Jacksonville State University’s Houston Cole Library had outdated floor maps and old shelf signage that hadn’t been updated in several decades. I was tasked with creating a fun, energetic, and functional redesign with the goal of enlivening the space and enhancing communication. I put together a colorful color palette inspired by some earlier promotional materials and designed a new map concept that was up to date and that could be easily updated in the future.

Shelf signage design was inspired by the fantastic design and research done by Edward Luca and Bhuva Narayaan for the University of Technology Sydney. Library of Congress Classification system classes and subclasses were included so that students would be able to find, identify, and hopefully learn to associate LoC numbers more easily. The color system for our signage was inspired by a Find It with LC poster that I proposed to include on each floor as part of the new wayfinding system.

This project involved a lot of research that consisted of literature reviews on wayfinding and library signage best practices, interviews with students and staff, and visual audits. I also have to give a huge shoutout to my husband Karl who assisted me with documenting shelf call ranges, and with measuring each floor so I could design a fairly accurate map since there were no architectural drawings to work from.

The original floor map was outdated and rendered in a 3D style that couldn’t be updated.

New map design — cheerful, friendly, clean, and easy to understand.

Shelf Signage

Original Shelf Signage

Original Shelf Signage – small, hard to read, and inconsistent in placement and style throughout the library.

New Shelf Signage