Technical Colleges

South Australia’s Technical Colleges create a direct connection between secondary education, specialist skills and industry. Across the Tonsley and The Heights campuses, that meant bringing together classrooms, workshops, specialist facilities, shared spaces and industry environments within two very different architectural settings.

StudioBand® was engaged to develop a connected signage and wayfinding system that would make both campuses easier to understand and navigate, while strengthening the identity and presence of the Technical Colleges.

The opportunity went well beyond designing individual signs. The system needed to help students, staff, families, visitors and industry partners feel oriented and confident from the moment they arrived.

At the same time, it needed to establish a consistent experience across two distinct campuses without forcing either environment into a rigid template.

The result is an environmental graphics system designed around clarity, consistency and connection, supporting both the practical movement of people and the broader experience of the Technical Colleges brand.

Department of Education

Education

Wayfinding strategy
Signage and Environmental graphics
Spatial brand integration
Architectural collaboration
Artwork specification and rollout support

Rather than treating signage as a series of isolated objects, we developed a connected visual and spatial system that helps people progressively understand each campus, from initial arrival through to individual classrooms, workshops and facilities.

The process began by considering how each environment actually works. Arrival points, circulation routes, key decision moments, visitor journeys and room identification requirements were mapped to understand where information was needed and what level of prominence it required.

From there, we developed a clear signage hierarchy across external identification, directional signage, campus mapping, room identification and specialist facility signage.

A shared graphic language, typography and information hierarchy connects the two Technical Colleges and creates familiarity across the broader network. Importantly, consistency did not mean making every application identical.

Tonsley and The Heights have different architecture, movement patterns and spatial conditions. Scale, placement, materiality and individual applications were therefore adapted to each environment while maintaining the underlying principles of the system.

This balance between structure and flexibility allowed the signage to feel integrated with each campus rather than applied to it.

Every element was considered in context: how far away it would be viewed, when someone would need the information, what other visual information surrounded it and how it would perform within an active education environment.

The objective was straightforward. Reduce uncertainty, make navigation more intuitive and create an environment that feels considered, professional and purposeful.

The completed wayfinding system creates a clearer and more consistent experience across both Technical Colleges campuses.

External identification gives the colleges greater presence on arrival, while directional signage, mapping and room identification help students, staff and visitors move through complex learning environments with greater confidence.

More broadly, the system connects Tonsley and The Heights through a recognisable environmental language while allowing each campus to retain its own relationship with its architecture and place.

For the Technical Colleges, this creates more than navigational clarity. It contributes to the perception of the institutions themselves: organised, contemporary and designed around the needs of the people using them.

The project demonstrates the role signage and environmental graphics can play within a broader brand system. When considered strategically, wayfinding does more than tell people where to go. It can reduce friction, create familiarity and help an organisation behave consistently across multiple locations.

For StudioBand®, that is where signage becomes part of brand rather than simply an application of it.

Jonathan VDK