EDUCATING IN A DIGITAL SIGNAGE WORLD

26 Oct EDUCATING IN A DIGITAL SIGNAGE WORLD

Signage for Schools & Educational Facilities

What are the key facets of your school’s signage strategy? How can well designed digital signage enhance both the student experience and the look and feel of your facility?

Making a Big Splash – What Signs are Important?

A clear ‘identity’ sign, whether on the side of the building or pylon signage on the ground, should be at key entrances of the school. The next most important visual element is the informational sign at the point of most road and foot traffic passing the school. Today’s digital options are ideal for this type of signage as they are flexible, responsive to change and can announce all the upcoming events ranging from athletic games to club meetings, auctions, fundraisers and the like.

Instant digital messaging can easily be expanded to allow the schools to get a point across about almost anything, security issues would be an example of how this highly responsive signage medium can inform to a wide audience. This all happens at the push of a button or tap of a keyboard. College and facility administrators can be trained to perform these relatively simple updates so messages become instantaneous!

Wayfinding & Information Signage

Perhaps the most important signage greeting the person entering the school is the directory or wayfinding information. This indicates the What? Where? How? of the school.

• What? what do I want to find …. ie. key buildings, spaces, halls, canteen, medical centre…
• Where? where am I going…  ie. interactive, dynamic digital arrows and maps will help users find their way.
• How? how can I get there ie. best transit networks such as walk, drive, cross, stairs, ramps etc.

Digital signage is an ideal way to display this information – it can be easily kept up to date and interactive map route-finders allow all users to navigate themselves around complex campus environments.

Building & Room ID Signage

Finding your way to the destination is all very well, but in large campus or college environments where there are hundreds of rooms and corridors on multi-levels, clear and consistent signage labelling rooms and buildings is vital. Ideally the format, style, size and branding of this signage should be consistent throughout – accommodating colour or icons to assist the visual cues. Many schools we have worked in have compartmentalised buildings or zones using colours, for example the Architecture building and rooms would be colour coded blue and the Environmental Science department colour coded green.

[subtext: not all of the signs subject to change need to be high-tech!! For instance, we work with many schools that select interchangeable products that will allow them to insert updated names on the room signage. Custom architectural sign suites are highly popular – be sure to contact us for details and examples of those that may suit your school or campus.]

How to Engage with a Young Audience?

As with any marketing, you have to think about the audience and choose your sign strategies accordingly. Digital signage is becoming a key way to engage with the younger audience. ‘What we refer to as dynamic signage will be key to schools in the future”, outlines Tim Webb from Yap!digital, “today’s youngsters are so used to technology that they will expect to see information displayed in a bright, exciting format that incorporates everything they see on their ipads, phones and laptops”.  Signs & Lines have recently introduced digital signage at a number of education facilities in WA and beyond and see this as a key area of investment for schools in the near future. Feel free to talk to Tim about these projects.

Signs designed for Education

At a glance, the following projects are all examples of internal and external signage in schools, colleges, universities and early learning centres – see photographic examples throughout this Case Study.

• Atlantis Beach Baptist College – digital pylons
• University of Adelaide – interactive digital kiosks

Final Wrap

Whether it be an early learning centre, a school or university campus, the need for a fabulous, yet functional, signage strategy is obvious. If you need inspiration, design assistance or help managing a new education related signage project, the team at Yap!digital can take your project from drab to fab! Our service includes preparing designs to show how to make the most of your signage, with the benefit of our team of signage pro’s to guide you every step of the way.

Talk to the Yap!digtital team today:

Tim Webb on 08 9274 5151 or email tim@yapdigital.com.au