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Beyond Wayfinding –
Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into Campus Signage 2018 – 2022+
Beyond Wayfinding is a bilingual signage and wayfinding system that highlights the layered environmental, social, cultural, academic, and historical contexts of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus. Co-designed with Native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners Kūhaʻo Zane, Nalani Kanaka‘ole, and Sig Zane, the system invites guests to engage with Indigenous navigation techniques and corporal alignment practices.
The project responds to an institutional need to reimagine campus signage while embodying the university’s commitment to being a “Native Hawaiian place of learning.” Beyond Wayfinding began with a proof-of-concept design informed by interviews, campus tours, cross-departmental conversations, and the input of more than 150 faculty, researchers, and students.
These efforts served as the basis for an RFP that led to further design development and the construction of the first building signs. Expansion of the system is aligned with current capital improvement projects and will include additional components on campus in the near future.
AWARDS
2023 Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award
2023 Good Design Award
2023 SEGD Global Design Award
2023 Graphic Design USA’s Digital Design Award
2023 AIA Honolulu
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Exhibited at the Good Design Show at The European Centre, Athens, Greece (March 15–May 12, 2024).
Featured in Elissaveta M. Brandon’s Fast Company article, “This Intricate Wayfinding System Honors the Heritage of Native Hawaiians” (May 2, 2023), which profiled the Beyond Wayfinding project, emphasizing its collaboration between university researchers/designers (Sierralta and Strawn) and Indigenous designers (Zane, Zane, and Kanaka‘ole), and its use of ʻōlelo Hawai‘i and traditional land references to foster spatial belonging on campus.
This wayfinding system was also recognized as one of five commendations the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa received during its 2022 WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation review.
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Co-Designers: Sig Zane Designs / Sig Zane Kaiao
For: University of Hawai‘i Office of the Vice President of Administration
Size / Scale / Area: 21 signs and a series of markers distributed across campus constructed in ongoing phases.
Status: Phase 1 Built
Type: Wayfinding and Signage System
Partners: Sig Zane Designs & Sig Zane Kaiao (Nalani Kanaka‘ole, Sig Zane, and Kūha'o Zane) were selected as partners for their Hawaiian Design Theory and cultural expertise via a public RFP process, the first at the University of Hawai'i to require a Native Hawaiian designer and cultural consultant as part of the core team.
Construction Team & Consultants: Global Specialty Contractors, Two Twelve, Daniel Caven Design, CRĒO Industrial Arts
Production Team: Research Associates: John Colburn IX, Glenn Grande, Jason Hashimoto, Kai Hoshijo, Charles Palanza, Christopher Songvilay, Sho Tetsutani, Noelle Yempuku, Griffin Ward, Hunter Wells. Project Assistants: Jack Ames, Keola Annino, Airon Castaneda, Christina Holcom, Keli'i Kapali, Melise Nekoba, Vivianne Nguyen, Valerie Ribao, Coby Shimabukuro Sanchez, Mackenzie Suess, Bryson Tabaniag, Kayla Watabu, Tre Zamora
Photography: Tom Takata Photography
