OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY | ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN

Environmental Branding and Wayfinding for a New Kind of Classroom

THE POINT is a new kind of education facility located on Otterbein University’s west campus. Part Maker Lab and part Business Incubator THE POINT houses a variety of workshops, classroom and lecture hall environments. It also includes corporate tenant spaces where students participate and integrate real-world projects into their curriculum. We worked with WSA Studio and THE POINT’s staff to provide a variety of environmental graphic design, wayfinding, and exterior signage features.

We developed a flexible design motif based on “play” and “fast forward” iconography and pattern/template graphic language. The college years in general, and THE POINT specifically, fast forwards student’s education so that they can experience real-world collaborative projects using hands-on fabrication techniques. It’s a great way to see the entire process of identifying a need, designing a solution and bringing it to market. Students, once exposed to the whole project life-cycle, can use their experience as a launch point to better find their career sweet spot, specific interest or talent. We wanted to express all of these things in our pattern while adding a playful element to the interiors because being lucky enough to experience this kind of education is fun and eye-opening.

The design is on all glass elements throughout the facility: it is passive wayfinding—pointing the way to additional classrooms—and provides different levels of privacy for all of the various spaces. The result is a graphic element that ties spaces together provides the appropriate level of privacy and adds a bit of fun.

Our maker language wayfinding signs are located in key locations to direct students to the various labs, studios, classrooms, and offices in the facility. THE POINT logo is integrated into each of the overhead signs to reinforce the uniqueness of everything about the building and how students learn here. BLKLTR designed the logo for THE POINT.

PHOTO CREDIT: AJ BROWNING PHOTOGRAPHY

We needed to strongly identify Otterbein University but wanted to do it in a way that expressed the spirit and uniqueness of THE POINT. We selected a wall that was set back but viewable from the entrance to add the college logo. At first glance, it is just a logo but as the viewer comes closer, the feature reveals its “maker lab” language. You can read more about the making of this feature in our blog post here.

Exterior identification featured total integration into the WSA-designed facade. The tone-on-tone marries the new identity with the new architecture.

White Design Studio is a multidisciplinary design firm located in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. We specialize in the design, production, and installation of integrated branding solutions. Our solutions orchestrate corporate identity, marketing, storytelling, environmental, photography, video, print and interactive elements. At White Design Studio, we believe the best way to communicate your brand’s story is through branded environments and experiences. We work with manufacturers, service providers, non-profits, architects and developers, agencies, distributors, governments and municipalities, and museums. First, we identify the work that a campaign, space, or interactive needs to do. We can then model a vision of what success looks like, and design to meet that vision. We are passionate about helping clients communicate their value through well-crafted storytelling, a consistent 2D, 3D, and digital design approach and expert production techniques.

Strategy: White Design Studio is your strategically-focused design source. Our marketing communications are custom-tailored to meet our customers’ objectives. Our creative solutions take many forms, but all are designed for maximum effectiveness. Each solution delivers key brand messaging to a wide variety of audiences.

Branded Environments: Sometimes called Environmental Graphic Design or Experiential Graphic Design, White Design Studio designs and creates strategic, compelling and memorable experiences. Our solutions deliver key messaging, branded specifically for each target audience. Workplace, Corporate Briefing Centers, Showrooms and Lobbies, Museum Displays and Exhibits, Retail Showrooms and Store Design are all great examples of White Design’s sweet spot of design, fabrication and installation capabilities.

Corporate Sculptures: At White Design Studio we design art with a purpose. Our interior and exterior, custom-designed art installations and sculptures help create iconic symbols for Communities, Municipalities, Non-Profits and Corporations. These commissioned artworks embody the essence of a group by distilling their core brand messaging into a creative and unique 3D feature. Whether it’s interior or exterior sculptures, hanging mobiles in an atrium, a monumental courtyard centerpiece, or other public art installations Peter and his team collaborate with artisans to create one-of-kind expressions that tell your story in a memorable way.

White Design Studio operates most efficiently in the design sweet-spot between environments, identity, and communications. Comfortable stretching any direction, we are at ease designing for one element. But, we are at our best when we can combine each element to develop a fully integrated brand and messaging system. We collaborate with industry-leading professionals on large-scale projects, but can also comfortably operate as your single-source design partner. We partner with Developers, Architects, Engineers, Facility Managers, Creative Directors, Marketing Departments Advertising Agencies and other Design Studios.