Signs of the Times - June 2015 - 75

Ayers' Layers

As an undergraduate student at
the Univ. of Michigan, Jill Ayers
studied graphic and industrial
design. She initially envisioned
herself designing product packaging and brand identity, but sought
another way to mesh the design
disciplines she'd studied. Franc
Nunoo-Quarcoo, a design professor
who had worked at DeHarak and
Poulin (now Poulin + Morris, a
legendary NYC EGD firm), introduced Ayers to EGD. At this time
(the mid-90s), EGD wasn't offered
as a career path; a young, aspiring
designer had to pursue it. As such,
she applied to several nationwide,
prominent firms. Two Twelve
Assoc., David Gibson's seminal,
NYC-based firm, ultimately hired
her. After having developed her
skills and portfolio, Ayers advanced
to become creative director and
president of Design360, and will
soon open a new firm, Airspace.
Her EGD - she also uses the
term XGD (or experiential graphic
design) - methodology begins with
"looking to content first." She
said: "What stories do they have
to tell? Who are their stakeholders and users? We also review how
their competitors brand themselves and overall design trends
in their market. Also, we consider
whether their development and
production approaches are sustainable, both in terms of whether these
practices are environmentally
friendly, and whether the products
are durable."
She continued, "Overall, envi-

ronmental graphics have become
a bigger part of branding, even in
the realms of political and social
issues. Clients are well informed
of the power of weaving their brand
into their environments. They also
understand how XGD can be flexible and reactive, which makes it
more relevant and unique to an
individual person or situation."
For Ayers' firm's work, clients'
source materials arrive in myriad
formats: Word documents, .JPGs,
.PDFs, .EPS scans and more. She
conceded the process might benefit
from more direct documentation
to clients about preferred file-submission formats.
Although she acknowledges inprocess alterations of initial design
templates is common, Ayers said
value-engineering isn't necessarily
the primary reason. Rather, she
said it's often a matter of a client
thinking about a material's texture
or sheen, or a design's typographic
composition, that spurs a client
to ask for a redo. Or, of course,
a mock-up that makes it more
tangible can inspire tweaks.
Ayers noted the onset of economic doldrums in the late 2000s
curbed enthusiasm for dynamicdigital signage. Alternatively, she
said there's been interest in tactile
environmental graphics, such as
mosaic tiles, murals and other
manual production methods. At
her new firm, she says there will
be a continued emphasis on userexperience design, but dynamicdigital signage and other tech-forward
environmental graphics will com-

prise a significant component.
She said, "It's important to keep
your goal of telling the client's story,
and then working in technology
appropriately. Content is key."
Ayers said a successful relationship with a fabricator stems from
a partnership developing early,
with a signshop having influence
with design collaboration and budgeting. Failure to communicate
expectations and adaptations will
inevitably torpedo the finished
product, she said.
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