Cantor Aye, Greater Good Studio George Aye and Sarah Cantor Aye created Greater Good Studio based on the core beliefs that research changes design, design changes behavior, and behavior changes the world. Both engineers and teachers, they left traditional design firms to co-found their small Chicago-based studio focused entirely on underserved populations. What inspired you to create Greater Good Studio? In our previous careers, we observed that very little design work was being done to help the people who need it the most. When it was done, it was framed as pro bono work and relegated to weekends and in between paying projects. We wondered: Is it possible to create a design business serving just these populations who need it the most?

72 — eg magazine

So are you a non-profit? What is your business model? We are a for-profit company whose mission is to work with underserved populations. We introduce human-centered design processes to organizations that haven’t typically benefitted from design thinking. We are paid by the organizations we work for. Sometimes they have funding in hand at the beginning, and sometimes we work with them to find the funding. What is the biggest challenge of working with these types of clients? By far the biggest challenge is getting completely overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problems. Saving the whole world is too hard! So we work very closely with our partners to frame their projects in a way that identifies two key things: Who needs the benefits of this project the most? And, What behavior are we trying to change?

So you move from creating artifacts to adapting or creating behaviors? Yes. We didn’t have that clarity when we started, but narrowing the scope down to the people and the behaviors is our focus now. We’ve been honing that for the last three years and it’s a gradual shift that we’re trying to lead the charge on. I think we’re on to something. How can designers working in more traditional work settings incorporate some of the Greater Good ethos into what they do? Don’t use the word “design.” To our surprise, when we go to organizations where design is not known, it takes a long time to build trust and not be written off as the people who make posters. Just talk about what you are trying to do together, and base the conversation on missions and outcomes, not on “things” that might be produced. Focusing on behaviors, not artifacts, is how design thinking can change the world.

Greater Good also created a web app that helps put landlords and tenants on equal footing.

For more on Greater Good’s work, see www.segd.org/ greater-good

Design collaboration: DG Studios & mcgarrybowen

ACHITECTURAL DATA PLANKS

MULTISTORY DIGITAL TOWER

STREET SIDE IDENTITY

SEE MAGNIFICENCE FROM EVERY ANGLE...

SIGNS | DIGITAL DISPLAYS | LIGHTING

NO. 12, 2015

eg EXPERIENTIAL GRAPHICS MAGAZINE

1935

Ed Matthews opens first Matthews Paint store on Belmont Avenue in Chicago

1955

Ed Matthews Jr. joins Matthews Paint

1968

Moves corporate office to Wheeling, IL

1993 1995

Moves corporate office to Pleasant Prairie, WI

1985

Joins SEGD

2009 2015

Introduces MAP-LV Ultra Low VOC. Moves to Delaware, OH

WWW.SEGD.ORG

800.323.6593 • www.matthewspaint.com •

2012

PPG buys Acquires 1-Shot, Lacryl Matthews Paint and Field Master

CHICAGO

SECOND TO NONE

SMART WAYFINDING

BEYOND

LEGIBLE CITIES

GREATER GOOD

STUDIO