SMITHSONIAN OFFICE
SCOPE
Environmental Graphics
Wayfinding
Signage
TEAM
David Gleeson
Sara Gray
Grace Lopez
SAAM on Brand.
The third floor of the Victor Building serves as the main point of contact for visitors to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's office. A redesign of the space balanced specific concerns from SAAM’s Director, Deputy Director, and the Chief of Research and Scholars to establish a more cohesive brand identity, improve wayfinding, stay within a tight budget, and provide a comfortable environment for visiting scholars.
As the lead designer assigned to this project, my role was to create a design package and collaborate with a graphic designer and exhibition designer to design environmental graphics, source furniture, and select paint colors in accordance with SAAM's brand guidelines.
Assessing Experience.
Frequent walkthroughs of the space throughout the process helped us determine how SAAM guests move through the floor and how environmental graphics might ease their experience and provide a clear path to museum departments.
Recycled exhibit signage can be easily switched out, and SAAM publications let visitors browse while they wait.
Moving On Up.
Spanning the full year of my internship through multiple stages, this work gave me a deep insight into the institutional process of the Smithsonian. The redesign improved employee morale and the success of the project prompted SAAM's director to allocate more funds to expand the efforts to the fourth floor of the Victor Building.
