Feeling Right at Home on a Big Ten Campus.

Penn State's wayfinding program wins high marks from students and visitors alike.

Among educational institutions, Penn State University has an impressive resume -- a Big Ten school with 80,000 students, a tradition of academic excellence and a powerful athletic program, nestled at the foot of majestic Mount Nittany in State College, Penn. But, given the university's prominence in the public imagination, the arrival at Penn State's main campus used to leave some visitors, well, confused.

Like many educational institutions, Penn State had grown to the point where navigating around its main campus had become complex. At many of its campus entrances, a lack of signage left visitors unsure whether they had actually arrived on university property. Once on campus, locating specific destinations was not easy because signage did not always take drivers all the way to their destinations. And, other than isolated signs and lettering on buildings, little directional information was provided to pedestrians.

Penn State officials knew they had a problem by the e-mails they received from students who were confused about campus directions and who were frustrated at their inability to locate handicapped-accessible building entrances. With a $700-million, campus-wide construction program under way that would add even more facilities to the mix, officials knew a better navigational system would be even more critical.

That's why administrators commissioned a $1-million program to improve the school's "wayfinding" -- the system of signs and other navigational aids that guides drivers and pedestrians to and through the 540-acre campus. University President Graham Spanier, the recipient of many of those previously mentioned student e-mails, was a driving force behind the project. After a nationwide search, the university hired Corbin, a wayfinding and graphic design firm in Traverse City, Mich., to design the system. The 590 new and replacement signs were fabricated and installed by Milwaukee-based Poblocki & Sons and the university sign shop.

Penn's Plan

An effective wayfinding system is essential in helping first-time visitors feel comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and in encouraging them to return. That comfort level is critical on a college campus, with its yearly influx of new arrivals and regular visits from prospective students trying to decide whether the college is where they want to spend the next four or more years of their lives.

Besides making navigating the campus as simple as possible, a wayfinding system must also help assure prospective students and their parents that their tuition fees will be well spent. The challenge is to create a system that caters to both groups -- creating a comfortable, casual, easily accessed environment that appeals to young adults, while setting parents at ease by conveying the established nature of the institution and the ability of its trustees to maintain a safe, well-organized campus.

Corbin's system accomplished these goals with a series of signs and other navigational aids that guide visitors from nearby roads to their destinations, while promoting campus safety. "The objective was to make sense out of the campus," says Robert Brengman, the project's lead designer.

Major boundary markers define the campus and create a sense of permanency through their mass and use of solid materials, including rough-cut limestone blocks.

Vehicular signs direct traffic to the 30 top campus destinations, since they account for the vast majority of traffic. The signs also direct visitors to the public parking deck -- one of three on campus -- closest to their desired destination.

Pedestrian kiosks recognize and delineate individual campus "neighborhoods," helping to define smaller communities within the larger campus and give student residents a sense of place. The masonry bases for the kiosks are built of the same materials as nearby architecture (brick, granite or limestone), visually linking them to their surroundings.

More important than the look of the kiosks, though, is the way they function to provide information. Each kiosk displays a campus map and incorporates navigational information, including the locations of barrier-free routes and building entrances, bus stops and even nearby historic plaques. Also included on the maps are the locations of emergency telephones and "brightways" lighted sidewalks and roadways -- to address safety concerns and provide pedestrians with more easily navigable night routes.

A new series of building identification signs indicates the name of each of the 450 educational and administration buildings on campus and the major departments located within.

The Vote Is Tallied

The result has been a more visually unified campus and a signage system that has drawn compliments from current staff members and first-time visitors alike. "We've had many, many favorable comments about all aspects of the signage project, especially the campus maps and the building signs," says Jim Lettiere, the university's manager of space planning and management. "People seem to be able to find their way now, especially to those points of interest important to first-time visitors."

Besides receiving numerous phone calls, notes and e-mails from people pleased with the signs, Lettiere says he often sees people getting their bearings at the pedestrian map kiosks.

Jeffry Corbin is president of Traverse City, Mich.-based Corbin, a wayfinding and graphic design firm.