Regular drivers on campus may have noticed new signage for all parking lots and decks – a result of a year-long effort initiated by Steve Terry in facilities management.
Terry, a construction process coordinator in design services, has sign design among his specialties. A conversation with students who expressed difficulty with understanding parking lot signs, reinforced by comments from visitors, prompted his effort to explore changes.
“Parking services already had a color system in place. It’s a good color system, there’s nothing wrong with it. But it didn’t communicate well,” Terry explained. “Color speaks first; we always use it as a primary communication. You’re talking at people with a sign, so let’s use a color system that communicates.”
In addition to greater use of color, the new signage uses permit hangtag iconography to identify lots. “The ‘C’ you would use as a commuter student is on a yellow tag or the ‘R’ if you’re a resident is on a blue tag, and so on,” stated Terry. “So if you see that on a sign, you know you could park there. You don’t have to read anything else on the sign, it’s just, ‘Hey, I see my hangtag color, I can park there.’”
The new sign design, which uses a J-channeled frame, makes it easier for parking and transportation services to change temporarily for special event parking, too.
While the signage is a work in progress, response has been positive.
Gary Caton, director for parking and transportation services said, “Our intention was to more clearly and easily define parking areas for use by students, faculty, staff and visitors. The new signs do that. They’re simpler to read, color-coded for quick identification, contain better description and are flexible enough to allow for quick changes. We’re quite pleased with the result.”