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127 John Street, New York (1968). One of the first high-rise projects to integrate neon and structured typography into the streetscape. Rudolph de Harak added warmth to the Modernist skyscraper and showed how graphics could animate the urban environment. (Photo: Poulin + Morris Inc.)
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Parris Metro Entrances (1900). Designed by Hector Guimard in the Art Nouveau style, these graceful gateways still define the Parisian streetscape. Timeless integration of typography and form. (Photo: Paristep.com)
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Neon Signs (1912). Invented by British chemists around 1900 when they electrified the gas krypton, neon soon became a powerful medium for signs. Self-illuminating letters were magical and made signage not only possible after dark, but compelling and even romantic.
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Porcelain Enamel Signs (1920s). The start of the modern permanent sign business. Porcelain enamel soon replaced paint for durable, colorfast advertising signs. Still-pristine 100-year-old Coca-Cola signs attest to its durability.
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Times Square (1920s). This popular gathering place came into its own as modern illuminated signs and neon transformed the Great White Way into one of the first immersive media environments. Las Vegas and Ginza took heed. (Photo: Thunder Bay Books)
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London Underground Map (1933). Harry Beck's map reinterpreted below-ground reality for better understanding above ground. It was the original on which today's ubiquitous sleek urban rail system maps are modeled. (Photo: Transport for London)
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Disneyland Signage (1955). One of the first and best examples of graphics playing a major role in placemaking. Walt Disney used hundreds of colorful signs, icons, posters, and graphics to help define places. Theme parks, museums, and even retail environments followed his lead. (Photo: Disney)
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Las Vegas Strip and Downtown (1950s). Building-sized neon signs and animated facades came to define a city and reflect a destination lifestyle.
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Helvetica (1957). Enough said. Except maybe: Thank you, Max Miedinger.
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Mathematica (1961). Funded by IBM for the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry, the Eames Office's hands-on experiential exhibit was the first truly interactive science exhibit. It set the stage for today's intensively interactive museum experiences. (Photo: Eames Office)
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IBM Pavilion at the New York World's Fair (1964). The first big, multimedia/multiscreen experience stole the show. Inside the ovoid IBM Pavilion designed by Eero Saarinen, the Eames Office created a nine-screen film extravaganza that visitors watched from grandstands hydraulically lifted more than 50 feet for the viewing. (Photo: Eames Office)
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Ghiradelli Square (1964). The first adaptive re-use project in the U.S. Benjamin Thompson and Associates' plan included signs, graphics, color, and animation that reactivated the old factory into an international destination. Profound influence on not just EGD, but placemaking and architectural preservation as well. (Photo: Joe Wolf)
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Mobil Oil Service Station (1964). Chermayeff & Geismar's concept may have been the first and certainly the most thoroughly "branded" environment of its day. Seamless integration of graphics, industrial design (by Eliot Noyes), and architecture, with a distinctive logo mark as the centerpiece. (Photo: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv)
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NYC Subway Signage Standards (1966). Massimo Vignelli's intelligent, disciplined system amazed with clarity and detail, transforming a chaotic, confusing experience into an organized framework of signage and visual communications the public could comprehend.
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Sea Ranch Supergraphics (1966). Barbara Stauffacher Solomon filled entire walls with colorful stripes and bold shapes, revealing the powerful potential of graphic design as architectural language.
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Expo 67, Montreal (1967). Expo 67 transformed the world's fair concept into a total environmental design experience. Paul Arthur masterminded signage; Burton Kramer was responsible for wayfinding. Inside Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome, Chermayeff & Geismar created a world-class U.S. Pavilion exhibition using superscaled graphics. (Photo: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv)
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Mexico City Olympics (1968). In one of the most influential EGD projects of all time, Lance Wyman's graphics defined the venues, the sports, the city, and an entire culture. (Photo: Lance Wyman Ltd.)
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Changeable Strip Directory (1972). Modest? Yes, but it and other ASI products transformed signage for buildings. Clean, simple, and magical behind bronzed glass. And, the architects liked it. (Photo: ASI)
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Hollywood Sign Recognized as a Monument (1973). Los Angeles adopted a 50-year-old advertising sign as its icon and gave it landmark status. Now it's the most famous sign in the world. It's no Eiffel Tower, but we'll take it. (Photo: Hollywood Sign Trust)
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Formation of SEGD (1973). Who knew that when five designers met in Detroit to talk about "architectural signs," they would create the center point of a dynamic and evolving discipline? Still cooking' after all these years. (Image: Wayne Hunt. Original SEGD logo design: Doug Akagi)
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Atlantic Richfield Plaza Signage (1974). John Follis' masterwork. The first big-time corporate sign program on the U.S. West Coast. Countless projects (and practitioners) were influenced by the scale and thoroughness. And yes, Helvetica was the font.
