Professional Development Series
Doors open at 1pm

For centuries travelers have headed off to unfamiliar places. Some carried maps to guide them, while others were charting new routes and territories as they ventured forth. In either case they went with hopes of finding something: a destination, a new route, a pot of gold. Likewise, 21st-century travelers are on the move for all kinds of reasons. Unlike their forebears, these modern day explorers have a host of tools at their disposal to help them find their way.

In much of the world, commerce and government – and life itself – is undertaken in cities large and small, new and old. Travelers have to navigate these often complex environments to find their way to the things they need – shops, friends, appointments, visits, food, tools, help, entertainment. Contemporary wayfinding designers can learn from the experience of travelers and the growth of cities as they create wayfinding systems for modern places and spaces. These wayfinding systems include a whole host of tools, including diagrams, signs, mental maps, directories.

David Gibson, noted wayfinding designer, author, and co-founder of Two Twelve Associates in New York will explore how an understanding of a traveler's mind and the growth of urban centers can help us create better wayfinding systems for hospitals, campuses and other complex places and spaces.

Following David’s lecture, there will be a panel discussion centered on process and collaboration in wayfinding design, moderated by Chris Pullman. Panelists will include:

David Gibson, Principal
Two Twelve Associates
David Gibson is co-founder and managing principal of Two Twelve. His dedication to delivering thoughtful, user-centered design established the firm’s reputation as the first advocate of “public information design,” the planning and presentation of complex information to diverse audiences.
David is responsible for some of the firm’s highest profile projects including wayfinding and signage design for the Yale University campus and Radio City Music Hall; master planning and environmental graphic design for Children’s Hospital Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital; identity design and pedestrian signage systems for Downtown Baltimore, Downtown Brooklyn, and the City of Charlotte, North Carolina; and signage for Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. He is currently leading design programs for The Alexandria Center for Science and Technology at East River Science Park, Princeton University, and The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
An internationally recognized and published designer, David began his career with the Ontario Ministry of National Resources in his native Canada. He studied architecture at Cornell University, attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and received an MFA in graphic design from Yale University.
David was an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, and has lectured on design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, at AIGA, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD), and ICOGRADA conferences, and at art and design universities around the world. He is a past President and Board Member of SEGD, and recently completed his term on the National Board of AIGA. He is author of The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2009, and was lately named SEGD Fellow.

Barbara Welanetz, Senior Project Manager, Planning
Mass General Hospital, Planning & Construction Office
Barbara Welanetz is a senior project manager in the Planning and Construction Office at Massachusetts General Hospital. A founding institution of the Partners Healthcare System network in metro Boston, Mass General is a leading academic medical center affiliated with Harvard Medical School, with more than 21,000 employees dedicated to inpatient and outpatient care, research, education and community health. One of Barbara's roles in her 18 years at Mass General has been oversight of wayfinding and signage systems and standards, including new interior wayfinding systems designed by Two Twelve for the main downtown campus; other areas of work have included master planning, pre-project program development, space allocation and new lease acquisition, and communications work for the department and hospital. Before joining MGH, Barbara served a variety of design organizations as consultant and director of marketing and communications departments, including Harvard Graduate School of Design and Sasaki Associates, Inc.

Mark Andreasson, President
Design Communications Ltd.
Mark Andreasson is the president and founder of Design Communications Ltd. Since 1984, Mark has been involved with several hundred significant signage and wayfinding programs of varying scope and complexity throughout the world. Mark is active in many trade and professional organizations including the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. Mark presents workshops throughout the United States for architects, specifiers, contractors, and designers about materials, documentation, technology, engineering, and management practices as they pertain to specialty fabrication and wayfinding.

Moderator: Chris Pullman, Design Consultant, Teacher
From 1973 to 2008, Chris Pullman served as Vice President for Design for WGBH, public broadcasting in Boston, which supplies about 30% of the PBS prime time schedule and the bulk of PBS.ORG websites. He and his staff were responsible for the visual personality of WGBH as expressed through its on-air titles, credits and animation, promotional and sales support, classroom materials and interactive media. From 2002 to 2007 he acted as design client for WGBH's new studios and headquarters in Brighton, responsible for guiding building character and branding, wayfinding, visitor graphics and AV features including the large exterior Digital Mural. Chris earned his MFA at Yale in 1966 and has taught there ever since, with a focus since the early 90’s on designing with time, motion and sound. In 2002 he was honored with the AIGA Medal for “excellence over a lifetime of work.”

Member Exclusive
We'll be drawing one lucky AIGA member to win The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places written by David Gibson.

Admission
AIGA Member: $60                                                    
AIGA Student Member: $55                                  
Non-Member: $85

This Event is Produced in Partnership With:
The Cloud Foundation, a member of the ArtScience labs

Contact
Chiranit Prateepasen
professional_development@boston.aiga.org
 

The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places

By using the link above, you can purchase this book through AIGA Boston's Amazon account, which helps support the chapter.