Having spent a good deal of last year making paintings about northern BC billboards and road signage, you KNOW I love this! New CNC sign is good design at work; these seemingly subtle choices should not be overlooked. And wow do I love the idea that an urban landscape is a “collection of memory and emotion-activating symbols” - sounds like I need to read this book 👀
Thanks for these thoughts, and the book reccs. UNBC's signs are very clearly meant for car traffic - which also makes sense, as the campus itself is tucked off the main road and not really visible from University Way, and folks unfamiliar with PG often come to the uni to visit, present, or enrol. The David Douglas Botanical Garden on campus is exactly the opposite - the signage at and throughout the garden, combined with the paths, make it inviting to walk through, and I understand that their expansion will have a similar layout. Both of these places, and their signs, serve different purposes - but it's a great juxtaposition, and one I hadn't considered before.
Universities (and colleges) are in a bit of a pickle when it comes to signage because most BC universities are so far off the beaten paths of their cities (TRU, SFU, UVic, UBC, etc).
UNBC, like you said, needs to have car signage off University Way because duh, but I'd definitely encourage them to think about a welcome sign on campus that welcomes people traffic or students coming off the bus as well. I definitely have grad pictures where we parked out by the signs and trudged through the mud over to the car-sign to take a photo - what would a version of that sign look like on campus that is clearly designed for people (like the CNC sign)?
Having spent a good deal of last year making paintings about northern BC billboards and road signage, you KNOW I love this! New CNC sign is good design at work; these seemingly subtle choices should not be overlooked. And wow do I love the idea that an urban landscape is a “collection of memory and emotion-activating symbols” - sounds like I need to read this book 👀
PGPL has it :D https://catalogue.pgpl.ca/client/en_US/default/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:285242/one
Roman Mars my beloved! 99% Invisible was the podcast that got me into podcasts. I suggested his book to PGPL and they purchased it: https://catalogue.pgpl.ca/client/en_US/default/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:384047/one This is also a plug for requesting that the library purchase things! I've made a few recommendations and I think all but one was added to the collection.
Thanks for these thoughts, and the book reccs. UNBC's signs are very clearly meant for car traffic - which also makes sense, as the campus itself is tucked off the main road and not really visible from University Way, and folks unfamiliar with PG often come to the uni to visit, present, or enrol. The David Douglas Botanical Garden on campus is exactly the opposite - the signage at and throughout the garden, combined with the paths, make it inviting to walk through, and I understand that their expansion will have a similar layout. Both of these places, and their signs, serve different purposes - but it's a great juxtaposition, and one I hadn't considered before.
Good job spreading the good word of Roman Mars!
Universities (and colleges) are in a bit of a pickle when it comes to signage because most BC universities are so far off the beaten paths of their cities (TRU, SFU, UVic, UBC, etc).
UNBC, like you said, needs to have car signage off University Way because duh, but I'd definitely encourage them to think about a welcome sign on campus that welcomes people traffic or students coming off the bus as well. I definitely have grad pictures where we parked out by the signs and trudged through the mud over to the car-sign to take a photo - what would a version of that sign look like on campus that is clearly designed for people (like the CNC sign)?