Wayfinding & Environmental Design for a Government Agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Central Regional Health Center, Tulsa Health Department's busiest location, started a much-needed renovation in 2018. It started with new flooring, furniture, and paint. I was brought in to the mix to handle the environmental design (wayfinding, promotional posters, fine art curation, etc.). THD's goal was to have a welcoming, visually pleasing building that tied into their pre-existing interior colors and furniture patterns. The patterns and colors can be found throughout the wayfinding and signage, mural, and even some opaque vinyl window treatments.
I designed an 8ft x 23ft mural to be installed in the main hallway near the building's entrance. The mural uses one of THD's core values, edited to speak directly to the community.
THD had also needed to have some branding and promotional posters for their services created. For me, it was an opportunity to go beyond the original request and to elevate the way they communicate with their clients. I wanted to avoid their typical educational style communications that can lack empathy and can have a sense of superiority, disapproval, and even finger-wagging. To shift the focus from “these are the services we provide,” or “you should eat healthy foods, exercise, etc.,” to “we know what you're going through and want to help.”
No matter how many free services were offered, the client's story was the only one that truly mattered. Before we could shift the conversation away from services and toward the client's story, we needed to do some research.
A creative strategy framework was used to identify the variety of client psychographics and demographics throughout the different areas of service within the building. With this information it was possible to imagine a client's current life situation and what may or may not be important to them.
All of this information was used to design posters that empathize with the client’s desires and values, and show how THD services fit into their desires and values.
