Branding for levity
Communicating community values through graphic design.
Challenge
The Olin Machine Shop was created to support the school’s mechanical engineering program, but was not as open to student involvement or integrated into the curriculum as thoroughly as desired.
Representative of this issue was a lack of transparency into the shop: its glass doors provided an opportunity for visibility between students and shop, but the ligns of sight were blocked by a clutter of safety signage.
Representative of this issue was a lack of transparency into the shop: its glass doors provided an opportunity for visibility between students and shop, but the ligns of sight were blocked by a clutter of safety signage.
Objective
Increase Olin Machine Shop accessibility through space innovations while maintaining shop functionality and safety.
Approach
As part of the larger project, I designed a set of icons for use throughout the space.
The initial plan for this set of icons was to craft our own versions of the serious icons commonly used for safety signage, but we soon realized that the shop culture lacked levity, and its seriousness deterred non-mechanical engineering students from becoming involved in shop activities. We instead opted for a friendlier set of icons derived from the concept sketches I had made, and expanded the set of icons as we worked.
The initial plan for this set of icons was to craft our own versions of the serious icons commonly used for safety signage, but we soon realized that the shop culture lacked levity, and its seriousness deterred non-mechanical engineering students from becoming involved in shop activities. We instead opted for a friendlier set of icons derived from the concept sketches I had made, and expanded the set of icons as we worked.
