San Francisco Airport

SFO has strived for years to be a leader in airport hospitality. Through the years, this became articulated in the “romance of travel,” setting an expectation that travel begins and ends in the airport. This ethos understands a traveler’s feeling of anticipation, and worked to honor it with graceful, reaching architecture, minimizing painpoints in the checkpoint lines, and by offering a comprehensive wayfinding system that offered a variety of methodologies to support the different navigation and comprehension needs of the 6 million users who view it annually. This system was originally designed for the International Boarding Area and Phase 2 of Terminal 2’s renovation.

My work with Clearstory included working as part of a small team working to evaluating the efficacy of this sign program. Several recommendations were implemented in future updates, including the full sign program for the new ATCT and in future work, both completing Terminal 2 and the Terminal 3 East renovations, and were mirrored in a temporary sign guideline we built (while at Gensler) to facilitate construction in an active airport with guest experience in mind. A highlight from Terminal 3 included an effort to study and update signage at existing facilities and for new single occupant restrooms in the boarding area. This included a research effort I led meeting with a variety of stakeholder groups to understand their specific needs and concerns in using public facilities. From this work, we developed a recommendation that prioritized safety, clarity, and honored the humanity of all users.

Coinciding with the work at Terminal 1, SFO kicked off the development of a new signage guideline that included a broader use of digital media in navigation. Our work in Terminal 1 utilized the preliminary forms of this new guidance, helping to develop and refine the new standards.