Shannon Leigh Associates (Agency) – Creative (Schematic), Technical (Design Documentation), Environmental, Client Presentations and Collaboration, Site Surveys, Wayfinding Assessments
“The signage at El Camino Health needs a remodel. The campus is changing, the brand is changing, the business model is changing, so the experience of the people coming for healthcare has to change along with it. We want it professional, we want it clean, and we need to get it through the city. Show us something.” -Client’s first words
Creative
I focused on the sinuous lines of the logo mark since they were prominent in the new brand standards for print and web. I would later create environmental brand standards based on this work.
When designing structures that serve artistic and utilitarian purposes, consideration must be given to the information hierarchy that these objects are intended to communicate. Otherwise, what you dream will never fulfill what you require.
Notice in the sketches that multiple-sized message cabinets were included to visualize better how the design would function with a multitude of content.
Selling the Schematic Design
Converting the sketches and loose concepts into something tangible for the architect and client to wrap their heads around required some extra effort. While I love Lorum Ipsum as much as the next red-blooded designer, the practice of loading in entries that are relevant to the project just does more to sell the idea.
Note the only substantive difference between the options was the mast. The logo mark, icons, and typography were set by the interior graphics established by our earlier work. We also decided that the use of rectangular pre-fabricated boxes for the message areas would be best for maintenance and repairs.
To prevent decision paralysis from the client, I rarely offer more than three options on environmental graphics. During logo development, we would go through dozens of options, but when it comes to building on-site, the fewer options, the better.
Technical
After they chose the V-CAPPED Mast, the design of the project proceeded to the Design Documentation phase, where I transformed the concepts into actual elevations and 3D Models.
The Design Documentation phase of Environmental Graphic Design trandforms the conceptual to actual. Here I determined the materials for fabrication, verified the proportions, and made the little decisions about the way the structure would be presented.
Building for an entire family of sign types, the work done here would be crucial for maintaining the look and feel of the entire campus.
Fabrication Details & Construction Administration
But wait, there’s more! Building a structure in the computer helps define the issues that will come with building it in reality, but nothing can predict everything. Still, the better you plan the more likely you are to have a successful fabrication and Installation.
Every nut and bolt, every LED tube for even illumination, every piece of the framing and weather seal.
Most signs are simple shapes that can be built from previous versions. These signs needed exect specifications because they had not been built before, at least not in this way.
The attention to detail solved several fabrication problems before they came up and made the remaining difficulties easier to manage.
The Final Product
After 30 months of designs, meetings, setbacks, and successes, the final sign was placed on the campus in Mountain View. Over the next few years, other El Camino Health campuses have these designs in their plans for making a uniformed brand experience for all of the patients and personel.
