Signs for each classroom

Education
#1

Forgive me if this is the wrong place for this topic, but I have been a member for about a month and I noticed immediately that there is a SEVERE lack of signage when it comes to the names of classrooms.

This is sort of a non-issue for seasoned members, as everyone knows where the Purple Classroom is
(the problem is that if the doors are closed and a noob is late, they haven’t a clue where they need to be)

Sure, anyone can ask a random member where the classroom in question is located, but speaking as a noob myself, I don’t wanna admit I don’t already know everything there is to know…

Further examples include the conference room, digital media room, CA annex, etc. At some point I have been confused about each of these rooms and where they are.

I would be more than happy to make some signage in the spirit of doocracy, but I want to be sure that I go through the proper channels to get signage approved.

So, if anyone has ideas/opinions for these signs, please sound off!

I want to make sure that they look very professional and that they match current DMS branding, so if there is a preferred font that would help me out a lot. Also if anyone has a list of the classrooms as they appear on the calendar that would be swell @LisaSelk I’m looking in your general direction :slight_smile:

I’m more than willing to pony up the material cost (likely less than 20 bucks) but I want to hear some opinion on what would be the ideal material. I’m new to laser-ing, but I hear there is a layered acrylic that might be ideal for small engraved plaques.

9 Likes
Printing tactile signs?
#2

We used to have colored “hospital stripes” along the walls leading from the front lobby to each area in the space. They were covered over when the walls were repainted and not replaced. Some people want them back and some do not.

Now, there has been some talk about each committee making a sign matching their area of specialty. Obvious examples would be a printed sign for 3D Fab, something which lights up or moves for Electronics, etc.

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#3

I have the file for a hanging style sign for ca it was started but never finished. If you would like to see it let me know.

#4

I love the idea of neat signs, but we are getting more and more non
members coming to things.
Could someone in laser make some small signs that can be used
for right now? My mother in law has a saying, ’ perfect is the enemy of good-enough’

I wish I could just do these things, but---- anther idea
would be some sort of slide in bracket that a class name could be slipped into, esspecially
when classroom doors would be closed,

I remember the wall lines that is how I learned the room names, but one changed on me, from
when I took the tour, CA became the purple classroom that the Fortress of Solitude became CA

#5

Just curious, does anyone know what the opposition was towards the “hospital stripes” back up?

Were they just vinyl decals stuck to the walls? I can see how some might not like the look of that.

This would be an easy project to tackle, but I certainly don’t want to step on toes or ruffle feathers…

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#6

Personally, I liked them.

I suspect, completely unencumbered by fact, that it was too much work to paint around them the last time the walls got repainted (we are tough on walls). I suspect this because if you look closely you will see that it was also apparently too much work to remove them, either.

If we put them back, maybe we could paint a neutral grey stripe or a white stripe high up on the wall to contain those other stripes. Then when we repaint again we can just mask around the big stripe instead of masking each individual strip.

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#7

They were painted on with blue tape boundaries. One by one. Pearce did most of that work. Tedious is an appropriate term.

Meanwhile, I have “control” (ha ha ha) of the hallways as we are getting ready to fill, sand, and paint them.

IF we are going back to lines, we need to talk about it. I LIKED the lines and I think it is not the best use of wall space. We are headed to more art on the walls and the lines interfere with that. So, at this point, I am not for the lines reappearing.

A phone app that would give arrow directions would be cool. There are issues with geo positioning in a building without spending thousands of dollars.

I might also suggest a “fire escape” map posted above the water fountain and by each center control door. With all named rooms and areas. I know @John_Marlow has a layout, I am not sure of the printed size.

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#8

YES to the fire escape plan and where is our tornado shelter area?
I can see the bathrooms would be one but when they are full? Galley?
CA and lecture hall? back hallway?

#9

I can’t imagine how much work that was. Kudos to Pearce. Again, I liked them.

If we put the lines either very high or very low they might not interfere with art. But it’s your call.

I don’t know what the control centers are … but the map file locations are:

(1) Main layout, with just room names and square footage. Available either 450px x 600px, or 4500px x 6000px. Linked from the main page of the wiki, How to Find Us, where it says “take a tour of our space”. EDIT: direct link

(2) Layout, with safety equipment, fire extinguisher and exits/emergency exits - on the jump drive, in resolutions up to 6000 pixels (long side). 4500 x 6000 px will support printing a fairly large poster. N:Committees//logistics/safety/safety equipment locations/

image.png866×257 24.5 KB

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#10

I like your idea to add signage. As a quick fix, what if we posted a copy of the building map (which includes names of the rooms) on the bulletin board by the lobby? We could even use the one that shows fire extinguishers and exits …

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#11

Don’t feel like the lone ranger. I’ve been a member for several years. I drew the maps. And I just found out where the super-secret PR closet is located …

:slight_smile:

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#12

I put those up and have zero motivation to put them back up. It was way more work than it was worth, and some people didn’t like them as a design

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#13

Maybe you don’t hear often enough just how cool this feature was to newbies, or maybe I underestimate just how much work it was, but this was, in my opinion MAJORLY IMPRESSIVE! It lent the space a gravitas that art and [not those neat-o lines] cannot. It helped it feel like you were walking into a NASA workshop. I liked that.

I’d like to see them return on the floor, ceiling, or any other way we can get them back. I like the app idea, but I can’t see that working out well, nor would I personally find it as impressive.Unless you can get Princess Leia style holograms to pop up at each doorway when appropriate announcing the calendar for the day specific to the room. That would trump the other ideas…

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Post pictures of the "phases" of DMS
#14

I haven’t thought this completely through, but what about colors of string or yarn though hoops, hooks, velcro tabs, plastic cord holders, etc. appropriately placed. String/Yarn could be removed and replaced as/when necessary.

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#15

Thanks! I definitely appreciate that you got a NASA feel from it. I wanted to put some of acronyms from Star trek in the lines GN:DN (goes nowhere does nothing) and stuff like that, but the task quickly out grew me. I wanted to make the lines have a more “circuitry” feel to them, buuut see above.

Painting around them shouldn’t have been too hard, the secret to them is the colored lines were the width of 2" painters tape, the gaps in between were 1" painters tape. Since they were raised from the original paint it would have been pretty easy to keep the bleeding down, with some tape over them.

We could re do them at the roof level, or even on the ceiling but they aren’t as easy to follow when they aren’t eye level.

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#16

I have to agree with @jast I personally liked them. The new people do tend to pop their heads into classrooms to see what classroom it is.

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#17

I liked them a lot. Probably a quicker way would be colored vinyl tape. They now have enough colors.

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#18

Yeah that would make it easier to edit later too. The over the door signs were significantly easier just using vinyl stickers instead of painting them

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#19

I went ahead and printed a cropped version of this layout and taped it to the main entry.

I have also put it on the bulletin board.

I will also try and get it added to the Handbook in the near future.

I’m against the lines as they get in the way of the art shows when we have them. I think labels just above the doors should be sufficient. Make them cool like what is above the woodshop double doors. ( my 2 cents).

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#20

What about color coded doors /door frames? They could match the committee colors, which could match the signs, which could match the color coded floorplans…

I may not have thought this all the way through…

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