The Art Institute: Delivering on a big program.

The Identiti team was tasked with developing the product specifications, shop drawings, and production files for the new branded interiors of The Art Institutes, a higher education organization with fifty-one (51) campuses throughout North America.

Project Highlights

Prototyping
Implementation
Program Execution

Prototyping

Working directly with The Art Institutes’ senior leadership, marketing, and facilities teams, and with the branding agency that developed the organization’s new look, we developed a series of drawings, scales, and full-size prototypes before implementing a test fit at a new facility in Houston. With a specific challenge to provide a cost-effective, scalable solution set that would hold up to demanding, high traffic applications, our services, and products for the program included:

  • Site survey, brand application, fabrication, installation of exterior signage, interior wall prep and painting, digitally printed type II wall coverings, digital and tackable displays, branded wayfinding, an innovative magnetic display system, changeable banner system, acrylic signage, dimensional and vinyl typography.

Implementation / Rollout Analysis Planning

Once the product family was approved and standards developed, a rollout schedule was developed to meet the client’s timetable, factoring in new campus launches and relocations, and the academic calendars of specific schools. Planning considerations included:

  • Development of site-specific brand plans and projected costs based on the unique floor plans of each school.
  • Video and photogenic survey of each facility to record dimensions and existing conditions for affected elevations.
  • Tours of each facility with local stake holders in order to get input on brand elements, additional opportunities, and rollout conditions.
  • Updates to plans and budgets based on tours and feedback, and reviews with the design firm, marketing, facilities group, and the local school.

Program Execution and Rollout

Over the course of 12 months, we successfully rebranded fifty-one locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, on budget and ahead of schedule. Special solutions and considerations include:

  • Fabrication and consolidation of components for shipment to each site in individual containters that served as hubs for installation teams to prep materials and store tools while minimizing disruption to the schools.
  • Conducting work at night and/or on weekends and coordinated around school holidays and breaks.
  • The on-site presence of a project manager to ensure quality control, coordinate with local stakeholders and provide daily progress reports and completion photos.
  • Post-completion walkthroughs with local stakeholders and representatives from marketing and facilities to obtain sign-offs on all work, and to work with the local school on programming, use, and promotion of the new branded environment.
  • Provision of digital plans representing the final deployment, complete with a bill of materials and completion photos.
  • Provision of documents and supporting videos showing the proper maintenance of the various items, touch-up paint, replacement parts, etc.

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