When designing the signage and the glass distraction patterns, we aimed to enhance the simple but distinctive angularity of the architecture as well as the atmospheric patterns created by the Arctic light.
Beyond aesthetics, our task was to create an accessible wayfinding system that would provide direction to speakers of the region’s four main languages — English, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and French. After consulting with the College and studying input from community groups, we designed a program that relied as much as possible on pictograms and numbers, in some cases breaking with common conventions, to better serve the needs of Northern, Indigenous users.
For example, we learned that standard “universal” washroom icons are not representative of gendered clothing traditionally worn in the North. Instead, Arctic College asked us to work from images of amauti — a type of parka traditionally worn by Inuit women in the region — and its male equivalent.
