What is campus cultural identity?

1. Reflect the distinctive characteristics of the times and reflect the vigorous and positive spirit of contemporary college students;

2. Reflect environmental protection, care for public property, standardized use of Mandarin, and diligence and thrift. , physical and mental health and other themes;

3. It complies with national laws, does not violate social ethics, and does not have feudal and unhealthy cultural overtones;

4. The logo can be passed through publicity boards and banners , electronic display screens, signs, promotional boards and other carrier arrangements; and indicate the carriers in the plan;

5. The plan is concise and easy to understand, with standardized and concise terminology.

Abstract: As an information carrier, environmental signs have become an important part of modern life. Campus environmental signs play an important role in setting off the cultural atmosphere of the campus environment and showing the charm of the school. Therefore, full attention must be paid to the design of campus environmental signage systems.

Keywords: Environmental labeling grading guidance

In today’s modern and international social life, various signs with different functions can be seen everywhere in the interior and exterior spaces of buildings, serving different purposes. The environment plays a role in diversion, guidance, information, and warning. The logos with pictures and texts transcend language barriers and provide great convenience for communication between people from different countries and ethnic groups. The sign system plays a very important role in the campus environment. An excellent sign is not only a guidance carrier, but also a promoter of the school's image. It can not only show the charm of the school, but also arouse the emotions of teachers, students and visitors, making the school more attractive. They have a kind and cheerful mood.

1. The particularity of the campus environment

As an accessory to the environment, environmental signs actually exist in the spatial environment. The design premise is to create a pleasant environment and set off the environment. Atmosphere shows the personality of the environment. Therefore, it cannot be isolated from the environment and must be interdependent with the environment. The campus environment has certain particularities and cannot be compared with the general business environment. It should reflect a campus cultural atmosphere. What is culture, that is, cultural education, "people are the main body of culture, and culture is the humanization of nature." Culture can not only express people's behavior patterns, but also reflect people's values, aesthetic tastes, and ways of thinking. (Quoted from the first draft of Zhuge Kai's "Design Culture"). Therefore, the cultural background should be fully considered when designing the campus environmental signage system.

The design of the campus environmental signage system should be scientific, forward-looking, and reflect the characteristics of a modern, information-based, landscaped, and ecological campus. In order to adapt to the needs of continuous improvement in teaching, scientific research, and quality of life, the campus planning should have a more scientific and cultural atmosphere. At the same time, the campus ecology, resources and environment should be viewed from a development perspective, and sufficient room for expansion should be left in the design.

2. Design Basis for Campus Environmental Identification

Before designing the campus environmental identification system, the following points should be considered:

·Clear design positioning and Requirements for the expression of campus cultural concepts;

·Follow the principle of people-oriented and serving others;

·In-depth understanding of campus landscape environmental conditions, structure (external environment) and traffic flow analysis;

·Analysis on the internal department structure and diversion of various college buildings, public teaching buildings, teacher and student apartment buildings, public activity venues, external exchange venues, etc.;

· Campus logo-oriented grading principles;

·Consistent with the overall campus image design principles.

3. Principles of grading of campus environmental signage orientation

Similar to the general grading principles of environmental signage orientation, the order should be from outside to inside, from large to small. Through the analysis and investigation of the campus environment (different schools have different natures, the design content and design style of the signage system should be different), the signage system is classified to facilitate the orderly development of the design work.

The first-level guidance of campus environmental labeling should start from the external environment.

You can even set up outdoor image signs of the campus on both sides of the traffic roads outside the campus with the permission of the municipal government; you can imagine how a person who has never entered the campus can easily find the destination by relying on signs with complete information and clear directions, rather than seeing them. People ask for directions and stop when they see an intersection. Starting from the school gate, one must first clarify the name of the school and recognize the school name logo; a person who knows nothing about the campus environment first wants to see the general floor plan of the campus. , in order to clarify the general direction, therefore, the campus general map sign at the entrance is indispensable; with a preliminary understanding of the general map, then follow the campus traffic road guidance signs, road diversion signs, road name signs, and building venue name signs to arrive destination. In addition, campus public service facility signs (newsstands, parking lot-entrance/parking guide, phone booth, laundry room, bookstore, activity center, convenience store, bank, public bathroom, ATM machine, water room, business Center, etc.), traffic signs (standards), etc. are also an indispensable part of the first-level guidance.

The secondary guidance of campus environment signs is the internal signs of the building that belong to the internal environment part. Generally includes the general index and floor plan of the building, the index and floor plan of each floor, lobby/corridor instructions, signs of public service facilities in the building (restrooms, information desks, etc.), entrance and exit signs, bulletin boards, etc. In this level of guidance, special attention should be paid to the nature of use of each building (teaching building, laboratory building, library, museum, science hall, training center, activity center, academic lecture hall, school hospital, gymnasium, swimming pool, etc.). Some Signs should be universal according to certain principles, such as fire safety signs and hospital internal signs. Some can be individually designed according to the characteristics of campus culture and the characteristics of each college.

The three-level guidance of campus environment signs is more detailed. Unit signs from classrooms and laboratories to administrative, logistics and other units all belong to this level of guidance.

