Michael Courtney Design recently transformed the Washington State Convention Center's wayfinding and information system. The 30-year-old wayfinding system struggled to greet, guide and direct the WSCC's 400,000+ annual guests.
Built in a challenging urban location, the success of the original building led to three expansions, spreading across several city blocks and creating the largest meeting and event facility in Washington State. During a series of updates, the design vision of the original program was lost, resulting in a confusing mix of design and directions powered by outdated technology and missing elements.
Michael Courtney Design designed a clear and concise wayfinding program that works in harmony with the function of the space and needs of the client. The overall design is clean and contemporary, using hospitality grade materials and aligning with EHS Design's interior architecture changes.
The signage color palette includes warm brown wood, greens and blues, and silver typography. To add to the contemporary feel, MCD chose a clean, modern typeface, and designed the overhead signs with a thin profile. The WSCC logo and color palette was embedded into 3form Varia Ecoresin; a translucent material that has a soft glow when illuminated.
In the main lobby, MCD introduced a distinctive landmark ("Welcome") to greet visitors, incorporated technology at key locations and developed a consistent, easy-to-follow graphic language. The end result is a transformational wayfinding solution consisting of nearly 2,000 unique signs created with the building blocks of a successful communication system in mind: consistency, continuity, and a design language that connects with the audience.