Wayfinding System: Boston Contemporary Museum of Art
The Boston Contemporary Museum of Art is imagined as a place built around clarity, warmth, and a contemporary sensibility. This project proposes a full wayfinding system for the museum, developed through Graduate Typography I. The goal was to design a typographic and spatial language that not only guides visitors through the building, but also reflects the museum’s commitment to openness, experimentation, and accessibility.
The final system includes a full icon family, text hierarchy, color program, proportional signage standards, elevation drawings, digital signage screens, and exterior identity applications. Collectively, they create a navigational experience that feels coherent, intentional, and human-centered.
Early research established the two guiding principles of the project:
1) Legibility is a design value, not a constraint.
2) Navigation should feel intuitive, not instructional.
Type Choice
I chose Neue Haas Grotesk Display Pro as the cornerstone of the system. The museum needed type that could communicate with authority at large scales but still feel approachable in smaller applications. It offered both the structure and the flexibility to build a hierarchy that never felt fussy or over-designed.
I established three primary weights (Roman, Medium, and Black) to differentiate floor numbers, directional information, and general labeling. Hierarchy became a tool for clarity rather than ornamentation.
Color System
Iconography
I designed a complete icon system to cover all essential functions: from restrooms to elevators to behavioral reminders such as “no food or beverages” and “do not touch.” Every icon is rooted in the same geometric logic, which keeps the system consistent even when the symbols vary widely in meaning. This cohesion ensures that users can recognize and decode them quickly, even at a glance.
Proportional Signage System
This phase was about translating abstract hierarchy into physical space: how high someone looks when they’re searching for the elevator, how much information a visitor can process while walking, what size type is legible to someone in a wheelchair. The resulting system is practical, repeatable, and grounded in accessibility standards.
Elevation Drawings
Elevation drawings played a critical role in understanding how the system would actually function once installed. Each sign type was analyzed at multiple viewing heights (average standing height, sitting height, and wheelchair eye level) to ensure that all visitors could navigate with equal ease.
This process surfaced several adjustments. By refining these details, the system became not just readable, but graceful.
Digital & Exterior Applications
Because museums increasingly rely on screens and hybrid information systems, I expanded the identity into digital signage templates. These screens use the same hierarchy and color-coding as the physical system, maintaining visual consistency even when the medium changes.
Finally, I applied the visual language to outdoor signage, establishing the first point of contact for visitors. The exterior system needed to be bolder and more durable but still aligned with the interior tone. The resulting design extends the museum’s identity beyond its walls while introducing visitors to the clarity and warmth they will experience inside.
Final Thoughts
This project pushed me to think about typography in spatial terms: how letters behave when they’re six feet tall, or when someone glimpses them while turning a corner. Designing a comprehensive system required balancing the conceptual, the technical, and the empathetic. It reinforced that good wayfinding works because it disappears: the visitor feels confident and oriented, and the system quietly supports that feeling behind the scenes.
In the end, the project became about more than signage. It became a study in how design can make a place feel accessible, navigable, and intentionally made for the people inside it.