1998 SEGD Design Awards

Twenty-two projects–ranging from retail environments to museums and even a storm drain designed to discourage littering–were recognized in The Society for Environmental Graphic Design's (SEGD) 1998 Design Awards Competition. Two projects received “Honor” awards and 20 received “Merit” awards for design excellence.

The awards were announced during SEGD's 25th Anniversary Conference and Exposition held May 27–30 in Washington, D.C. Information about the jurors and about SEGD is at the end of the article.

Below we present a sampling of the winners. You can see all of the honor and merit winners in the August issue of VM+SD magazine.

Past and present winners will be featured in a new book, entitled You are Here: Graphics That Direct, Explain & Entertain, to be published by ST Publications Inc., in October 1998. (The book will be available for $45.00 a copy, plus shipping and handling, from ST Publications'Book Division. For credit card orders, call 800-925-1110, ext. 356.)

This design for San Francisco's streets was meant to solve the ongoing problem of people dumping automobile oil into the storm drains and polluting San Francisco Bay. Stenciled warnings near existing drains, the designer felt, need constant maintenance and do little to deter people who already know they shouldn't dump.

“….Everything that good design should be. It is noble in its purpose, imaginative in its conception, beautiful in its appearance, skillful in its fabrication and successful in its function. Who among us would not be moved by the power of its simple plea?” (Juror comment)

The proposed grate, shaped like a fish, would graphically challenge people by making their dirty deed concrete: making them dump oil on a fish.

Design: Mauk Design, San Francisco –Mitchell Mauk, principal in charge; Mitchell Mauk and Laurence Raines, design team

Glass and steel signs give an industrial character to this jeans manufacturer's corporate offices in Australia. Simple, but stylish, they capture the essence of the company's product.

Sandblasted glass panels at the Blue Café create an industrial look. They match the building's identity signs.

Design: Emery Vincent Design, Melbourne, Australia–Garry Emery, principal in charge

These temporary, celebratory graphics painted the “face” of one of Sydney, Australia's most famous landmarks, the David Jones department store. Always considered friendly and personal, the store is famous for serving “the women of Sydney.” Giant photos of 134 Sydney women, including the store's eldest customer, 101-year-old Miss Edith Whitlock, covered every window.

In a striking, celebratory design, photos of 134 Sydney women covered every window of the famed David Jones department store in Sydney, Australia.

Design: Cato Design Inc., Richmond, Australia–Ken Cato, principal in charge

Fabricator: 3M Australia, Pumble NSW, Australia

A comprehensive wayfinding program helps people navigate the numerous, complex buildings at the museum complex. Signs range in size from giant site models to small gallery identification signs. Design and type are consistent throughout.

Three-dimensional models of the museum complex help visitors find their way to the right buildings.

Design: Getty Museum Exhibition Design Department, Los Angeles –Merritt Price, principal in charge; Tim McNeil, senior designer; Robert Brown and Nicole Hagedorn, designers; Dusty Deyo, map illustrator

Signage/Fabrication: Carlson and Co., San Fernando, Calif.

Combining the words “edifice” and “edify” into one structure, this construction enclosure for Seattle's new Symphony Hall even included graphics on top, so that people in surrounding high-rise buildings could read them. Pictures and text, mounted on standard scaffolding, showed that the spirit of a building exists before its walls are built.

Bright and friendly, the panels presented encouraging words and images that showed people enjoying and playing music.

Design: WPa Inc., Seattle–Kathy Wesselman, principal in charge; Kathy Wesselman, Anthony Pellecchia and Joel Bakken, design team

Fabricator: SignTech, Seattle

The client, an architectural and construction magazine publisher, wanted a high-end design that nevertheless connected it to the “industry.” A combination of industrial materials and lights, together with stylish curved walls and “ceilings,” was the result. Oversized, color reproductions of magazine covers were displayed in a surprising, dramatic way.

Giant color reproductions of magazine covers speared through the curved “wings,” displaying the client's product in an innovative way.

Design: McMillan Group Inc., Norwalk, Conn.–Charlie McMillan, principal in charge; Charlie McMillan, Patrick McCauley and John Grasso, designers

Fabrication: IDEAS, Atlanta

Jamie Padgett, Padgett & Co., Chicago

This project by a student at Pratt Institute converted computer pixels into black, white and gray tiles. The concept is illustrated with a design for the walls at the 42nd Street Subway Station in New York, featuring the faces and feet taken from a vintage photo of the Ziegfeld Follies dancers

In this design for subway station walls, faces of Ziegfeld Follies dancers are rendered in black, white and gray tile.

Design: Piotr Adamski, Pratt Institute, New York City

The Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) is an international, non-profit association founded in 1973 to promote public awareness and professional development of environmental graphic design. Environmental graphic design is the planning, design and execution of graphic elements in the built and natural environments, and environmental graphics include sign, wayfinding and communication systems that identify, direct, inform, interpret and visually enhance the environment. SEGD has more than 1200 members drawn from the fields of environmental graphic design, graphic design, exhibit design, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, education, research and manufacturing. SEGD's primary activities include its annual conference and exposition, its annual Design Awards Program, member referral service and publication of educational materials related to the practice of environmental graphic design. For information, contact the SEGD office at 202-638-5555; fax: 202-638-0891; e-mail: segdoffice@aol.com.

Jurors for the competition were Paul Prejza, principal of Sussman/Prejza & Co., Culver City, Calif., known for his work on the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and Walt Disney World; Monk Askew, vice president and director of design for The Rouse Co., Columbia, Md., who has directed the company's retail and community projects for more than 25 years, including Fanueil Hall Marketplace in Boston and the community of Columbia, Md.; Charles Broudy, president and founder of Charles E. Broudy and Associates, Philadelphia, who has completed design projects for IBM, Comcast Communications and The Gap, among others; Phil Musselwhite of the National Park Service, Harpers Ferry, W. Va., who is involved in ongoing efforts to develop new signage standards for the National Park Service; and Kiku Obata, president of Kiku Obata & Co., St. Louis, whose recent projects include AMC Entertainment's Studio 30 in Houston and prototype designs for EduNation and B. Dalton Booksellers.