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Janet Reizenstein Carpman, Ph.D.
is an architectural sociologist who has worked
for more than 35 years to create user-friendly
places. She has completed hundreds of wayfinding analysis,
masterplanning, and implementation projects,
and has special expertise in analyzing users' wayfinding
needs and planning wayfinding-related
operational programs.
With her partner, Myron Grant, she founded the
wayfinding consulting firm, Carpman Grant Associates (CGA), in 1986, and has
focused ever since on reducing disorientation in all types of places. CGA
works in a variety of sectors, including healthcare, cultural, educational,
and governmental and has developed and refined an integrated, comprehensive,
pragmatic approach to creating places unfamiliar users can navigate with ease.
The firm's concepts of a wayfinding system and its design and operational
components have proved useful to more than 70 organizations.
CGA has worked on hundreds of
wayfinding projects including wayfinding analysis and
masterplanning, sign planning and design, map
design, operational planning,
and wayfinding design review. The firm is known for involving users in
wayfinding
analysis and planning, and is proud to have worked with approximately 8,000 to date.
In 1980, Dr. Carpman originated the
Patient & Visitor Participation Project at the University of Michigan Medical
Center, a six-year research and advocacy effort that identified the design-related
needs of hospital patients and visitors and incorporated them into the design
decision-making process for a new, 1,250,000 square foot, $285,000,000
replacement hospital. Customer involvement in health facility design had
never before occurred on this scale and hasn't since. The project
resulted in more user-friendly design and new understanding of patients' and visitors'
design needs, one of which was wayfinding.
Dr. Carpman has conducted over 100 research studies, is co-author
of the book Design that Cares: Planning Health Facilities for Patients
and Visitors, the forthcoming book Directional Sense: How to Find
Your Way Around, and more
than 45 publications. She has made 50+ presentations at
professional meetings and conferences in the U.S., Canada, France, Austria, and Japan.
She is a former elected member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental
Design Research Association, a member of the Institute for Human-Centered Design, and
an affiliate of the Center for Health Design.
Her work with Myron Grant has been mentioned in articles written by the
Associated Press, U.S. News and World Report, New England Journal of Medicine, Architectural Record,
Progressive Architecture, ID/International Design, Interiors, Hospitals, Health
Facilities Management, ASID Icon, Readers' Digest, and other publications.
She holds a Ph.D. in Architecture and Sociology from the University
of Michigan, a Master of City
Planning from Harvard University, and a B.A. in
Sociology from the University of Rochester.
Myron A. Grant, M.L.A. is
an innovative wayfinding system analyst and designer, with a 30+ year commitment to creating
environments that respond to the needs of users.
In 1986, with his partner, Jan Carpman, he founded
Carpman Grant Associates (CGA), Wayfinding Consultants, and has focused ever
since on reducing disorientation in all types of places. CGA works in a variety of
sectors, including healthcare, cultural, educational, and governmental. CGA has
developed and refined an integrated, comprehensive, pragmatic approach to creating
places unfamiliar users can navigate with ease. The firm's concepts of a wayfinding
system and its design and operational components have proved useful to more than 70
organizations.
CGA has worked on hundreds of wayfinding projects including wayfinding
analysis and masterplanning, sign planning and design, map design, operational
planning, and wayfinding design review. The firm is known for involving users in wayfinding
analysis and planning, and is proud to have worked with approximately 8,000 to date.
Mr. Grant specializes in wayfinding analysis and
planning of large, complex sites and facilities and is skilled at assessing
the effectiveness of existing exterior and interior wayfinding system elements,
such as signage, architectural differentiation, lighting, and vehicular access.
He develops conceptual and detailed Wayfinding Masterplans, as well as planning
and designing wayfinding elements including signs, handheld maps, and You-Are-Here maps.
He originated and refined the practice of Wayfinding
Design Review: assessing the wayfinding implications of site planning,
landscape design, interior and exterior architectural design, and interior
design, during the design process. Design Review identifies problems, offers
conceptual suggestions for alternatives, and involves working closely with clients and
designers to improve wayfinding ease before projects are finalized or constructed.
Between 1980 and 1986, he helped lead the award-winning Patient and Visitor Participation Project
at the University of Michigan Medical Center, which identified and researched
a wide variety of customer-related design issues. Mr. Grant was instrumental
in working with project architects and physicians to incorporate research-based
recommendations into the design of that 1,250,000 square foot, $285,000,000 replacement
facility.
Mr. Grant is co-author of the award-winning book
Design that Cares: Planning Health Facilities for Patients and Visitors,
the forthcoming book Directional Sense: How to Find Your Way Around, and
numerous journal articles. CGA's work has been featured or mentioned in
the New England Journal of Medicine, Progressive Architecture, U.S. News and
World Report, Architectural Record, and Reader's Digest, among other publications.
He holds an M.L.A. (Master of Landscape Architecture)
and a B.F.A. (Bachelor of
Fine Arts), both from the University of Michigan.
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