Info Here, There, Everywhere

Simply put, I am in awe. Two words - environmental graphics. A lot of times we do not realize how much we are surrounded by graphic design in the areas we visit. When we travel the world, a new city, or even when we walk down the street, we are completely engulfed in environmental graphics whether it is simple street signs or an elaborate corporate design scheme that screams for attention. 

In our travels through Megg’s History of Graphic Design we were introduced to the ideas of environmental graphics by the use Edward Johnston’s London Underground logo in conjunction with Henry C. Beck’s London Underground subway maps. Trains and stations were also painted to match the colors of the logo. The placement of these elements in subways and marking the subway entrances not only helped locate and move about the subway systems, but contributed to the overall branding of the subway line. The Underground continues to have a vibrant identity.

The same type of environmental graphics ate depicted in sources of transportation and traffic signage. Robin Cook and Don Shanosky designed the set of glyphs for the Department of Transportation in 1974 to give information to an international audience, transcending language and literacy barriers.  Street signs and traffic signage have been designed to be easily read and to give appropriate direction yet many small towns and cities will develop street signs that are distinct from their neighboring city. For example; Mountain View, California uses a municipal blue or a forest green sign with a standard san serif font. The green and blue signs have a suburban urban motif being closer to a metropolitan area.  You will know when you have left Mountain View and have entered Los Altos, California when your street signs turn from blue to brown and use an italicized sans serif font in all capitals. The brown color of Los Altos’ signs are significant of national park signs and emphasize the city’s more wooded environment. 

In our current era of the “digital revolution,” environmental graphics has become extremely bold especially with the addition of digital color sign boards and large, thin and color LED screens. Lisa Strausfeld’s display for Bloomberg L.P. headquarters in New York is an amazing info graphics demonstration in using digital boards to present a dynamic display of financial information. The same style of info graphics displays are becoming common spectacles for sporting arenas and events. They create dazzling visuals and re-enforce the high energy of a given event. The HP Pavilion, used for the Sharks NHL hockey team, uses continuous digital screen that spans the inner circumference of the arena, infusing the interior with color and light to bolster and influence crowds while re-enforcing the HP and Sharks brand.