Signs of the Times - February 2014 - (Page 68)

materials, enhancements and detail. These limitations challenge qualified designers to work with the ADA standards and strike a balance from a creative aspect. Is dynamic-digital signage impacting health-care-signage design? Electronic signage is beginning to encroach into more and more health facilities. A hospital's ever-changing environment makes this seem a logical way to move forward. Some hesitation may surface due to initial cost and the addition of electrical-power sources at each location. The other limitation, somewhat, is the elderly population's unfamiliarity with apps and touchscreen information kiosks. Electronic wayfinding applications can be a great help, but this assumes everyone owns an iPhone or another device that can readily download this information. One school of thought suggests developing and placing dynamicdigital signage in a facility's primary areas, where traditional means of assistance are still available - static signage or staff that can guide people to their destination. As the older population becomes more familiar with using today's technology, this electronic trend will become more prevalent, cost-effective and userfriendly. However, it will never completely replace the need for static room signage, as long as ADA requirements are in place. For your company, has health-care signage decreased or increased as a percentage of your overall work? Health care has always been a mainstay in our stable of work. Over the past five years, more than 65% of KMA Design's work has served hospital clients. We've designed signage for more than 75 hospitals over the past 15 years. Hospitals' ongoing need to expand, update and juxtapose departments keeps them a key client type for our firm; we have an 80% retention rate. Many of our hospitals are ongoing, long-term clients, some for more than 12 years. There is a specific comprehension of how health-care facilities function - playing to the elderly and highstressed population - that comes with experience. What's the best solution for determining where and how many signs are sufficient? The best solutions only come from experience. Too many or too few messages can both be a failure. Limiting the number of messages, and directing people from the macro Health-care Signage: Care Required! T hree loud and clear messages emerge when you talk to sign people with health-care experience: Keep it simple. Make the signs flexible and changeable. Make sure you're dealing with the right decision-makers. Ed Reed (Reed Sign Co., Pennsburg, PA) believes "When it comes to health care, sign companies need to take a more refined approach. It's much different than regular wayfinding. Most people coming to a hospital are in some kind of distress. They're often elderly, worried about a family member, or possibly sick themselves. Because of the stress level, the message needs to be concise and clear." Reed also sees hospitals putting growing emphasis on the patient experience: "The larger the facility, the more difficult it is to control the quality of that experience. That's where signs really do their work," he says. "Making it as user-friendly as possible for the public" is primary for Rob Scarola (County Graphics Forms Management, LLC, Linden, NJ). "Generally, hospital administrators look at aesthetics. They typically don't consider the importance of getting the message across, and the amount of information that can go on a sign. It's our job to educate them." For Sharon Stein (Creative Image & Design, Port Chester, NY), "changeability" is the key to success for the hospital and the sign company: "I've seen people make the mistake of using something permanent, and, 68 SIGNS OF THE TIMES February 2014 all of a sudden, it becomes useless, and they have to replace everything. It's a disservice to the customer to sell them something that won't be functional when they have to move departments or update their signage." According to Charlie Kelly (Clarke Systems, Allentown, PA), a supplier that works with trade customers on major health-care projects, "Anytime a new wing is added, or a department is moved, it creates a domino effect in the sign program. New areas have to be linked with existing areas, which causes many, if not all, of the signs to be altered. A flexible, modular system, and/or a sign 'family' that takes changeable inserts, is the damage-free, low-maintenance facilitator for communicating those changes, and it's eco-friendly." In the current health-care market, new wings and buildings are being added to hospital campuses. Kelly continued, "In recent years, the stagnant economy has held up funding for capital improvements. That appears to be loosening." A hospital in Stein's region recently announced the go-ahead on a project that was held up for three years. Obamacare : A prescription for opportunity Reed suggests, "Doctors in medical practices feel Obamacare is going to put huge administrative pressure on their staffs, so they have been joining health systems that will manage the business burden. Likewise, large

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - February 2014

Signs of the Times - February 2014
Contents
ST Update
Technology Update
Welcome to the 21st Century
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
LED Update
Software Update
Technology Review: Cyrious online
Technology Review: Sign and Printmakers Guild
Sign Museum News
New Products
Walls of Fame
A Designer’s View of Health-care Signage
Health-care Signage: Care Required
Health-care Signage Trends
Estimating Software
Dynamic Digital Signage Made Simple, Part 2
Industry News
Advertising index
Editorially speaking

Signs of the Times - February 2014