Environmental and Experience Designer
The space shaper
Design Careers · CAREERS
Environmental designers work at human scale: signage, wayfinding, exhibitions, murals, retail spaces, and the systems that guide people through airports, hospitals, and cities. Type must be legible at distance, at speed, and under stress — and the canvas is architecture.
Its masterpieces are invisible when they work; you simply arrive where you meant to go. The London Underground map and the great airport signage systems remain the discipline's towering achievements.
Where they work
- Architecture firms
- Exhibition design studios
- Museums
- Wayfinding consultancies
Skills
- Signage and wayfinding systems
- Legibility at distance and speed
- Exhibition and spatial planning
- Materials, fabrication, and installs
- Reading architectural drawings
- Accessibility in the built environment
Tools
- Adobe Illustrator
- SketchUp or Rhino
- AutoCAD basics
- InDesign
Typical projects
- Signage systems
- Exhibitions
- Branded interiors
- Murals and installations
Career path
- Junior Designer
- Designer
- Senior Designer
- Associate or Principal
Portfolio expectations
- Photos of built work
- Plans and elevations
- Sign families
- Scale and materials thinking