Creating an enriching and supportive educational environment goes beyond traditional design elements. Experiential Graphic Design (EGD), formerly known as Environmental Graphic Design, plays a crucial role in shaping the student experience, creating a sense of community, and engaging learners. This approach integrates brand, message, and architecture in three-dimensional spaces through typography, color, imagery, form, and texture, enhancing students’ understanding and experience of their surroundings. By holistically utilizing experiential graphics throughout the students’ journey—from exterior and interior spaces to digital platforms—we can create environments that inspire, guide, and support learners of all ages.
What is Experiential Graphic Design?
Experiential Graphic Design is the integration of brand and message within physical spaces, transforming how individuals interact with and perceive their environment. Unlike its previous name indicates, Environmental Graphic Design, the term Experiential Graphic Design was adopted over ten years ago to better represent the focus on creating immersive and meaningful experiences rather than solely implying environmental sustainability.
EGD combines various elements such as signage, maps, symbols, colors, and other communication materials to guide individuals through the built environments. This approach not only complements architecture, interior design, branding, landscape, and furniture but also creates a cohesive and engaging spatial experience. Today, EGD can also leverage digital spaces to present dynamic content through motion or interactive graphics, allowing for rich interactions between building users and the presented information.
Creating Welcoming and Engaging Learning Environments
From the moment students approach their school, experiential design can create a welcoming atmosphere. Exterior signage and wayfinding systems, designed with thoughtful typography, color schemes, and imagery, help students and visitors navigate the campus with ease. These elements not only provide essential information but also establish a sense of place and belonging.
Interior spaces can further enhance the student experience by incorporating graphics that complement the curriculum. Wall murals, informational displays, and interactive installations can make hallways, classrooms, and common areas more engaging and inspiring. Digital displays and motion graphics can present dynamic content, making lessons more engaging and accessible. By creating visually stimulating environments, EGD helps maintain students’ interest and enthusiasm throughout their educational journey.
Additionally, EGD can create themed environments that align with specific subjects or educational goals. Edgerton Trails Elementary School’s colorful interior is inspired by the district’s elementary science curriculum, with each grade level housed in distinct neighborhoods that reflect local habitats. The neighborhoods — The Pond (DK), The Woodlands (K-1), The Lakes (2-3), and The Dunes (4-5) — provide age-appropriate and fun environments that connect back to what they are learning. Students can feel emotionally and physically safe as the layout ensures they interact primarily with their peers in spaces designed specifically for their developmental stage. These immersive environments stimulate curiosity and creativity, encouraging students to explore and engage with their subjects more deeply.
Supporting Mental Health and Well-Being
The design of educational spaces can have a significant impact on students’ mental health and well-being. Experiential graphics can contribute to creating a positive and supportive atmosphere by incorporating elements that promote relaxation, focus, and emotional comfort. For example, calming color palettes, nature-inspired imagery, and thoughtful spatial layouts can reduce stress and anxiety, fostering a sense of calm and security.
EGD can also promote social interaction and community building by designing spaces that encourage collaboration and connection. Interactive displays, communal areas, and shared information boards can help students feel more connected to their peers and institution, enhancing their overall sense of well-being.
To embrace the student and school connection to the Shelby community, each academic wing at the Shelby Elementary School was given an identity from elements found in the natural environment that include an orchard, forest, and lake. Bright colors and illustrations are infused throughout the facility with experiential hallway graphics and flexible furniture. Shelby has a large population of students who speak English as a second language, so each graphic in the school is represented in both English and Spanish to create an inclusive environment.
Guiding Student Focus and Learning
Experiential graphics can also play a supportive role in guiding student focus and enhancing learning environments. Creating personalized spaces, like built-in nooks, can offer calm areas for individual reflection or focused work, and can promote a sense of ownership and comfort. Enhancing these areas with dedicated graphics, schools can support students in finding their unique place, fostering an environment that positively impacts well-being and individual growth.
Additionally, EGD that incorporates place-based learning concepts into the design and application can inspire students to engage more deeply with their everyday surroundings. EGD, when thoughtfully integrated, can transform ordinary spaces into interactive learning environments that stimulate curiosity and creativity. This approach not only enhances the educational experience but also propels schools and universities towards innovative and effective learning strategies.
At Ludington Elementary School, inspired by the school’s land and its connection to Native American culture, each grade-level neighborhood has an identifiable animal (like an owl, wolf or bear) to connect to and identify with. Each animal was chosen specifically through feedback from the local indigenous tribe. This strategic use of coordinating displays creates a feeling of belonging for young learners and fosters student connection to the physical environment.
Interacting with Digital
Designs
Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in experiential graphic design. Interactive kiosks, digital signage, and learning-centered motion graphics can present dynamic content that adapts to the needs of students and visitors. These technologies allow for real-time updates, personalized information, and interactive experiences that enhance the overall environment.
The open lobby at Calvin University’s new School of Business facility features a digital running stock ticker so that students feel continually immersed in business culture. A large video wall showing the active stock market, market highlights, or campus news in the same space complements the feeling of learning in a real, global business setting.
Experiential Graphic Design is a powerful tool in shaping the students’ experience, social and emotional well-being, and learning in educational facilities. By holistically integrating EGD throughout exterior, interior, and digital spaces, we can create environments that inspire, guide, and support learners. This approach not only enhances the educational journey but also fosters a sense of belonging and engagement, ultimately contributing to the success of students and institutions alike.
