Colorado Mountain College Wayfinding Project
Colorado Mountain College Wayfinding Project
DIRECTIONS, LABELS, AND RANDOM INFO GALORE.
How do I turn unchangeable proper names, dog etiquette, and 15 strains of catnip in a permaculture garden next to a prototype lab and a vet tech farm into an cohesive set of 250 signs?
…and how do I use this for 11 different college campuses?
(warning: Spanish is placeholder only)
By The Numbers
-
250 Signs
From tiny garden signs to giant building signs, everything was accounted for.
-
7 Stakeholder Teams
The teams are legal, accessibility, student equity, marketing, facilities, design faculty, and students
-
11 Campuses
Colorado Mountain College has 11 campuses across Western Colorado
Process
This wayfinding project has been the result of many people. However, I am fortunate enough to have been chosen to turn what was once an idea into reality. As of Spring 2026, the signs have yet to enter physical production. However, Colorado Mountain College has committed to going into production during Summer 2026. They have also pledged a recurring yearly budget to create signs.
Onboarding
In October 2025, Colorado Mountain College hired me to be the one to turn this idea into a reality.
Categorizing
Signs were placed into five categories. Label, directional, informational, parking and deliveries, and campus announcement.
Research
In the Spring of 2025, 20 design students were given the job of testing to see if a system could be found for a new campus-wide wayfinding system. After months of research it was determined to be possible.
Pre-Production
Once complete with version three, we will spend twelve hours doing a signage walkthrough to ensure perfection.
Guidelines
Flexible guidelines have been set up for the future, so that anyone can easily create signs for a future campus.
Visual Design
Each of the 250 signs got three iterations over the span of seven months.
Sign Name Guidelines
As an aspiring information designer, doing anything less than giving the signs names that make them easy to find would be unacceptable.
The system I came up with goes as follows:
The uppercase letter at the front shows the location of the sign.
The number given to the sign conveys what kind of sign it is.
Double sided signs will have a lowercase ending conveying what direction they are facing.
Student Equity
Colorado Mountain College has a large number of Hispanic students. In their ongoing process to make their schools more accessible for Spanish speaking people, making sure that signs included Spanish was a priority. It was also important to place the English and Spanish side by side to make this project feel truly equal.
Design Development
-
Grid System
Square signs were placed on a 32×32 grid system. For signs that were rectangular the amount of cells was determined using the ratio of the short side to the long side with the short side being 32 cells long.
-
Logo Placement
Colorado Mountain College has an icon of an eagle as its logo. Colorado Mountain College guidelines needed to be followed alongside making my own guidelines for placement on signage.
-
Icons
Icons for showers and surveillance were created from scratch as needed. Special guidelines were created for signs with icons as well.
New Map
Colorado Mountain College’s old map was outdated. This project was the perfect opportunity to make a map that was efficient, easy to read, and multilingual.
More Signage Categories
-
Informational
Signs that provide miscellaneous information about the campus.
-
Parking and Deliveries
Signs relating to parking and deliveries.
-
Directional Complex Indoor
Directional Signage with more than three lines of information indoors.
Screenshot of The Production Tracker
Testimonials
“I truly appreciate Jacob’s passion he brings to every project I have worked with him on. He takes initiative on projects and isn’t afraid to try new ideas to find the optimal solution. His timeliness and capability of meeting deadlines is something I know I can fall back on every time.”
— CJ Clarkson, Brand and Marketing Coordinator
“I’ve had the pleasure of being Jacob’s professor as well as his supervisor on a massive design project where he was tasked with redesigning an entire wayfinding system in two languages for a college campus. Over the course of the project, jacob continued to impress me with his attention to detail, the precision in which he designed, and his overall professionalism. This was the type of project that many people did not think would be possible- and yet Jacob defied everyone’s expectations to deliver an incredibly thoughtful and sustainable design system that the college will be able to use for decades to come. In a decade of teaching design and working as an art director, I have never seen another student be able to deliver such comprehensible work that can go straight into production without any hesitation.”
— Cat Schmitz, Design Director of project and Associate Professor of Graphic Design“Every detail was thoughtfully executed. We're thrilled with the outcome.”