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Design Category
Environmental graphic design, 2004
Design firm
Gensler (Washington, District of Columbia)
Collection
(2005) AIGA 365: 26
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Gensler’s D.C. Studio 585 team was challenged to create a clear and consistent wayfinding system for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s 2.5 million–square–foot campus in Alexandria, Virginia. The navigation system is currently in use by U.S. Patent & Trademark Office employees and the general public.
The design team worked closely with a client committee that selected and approved archival imagery used throughout the design. In some cases, the same images were placed in different locations without the risk of being redundant because of the scale of the space in which these systems were implemented.
Budget played a large role in developing the system, so Gensler looked for opportunities to save costs. One opportunity for cost saving came in the team’s access to USPTO’s catalogs of historical information on patents and trademarks, which allowed the designers to employ various navigation methods arising from what they discovered there. The team was also able to save money by using the same materials in multiple locations with the actual buildings serving as the differentiators. This allowed for bulk ordering of materials.
The impact of the physical navigation system is experienced in its clear and identifiable signage, as well as in the smooth flow of the users throughout the vast USPTO campus—seamlessly and without congestion.