WASHINGTON PARK, CINCINNATI | ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHIC DESIGN

Wayfinding, Branded Experience, Concept Design, Production Design, Brand Identity
Cincinnati, Ohio

BHDP asked us to design a brand experience and garage wayfinding system for the Washington Park garage. The parking structure is underneath Washington park in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood.

White silhouette designs are printed on clear acrylic over brightly colored walls. Silhouettes related to structures above ground and help direct visitors. Image shows rose glass from Music Hall silhouetted over bright yellow wall. Designed by White Design Studio.

We considered the entire parking experience from entrance to exit. Our intention was to give people a sense of place. We wanted to create connections with the city above and an easy way to remember where they left their car.

A bright green wall has silhouette of an OTR building to help center visitors as they leave the garage.

We used full floods of intense color to signal where the pedestrian circulation is. Verbal descriptors help visitors select the shortest path to their surface destination. Symbolic markers help people retrace those same paths home. The symbols relate to environmental ornaments and silhouettes found when emerging from the stairs to the park above.

Detail of mounting system for environmental graphics in this garage wayfinding system for Washington Park in Cincinnati.

Clear garage wayfinding points visitors in the right direction. The system is color coordinated to environmental graphics at circulation points. Signs read "Music Hall" and "Level G2". Designed by White Design Studio.

Large, bold garage wayfinding marked on pillars makes traversing structure easy. Image shows stripes of yellow, white, black, and red with text "G2: Music Hall South". In background is a hanging exit sign. Designed by White Design Studio.

The garage wayfinding system works at both the pedestrian and vehicle scales. The final result is modern, attractive, and reinforces the connection between the urban fabric above and the service area below.

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.
Identity: Corporate Identity, branding and logo design is the foundation of any successful communications strategy. Peter White and White Design Studio have been inventing, developing, interpreting and extending brands for over 40 years!
Branded Experience: 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.
Directional Signs / Wayfinding: Our complete interior and exterior directional signage systems are intuitive, design and material appropriate. Each design is complementary to architecture, interiors and other branding elements where they coexist. First, we create a hierarchical messaging system, then we match that system to location opportunity maps. Then, we apply concept designs to all of the individual components. Finally, we fabricate and install our solutions.
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.