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9 West 57th Street, New York (1974). Chermayeff & Geismar's big red sculptural address marker was photographed, celebrated, and copied by designers around the world. (Photo: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv)
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Smithsonian Pictograms (1978). Lance Wyman's pictograms are still relevant today, a visual language of recognizable places. No words were needed. (Images: Lance Wyman Ltd.)
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Wyman's Smithsonian pictograms have inspired hundreds of symbol systems.
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Architectural Signing and Graphics (1979). John Follis and Dave Hammer's seminal book was the EGD bible for 25 years. Follis defined the principles of practice for a new generation of designers. (Pictured: Wayne Hunt's dog-eared copy)
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Touch-Screen Technology (1983). With map directories that interacted with users, Hewlett-Packard wrote a new chapter on self-guided navigation and access to user-specific information.
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Gerber Signmaker and Die-Cut Vinyl Letters (1983). Gerber manufactured the first commercial vinyl character cutter--probably single-handedly responsible for the death of hand-brush lettering. Vinyl die-cut letters are still a staple of sign making and museum exhibits. (Photo: Gerber Scientific)
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Los Angeles Olympics (1984). Another candidate for most influential EGD project of all time. Sussman Prejza's use of unusual colors, stripes, fonts, and riffs on classical buildings turned Modernism upside down.
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Supergraphic structures were dramatic placemaking elements. (Photos: Sussman Prejza)
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The ultimate event branding design, the look also played well on TV. And it was a landmark of collaboration; more than 25 design firms worked to roll out the innovative program.
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Macintosh Computer (1984). Yes, the Mac changed the world. Graphic design was transformed almost overnight into a near limitless electronic process. By 1990, centuries-old techniques of paste-ups, camera art, and handcrafting disappeared. Post-script typography, file transfer, photo alteration, and illustration programs soon followed. This was not evolution, it was revolution.
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DOT Symbol Signs (1985). A seminal breakthrough in universal non-verbal communication, the symbol set commissioned by AIGA and designed by Cook & Shanosky Associates is still in use today.
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IDENTITY magazine (1987). Published by ST Media Group as an offshoot of Signs of the Times magazine, for almost 10 years IDENTITY beautifully reflected EGD's evolving self image. It was the precursor to segdDESIGN and eg magazines.
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United Airlines O'Hare Airport Walkway (1987). Michael Hayden's Sky's the Limit shaped neon sign technology into a moving spatial experience. Now redone with LEDs, the 750-foot-long sculpture still creates an engaging visitor experience. (Photo: City of Chicago)
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High-Pressure Laminate for Signage (1990s). Zoos, museums, and parks have never been the same since the introduction of an image-rich, robust-enough-for-outdoors, and less costly alternative to porcelain enamel. (Photo: iZone Imaging)
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LED Signage (1990s). Biggest signage and graphics lighting advance since Edison. And like the signs, everything changed. And is still changing. (Photo: Simone Giostra & Partners/Arup-Ruogo)
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Gurnee Mills (1992). CommArts' tour de force was the first shopping environment driven almost solely by graphic design.
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At Gurnee Mills, the architecture was in the background, behind graphic storefronts, flying indoor billboards, pop art sculptures, floor-to-ceiling thematic layers, and eyefuls of color, image, and typography.
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Every surface and view shed in each direction was a graphic composition. (Photos: Timothy Hursley)
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With Gurnee Mills, CommArts created a distinct, often humorous, and multilayered visual language.
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (1993). Ralph Appelbaum Associates changed the paradigm for historical exhibits: visitor as participant. In this powerful, immersive experience, Appelbaum achieved a delicate balance between fact and emotion. A masterful piece of visual journalism.
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SEGD's ADA White Paper (1993). A coming-of-age initiative for SEGD and a big step in understanding and interpreting federal guidelines for design inclusive of those with disabilities. For the past three decades, SEGD has interpreted guidelines for th EGD community and provided leadership to improve them.
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Morgan Stanley Times Square (1995). Poulin + Morris created one of the first digital building facades and another great chapter for Times Square. Others followed, leading to today's dazzling, Blade Runner-like must-see destinations. (Photo: Deborah Kushma Photography)
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Apple Store (2001). Sleek and museum-like, Eight Inc.'s retail concept for Apple was the ultimate branded environment. It might be the best example yet of seamless melding of product and place. (Photo: Eight Inc.)
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Clearview (2004). Not only did Don Meeker and James Montalbano design one of the most legible fonts ever, they got it approved by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. Clearview was created to improve visibility for an increasing number of aging drivers on more than 50,000 miles of U.S. highways.
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Before Clearview. Clearview may also bear the distinction of having the most far-reaching impact of any EGD intervention ever. Don Meeker says design can be a form of "social activism." (Photos: Meeker & Associates)
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Wayfinding Apps (2009). Maps, wayfinding, and interpretation, all in your handheld device. Download in advance or on site with just a click. Now with GPS. Is this the future of way finding? (Photo: W&Co.)
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