40 Awesome Signage/Wayfinding & Environmental Designs Inspiration

One of the most essential parts of Environmental Graphic Design is a Sign System. Sign System is a series of visual representation and graphic symbols intended as a medium of human interaction with the public space. Sign-divided into four categories, including:

1. Traffic Sign
Sign commonly used on public roads as driving instructions.

2. Commercial Sign
Sign aiming as the name of the store or place of business.

3. Wayfinding
Commonly found in buildings, or public area that serves as a guide or a pointer towards various facilities.

4. Safety Sign
Sign for safety instructions. Commonly used in the building construction area.

Another point to be considered in Environmental Graphic Design is clear and precise communication to convey a message, it must be able to act as navigation, information, branding and identity as well. Environmental Graphic Design is now merging the existing boundaries between architecture, graphic design, sign, public art and advertising. However, Environmental Graphic Design is not merely act as an information or guidance only, but it also must look attractive and eye catching. As we know that with the right combination of typography, color, shape and material can produce a strong sign in terms of both visual and message, or information.

We will be showing you 40 Signage/Wayfinding & Environmental Designs. We will be made aware of how designers incorporate a mix of modernity and culture in some of the designs. Here are the photos:

40 Beautiful Signage / Wayfinding and Environmental Design Examples

1. Sifang Art Museum via Foreign Policy




Set within the gentle terrain of Laoshan in Nanjing, the architecture of Sifang Art Museum is a well-constructed mix of harsh angularity with an elegant appeal whereby the asymmetrical structure hovers in space. Every view angle yielding a different trapezoidal perspective; the collateral system adopts the trapezoidal form. The Chinese saying - Strength within Gentleness - is inspired by bamboo - the material and form used for landscaping and parts of the structure. This underpins the brand identity, describing the gentle landscape where in old China, scholars and artists took recluse to master their craft or refine their thinking. The demure that also balances the masculinity of the architecture. White, is also a canvas a museum would function as.

2. First Choice Liquor Stores via David Popov




Environmental and wayfinding/signage design for a large liquor store chain

3. Wayfinding Westerdals via Marius Holtmon



Wayfinding Westerdals Signage and environmental design.

4. Poziom 511 Signage via Jarek Kowalczyk



Wayfinding system for a hotel.

5. DaySpa via Olof Bruce



Visual identity for DaySpa, a new spa concept in Stockholm, Sweden.

6. Hospital de Braga via Rui Granjo



Through associating the striking ethnography and some of its most emblematic features, together with elements immediately recognized as health care, the logo dictated a strong human and emotional communication scheme that not only reinforced the spirit but also its local heritage of the north of portugal.

7. Mediateket via Madeleine Skjelland Eriksen



Mediateket Library Signage and wayfinding.

8. Esade’s Colors via TwoPoints.Net



Typographic installations.

9. Bota Bota - branding via Gabriel Lefebvre



Branding, Signage, Art Direction.

10. GRK via RED ANTLER



Branding and design for a restaurant

11. Revolver Coffee via Post Projects



Visual identity for coffee shop.

12. Suite. via Modik



However, not talking about a room anyone, but a Suite, which leads us to a special place, a spacious, luxurious, sensual. The target of the naming of the brand and logo is to represent the erotic in a way implicitly suggesting and playing with imagination.

13. Paralelo 19 via Luiz Abreu



Visual identity, stationery, signage and institutional parts for Paralelo 19.

14. Hospital signage via Jarek Kowalczyk



Wayfinding / signage for a hospital.

15. 3D Neon / Lights Off via Rizon Parein



Neon headline visuals made for an Eristoff vodka campaign (personal executions).

16. Regent Park School of Music via Bruce Mau Design



Branding, Environment design of The Regent Park School of Music.

17. Brooklyn Museum via 2x4



Environmental Design, Signage of Brooklyn Museum.

18. Target Branding via Allan Peters



Target Branding. Ads, Billboards, Exterior and Interior Signage.

19. Casarès–Doisneau schools in Saint-Denis via Jérôme Mignot



Signage of a new elementary schools in Saint-Denis.

20. Shop Before The Shop via Fivethousand Fingers



Signage of a mobile street vendor.

21. Natural Science Museum of Barcelona via Jordi Huaman



Signage for Natural Sciense Museum of Barcelona.

22. ENSA Paris-Belleville via Jérôme Mignot



Signage & Wayfinding for the ENSAPB.

23. Cycle Kids, Breakaway via Bluerock Design

"Cycle Kids promotes healthy lifestyle choices by introducing kids to the joy of bicycling and educating them about bike safety and nutrition. This non-profit group empowers children to develop positive, safe, and active lifelong habits. The Breakaway event is an annual fundraising ride for this Cambridge-based non-profit. The logo is a hand-rendered script that was modified to elevate the event to a sophisticated level. Items included, naming, logo development, cyclist jerseys, t-shirts, water bottles, tickets, rider booklet, signage, website, posters, and more. Project created at © Weymouth Design."

24. User experience for a school library via Simen Strøm Braaten



a wayfinding system for the library at Deakin University.

25. CAC Signage System via BOSCO



Signage and environmental graphics for Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.

26. Stadtwerk Lehen - signage system via Renzler. Design



Signage system for Stadtwerk Lehen in Salzburg.

