The CGA team – led by Partners Jan Carpman and Myron Grant, with sign design by Dick Nicolson, Nicolson + Associates – works closely to make sure every wayfinding project meets the needs of client organizations and their customers.
Jan Reizenstein Carpman, PhD MCP is an architectural sociologist and wayfinding expert who has worked for 30+ years to improve wayfinding ease in complex, confusing sites and facilities. Jan is a founding partner in Carpman Grant Associates, Wayfinding Consultants, (Ann Arbor, MI and Boston, MA). She and Myron Grant have worked with more than 70 organizations on hundreds of wayfinding projects in medical, educational, cultural, government, and other types of public facilities. Jan has special expertise in analyzing users’ wayfinding needs and planning wayfinding-related operational programs. She is also the first Director of Wayfinding at the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) in Boston, MA. IHCD is an international education and design non-profit organization committed to advancing the role of design in expanding opportunity and enhancing experience for people of all ages, abilities, and cultures through excellence in design. www.humancentereddesign.org At IHCD, Jan works on projects (involving places, things, and information) where systematic wayfinding system analysis, planning, and implementation can contribute to inclusive (aka “Universal”) design. In the 1980s, she directed the award-winning Patient & Visitor Participation Project at the University of Michigan Medical Center, a unique, six-year, design research and advocacy effort. Jan Carpman and Myron Grant are authors of the award-winning books, Design that Cares: Planning Health Facilities for Patients and Visitors and Directional Sense: How to Find Your Way Around (www.directionalsense.com). Jan has conducted over 100 studies, authored or co-authored more than 45 publications, and made 50+ presentations at professional meetings in the U.S. and abroad. She is also an experienced radio talk-show guest. Jan holds degrees from the University of Michigan (PhD in Architecture and Sociology), Harvard University (Master of City Planning), and the University of Rochester (BA in Sociology).
Myron A. Grant, MLA is a wayfinding system analyst and designer with a 30+ year commitment to improving wayfinding ease for people in all types of facilities. A founding partner in Carpman Grant Associates, Wayfinding Consultants, he and Jan Carpman have worked with more than 70 organizations on hundreds of wayfinding projects in medical, educational, cultural, government, and other types of public facilities. Myron specializes in wayfinding analysis, planning, and design for large, complex sites and facilities, focusing on exterior and interior wayfinding design elements, such as signs and maps. He originated the practice of Wayfinding Design Review: assessing the wayfinding implications of all types of design (site planning, landscape architectural, architectural, interior design) during the design process. In the 1980s, he helped lead the award-winning Patient & Visitor Participation Project at the University of Michigan Medical Center, a unique, six-year, design research and advocacy effort. Jan Carpman and Myron Grant are authors of the award-winning books, Design that Cares: Planning Health Facilities for Patients and Visitors and Directional Sense: How to Find Your Way Around (www.directionalsense.com). Myron holds two degrees from the University of Michigan (Master of Landscape Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts).
Dick Nicolson, SEGD, Nicolson + Associates, is an environmental graphic designer with 30+ years’ experience on a range of facility types, including healthcare, educational, cultural, corporate, and sports stadiums. He has worked closely with CGA on sign design for more than 15 years. Dick is committed to aesthetically pleasing, well conceived sign designs that are functional, efficient, and cost-effective. Before founding Nicolson + Associates in 2004, he was VP and Director of the Signage/Exhibit Group, Ford & Earl Associates, Troy, MI; Director of Environmental Graphics at Rossetti Architects, Detroit; and signage designer for Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls Architects, Detroit. Dick also built and managed a nationally recognized, custom, environmental graphics fabrication shop. Some of his fabrication experience includes large scale, high-end design projects, including signage and donor recognition for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York City’s Battery Park, Johns Hopkins Hospital, MGM Casino, The Detroit Riverwalk, and the University of San Francisco Law Library. Dick holds a degree from the College of Creative Studies, Detroit (BFA in Industrial Design).
Other team members
Depending on the nature of your wayfinding projects, the CGA team may also include specialists in marketing, Universal Design, wayfinding technology, graphic design, architecture, interior design, human resources, transportation planning, and/or other substantive areas. Projects involving wayfinding user analyses may include interviewers, data analysts, and transcribers.