Wayfinding & Signage Work

• Guthrie Theater
• Minneapolis Central Library
• Minneapolis Institute of Arts

We rarely think about building signage, and that's exactly the point. Signage depends on two things: the way the space will be used and the aesthetics of the building. For the Guthrie Theater, the Minneapolis Central Library, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Larsen created a signage system to blend seamlessly with the design — and lead patrons effortlessly to the performance, book, or work of art they came to see.

Cueing the crowd at the Guthrie

When officials from the Guthrie asked Larsen to develop a signage system in early 2005, their new building was only a massive steel skeleton based on blueprints by the legendary French architect, Jean Nouvel. Over the next year and a half it would become a nine-story aluminum monolith featuring an "endless bridge" extending toward the banks of the Mississippi River.

With three separate stages, two full-service restaurants, and an educational wing, the Guthrie presented a uniquely complicated wayfinding challenge. Was it possible to direct thousands of people through this unconventional space in time for curtain call? And was there a way to achieve this with signs that actually complemented its striking design? "It would have been easy to put up big red signs telling people where to go," says Mike Haug, design director at Larsen. "Our job was to do something far more sophisticated."

Functional by design

This is where the experience of company founder, Tim Larsen, came in. His philosophy: signs should be functional. They should complement the architecture or interior design of a building without introducing anything new. "The trick to creating great signage," Larsen says, "is to leave your ego at the door."

In the case of the Guthrie, this meant creating more than 1,100 signs out of sleek brushed aluminum and backlit smoked-acrylic that recede when the lights are dimmed. The signage experts at Larsen added etched graphics to glass staircase panels for an understated effect, both to direct patrons and to subtly call attention to the transparent sheets of glass. Audio messaging accompanies patrons on the escalator ride up to the stages, providing detailed information in an unobtrusive way. Backstage signs for the actors — some of whom will be from visiting troupes and may not speak English — are color-coded according to path: proscenium, thrust, studio, or common areas. And in the front of the building, where theatergoers, restaurant patrons, and curious site-seers enter, we placed two LCD display kiosks featuring messages that change in order to meet the needs of the audience; the display might indicate lunch hours for the restaurants at mid-day, advertise upcoming shows throughout the afternoon, and flash show times as evening comes on.

Similar assignment, different goals: Minneapolis Central Library

For the Guthrie, Larsen was challenged to direct large groups of people in a time-sensitive way through an enormous structure in which nearly every area has a uniform appearance. But we were working concurrently on another project, less than a mile away: the landmark Minneapolis Central Library, designed by Cesar Pelli.

While the Guthrie Theater is stark, dramatic, and dark, the Central Library seems to have been conceived upon the theme of light. A bifurcated building with stacks and shelves on four floors, as well as a vaulted commons space, an exhibition gallery, and a 243-seat auditorium, the library presented a challenge just as unique as the Guthrie's, but with a much different goal. Here, every person is looking for something different — a particular book, information on a topic of personal interest, public access to the Internet, research materials for a school project — and there are an infinite number of paths that any one patron might take. So the signs have to work backward, forward, and sideways — connecting in every possible direction.

Preceding in patrons' footsteps

Larsen began with the following question: What is the best way to simplify the Central Library's signage system so that each person who enters the building takes the fewest possible steps in order to reach their desired end? "We began by drawing up a hierarchy of the library's holdings, divided by collection, and devising logical paths based upon the building's floorplan," says Haug. It was a little like a literary maze game, but it worked.

In the end, Larsen developed more than 1,500 signs including understated frosted acrylic and aluminum rectangles for the collections; bold, colorful sans serif letters for the children's section and Teen Center; and frequent use of the international information symbol "i" in three-dimensional orange LEDs. The result was a space that works on a principle not unlike a web site, allowing each "user" to navigate the building one step at a time.

Mapping and matching: Minneapolis Institute of Arts

At the same time these two very visible projects were starting, Larsen was wrapping up a job we had started 12 years before at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA).

The original mandate was to develop an identifiable "look" for all signage — including art labels, donor plaques, directional signs, and even didactic panels — that would help coherence throughout the many rooms, galleries, and public spaces of the MIA. Larsen recommended a beveled-edge frame that could be used on a variety of materials to achieve a consistent sophisticated, finished look. When the MIA added a large postmodern wing designed by Target's Michael Graves to its far more traditional original home, the wayfinding system was carried through, helping to connect the two very disparate structures with recognizable icons that indicated to visitors who had crossed over from one building to the next that they were still at the MIA.

The secret of great signage

All three projects met with great success because the signs themselves do not interfere with the continuity of the architecture, which was the goal A superior signage system uses key words and consistent design elements to create layers of assistance that patrons, customers, or visitors are completely unaware they're using. "It's all about finding the right size, placement, and location for every sign," Tim Larsen explains. "You should never have to look for a sign; it should be there when you need it. Signage should be easy to read, tell you exactly what you need to know, and lead you effortlessly to the performance, book, or work of art you came to see."