27. Black Dog Retail Store via Matt Hammond



Black Dog Brewery retail store concept, design and application across various touchpoints.

28. Chicago Design Museum Way-finding/Signage via Pouya Ahmadi



Way-finding and signage for the first exhibition curated by Chicago Design Museum featuring works of VSA Partners, Ed Fella, Debbie Millman, etc. The design theme evolves around the idea of simplicity and transparency.

29. Parque Moinhos de Vento via Eric Pautz



Signage elements of one of the most important parks of the city.

30. Eleni's NYC via RED ANTLER



signage of a bakery.

31. PM24 via CIP Creative



a contemporary yet sophisticated bistro style identity that flowed through the menu and signage.

32. City of MULHOUSE via Jérôme Mignot



Signage and wayfinding of the city of Mulhouse.

33. Buenos Aires Wayfinding Sistem via Luciano Balzano



Buenos Aires City Wayfinding sistem.

34. 2011 Lumens Signage via Bildi Grafiks



Signage system for 2011 Lumens, a show that brought together a dozen contemporary artists who were commissioned to work with light.

35. Signage system | “Chasopys” creative space via Igor Skliarevsky



Wayfinding and signage system for “Chasopys” Creative Space in Kyiv, Ukraine.

36. Abbaye Du Thoronet via António Queirós Design



Typographic instalation, Signage project. Aluminium 1 cm pieces, water jet cuted and blended.

37. Simone Veil Hospital via Jérôme Mignot



Signage & wayfinding for an hospital in Paris.

38. Aquatics centre - Châteaugiron via Jérôme Mignot



Signage for the the aquatics centre in Châteaugiron.

39. Mango Financial via Bercy Chen Studio



Signage with a vibrant logo and night lighting.

40. SK Telecom 'T' Signage via totalimpact



The signage system and retail store design also adapted the same visual concept for consistency and applied soft curves and clean graphics to provide comfortable environment for customers and enable them to enjoy T’s service. Through this project we not only successfully renewed T’s BI, but also created a holistic strategic identity that applies consistently to space, advertisement, prints and everything else that reaches the customer.

Environmental Graphic Design

Every day and everywhere we go either to the mall, museums, office buildings, hospitals, colleges, schools, or the airport - we always meet and look at the signposts, information boards, banners and others. These graphical elements had turned out not only as a mere decoration placed to complete a building or place. These graphical elements have discipline knowledge, it's named: Environmental Graphic Design (EGD for short).



Environmental Graphic Design is all forms of graphic elements that exist in the environment. This includes a signpost, bulletin boards, graphic ornament on a building, the name plate on the buildings, as well as all forms of writing in two-and three-dimensional objects. EGD scope includes: signage, wayfinding systems, exhibition design, information design, pictogram also placemaking. So don't be surprised if EGD embraces various other disciplines such as architecture, interior design, landscape and industrial design.

Then why is Environmental Graphic Design (EGD) necessary?

It is very necessary! Because humans are basically living with all that complex and completely differentiated. Just imagine if you had to go to a shopping center or to a building or buildings without any information (signposts) also no directional signs to indicate your presence. It must be very confusing! Psychologically, the information that comes along with direction signs installed, will impact on the human sense of security. Signages installation is part of EGD as a means of information and the identity of the building.

History

~The First Generation

EGD was first developed in the Roman era when the letters engraved on buildings and architecture to provide information and including the appointment of the identity of a place or even in making of fresco paintings on buildings (painting on the wall of limestone that develop rapidly in Renaissance periode). Unlike a poster design or packaging design which has undergone a process of decades, EGD is still relatively a new discipline. It's development covers many disciplines in terms of graphic design, architecture, interiors, landscape and others.



EGD forerunner in fact marked by birth and growth of the design bureaus in the early years of the 1950s and 1960s, mostly working on construction for the visual identity, packaging, posters, books and company profile. Some of the project from design agency are: create logos, signage, or other information signposts for public events or housing project. These projects are indirectly informal knowledge about the sign system by considering many things including: typography, material selection, and some details of other design elements. The first examples of this project (sign program) :the Fashion Island Shopping Centre, California, which was done by John Follis and signage on the East Coast for a corporate building, designed by Rudy de Harak. At the same time, a group of designers who worked at W.E.D Enterprises (well-known as Walt Disney Imagineering) make a carved signage and signposts on the playground at Disneyland.



The concept of this project later known as the Architectural Signing for how to combine function and design to blend with the architecture of a building. And was predictable, in a short time, the designers in America began to offer services to work on the sign system for housing, malls, playgrounds, hospitals, airports, and others.

~The Second Generation

Around the year 1974 to 1984, EGD identical with Architectural Signing with limited scope for transportation, corporate, and educational facilities. Early 90's, graphic design trends began referring to the place or building identification purposes, display and navigate within the public space. Sign system not only to inform but also has been designed to create interest and if necessary, entertain and beautify the environment. At first it does look like a decoration or directional signage that looks artistic in the shopping mall attached to the wall, ceiling or floor. Utilizing the power of public space facilities are potentially in EGD and graphic elements transform as the power to declare the identity of a building. 1985 to 1994, the EGD started to spread to shopping malls, playgrounds, showrooms, events, airports and hospitals and then lead to overlap between function and aesthetics. And in 1995, EGD also began to enter the arena of public spaces such as museums and exhibition venues