13 Stunning Examples of Graphic Design in the Built Environment
The first time I was introduced to Archigraphia: Architectural and Environmental Graphics by Walter Herdeg, founder and editor of Graphis, was while I was an industrial design student at Pratt Institute. It immediately confirmed a world existed that I definitely wanted to be a part of. Here, the two-dimensional world of graphic design worked hand-in-hand with the three-dimensional worlds of industrial design, exhibition design, and architecture.
In recognizing the original book’s 40th anniversary, Archigraphia Redux pays tribute to Herdeg as well as celebrating the breadth of architectural and environmental graphic design in the 21st century. This volume starts with six chapters with titles like those in the original: “Pictograms and Symbols,” “Vehicular Sign Systems,” “Visual Guidance and Wayfinding Systems,” “Building Facades and Storefronts,” “Supergraphics and Animated Surfaces,” and “Transportation and Vehicle Graphics.” An additional chapter covers “New Approaches and Digital Technologies.”
A graphic designer is a storyteller, a weaver of tales that resonate with a building’s audience. The need to identify, navigate, and ultimately reinforce individuality, corporate or civic pride, loyalty, and ownership are all part of this equation and are clearly evident in this volume. The built environment that we experience every day continually relies upon graphic design to communicate information and identity, to shape our overall perception and memory of a sense of place, and ultimately to enliven, enrich, and humanize our lives.