The four-level guidance of campus environment signs can be used as the last level of guidance, namely house number/facility sign/window sign/table sign/tree sign and grass sign (external environment). Among them, facility signs mainly refer to signs in public service facilities, such as restrooms, coin-operated drink machines, etc., while window signs mainly refer to functional signs inside spaces such as on-campus banks, student canteens, and public bathrooms. . As for the lawn sign, as an important part of the campus environment and landscape, it does not have to strictly follow the implementation regulations of public signs of the garden system. You can design a warm sign with campus characteristics, no matter in terms of shape, language or color. . It is very necessary to set up tree signs when there are many tree species on campus. There are many such examples in life. After living in an environment for several years, very few people know the names and habits of the trees, flowers and plants in the environment. In an environment like a school, it is necessary for students to understand the names, origins, habits, etc. of trees and flowers, which not only adds color to the environment but also increases knowledge.

IV. Design content of the campus environment identification system

The campus environment identification system should be simple, continuous, unified, and have strong visibility. The basic size of the logo includes the appearance size, internal graphic and text size, volume relationship with the surrounding space, modular design reference, etc. A logo that is too large or too small will not be able to perform its intended function. If the logo size is too large, it will be clumsy and destroy the coordination of the environment. If the logo size is too small, the visibility will be weak.

The design of the appearance of the first-level guidance sign must first consider the overall architectural style of the campus, the volume relationship between the sign and the surrounding built environment, the orientation of the building, the shape of the building, etc. The sign shape should Integrate with the surrounding environment and cannot be isolated from the environment. Suitable signs will add brilliance to the building.

The premise of designing the size of signs below secondary guidance is to meet the functional needs of use. Guide dimensions of the same nature and lower grade should be more uniform.

Fonts account for a large proportion in logo design content. School visual image identification VI manuals generally give full consideration to the application of text. Usually, printed fonts are mostly used in the design of environmental signage systems, which is easy to identify and later on. Maintenance replacement also has standard controls. There should be a clear contrast between the color of the text and the background board, and the font size should be accurately legible at a certain distance.

Modern campuses are more closely related to international exchanges, so the text must be in Chinese and English. Sometimes the English name may be longer than the Chinese name, so enough space must be left. According to international convention, mother tongue is given priority, so Chinese is at the top and English or other languages ??are at the bottom.

Logo content usually includes graphics, text layout, positioning, color, etc. In compliance with modern people’s reading habits, the layout design mostly adopts horizontal format. Traditional format standards are generally in Chinese and in English (or other languages). As a landscape component in the campus environment, while maintaining the readability of the text, moderate exaggeration, deformation, misplaced combinations, and matching with the special-shaped appearance Arrangement, etc. Modern free layout has become the first choice for campus environment signage system design. For logos of the same nature and fixed positions, the format should be as consistent as possible. In order to create visual inertia and visual dependence, people can easily reach their destination even if they switch to different floors.

Graphic design does not only refer to the use of plane diagrams or symbolic graphics with text in logo design. When it comes to position guidance, there must be clear direction arrow graphics. Some campus traffic warnings and public facilities (such as no fast travel, no vehicle traffic, restrooms, phone booths, fire exits, etc.) can simply use graphics instead of text and be used for public service functions. Some international conventions or standard illustrations, such as men's and women's restrooms, disabled access, telephone booths, etc., can be used directly.

In logo design, making full use of the strong sensory stimulation and intuitive feeling of color can make the logo more eye-catching. At the same time, it should be noted that the main color of the logo must be coordinated with the surrounding environment. The colors of the campus environment identification system can be matched with the school's visual image standard colors to highlight the integrity of the campus image. You can also use the standard colors of each college to activate the space environment and increase legibility. However, when using colors, attention should be paid to quantity control. The more graded and downwardly oriented colors are, the less cumbersome they are, lest they make people confused.

The selection of environmental labeling materials should consider the durability of the material (especially the external environment), ease of maintenance, safety, reliability, convenience of use and other factors. Universal signs generally adopt a modular structure to save costs and make it easy to add and replace content. For image and publicity needs, schools often adopt relatively personalized logo designs. Although the production cost increases, the characteristics of the campus environment immediately stand out.

As humanized design has received more and more attention in recent years, barrier-free signage systems have gradually attracted people's attention. Many public places abroad have provided various facilities for people with disabilities to reflect humanistic care. For example, there are toilets that can be used by wheelchairs, handrails with Braille instructions engraved on the inside, touch switches for audio equipment that allow blind people to use their voices to visit the exhibition, etc. These facilities are all clearly marked. At present, our country is also gradually establishing and improving the barrier-free environment signage system. The development of schools is continuous, and the design of campus environmental signage systems also needs to be continuously improved in practice.

References:

Xie Yong, Hu Li: "Guidance Design", Liaoning Fine Arts Publishing House, 2002. /② (U.S.) Edited by Dilworth: "Public Environmental Label Design", Anhui Science and Technology Press, 2001.

(Author: Hong Ying, Lecturer, Department of Visual Communication Design, School of Art and Design, China University of Mining and Technology)