When new visitors arrive on site at a school, before they ever speak to another person their first impressions will already have been formed. Their first interaction begins at the school gates, with the signs and maps that helps them find their way. These first impressions are surprisingly long-lasting, and negative first impressions are not easily overcome even if everything following them is positive. In short, you could have the most amazing staff in the world, but if your signage isn’t up to scratch, they will be at a disadvantage.
School maps come in many different styles and we are frequently asked about the best types of mapping available to capture a school site in detail. It’s an important consideration. A successful map needs to be clear, easy to follow, and must fit with your brand.
There are a few things to consider when deciding which mapping option to select. Which solution you choose very much depends on the desired end use of the map. This guide will help you to decide which style will work best for your requirements.
There are essentially three different types of plan or map that we can create. Each one can be customised to suit the exact style and format that you need:
Buildings Floor Plan
We can plot a plan of your internal room layouts and then overlay any kind of annotation that you need – examples would include fire evacuation plans, emergency call points, room names and colour coding for open days etc.
2D Site Plan
As above but a plan of the external site rather than individual rooms – again this can be labelled and branded as you like to suit your needs – whether they are estate management or marketing related.
3D Site Plan
A very impressive hand drawn aerial view of the site which again can be labelled in any way you like – often used for prospectuses and on the website to show prospective parents and students what the school has to offer.
We can typically quote for a site plan without actually attending site, but it does of course depend on what you want to achieve and what you have already. Our signage and school wayfinding specialists are mapping experts, and can help you through the entire process from start to finish.
Please call on 0113 2310995 or email info@penstripe.co.uk to discuss your school mapping requirements.
Olaf Surtees has been with Penstripe for ten years; what he doesn’t know about teacher planners, student planners, and lesson planners isn’t worth knowing! He’s in charge of creating our blog content, helping teachers and administrators with helpful hints and tips, as well as our socials — see the links below to find out more.
