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2 Wayfinding and Signing Guidelines for Airport Terminals and Landside
recognize the benefit of experiencing a transparent system of wayfinding and signs as they use
the airport terminals and their landsides.
1.2 Historical Perspective
Prior to the research that led to ACRP Project 07-06, "Wayfinding and Signage Guidelines for
Airport Terminals and Landside," there was a previous guideline originally developed in 1984:
Guidelines for Airport Signing and Graphics. Before looking forward, it is appropriate to include
a historical perspective and review the events that led to where we are now.
During the 1960s and through the mid 1970s, airport signing and graphic systems were
designed to be predominantly permanent installations. This was due in large part to the relative
stability in the aviation industry regarding which airlines served which airports combined with
infrequent route changes. With certain airlines as fixtures at specific airports, the airlines them-
selves had a very strong influence on terminal design and signage. Terms like "Baggage Claim"
and "Boarding Area" found their way into the vernacular and soon became standards in the lan-
guage of airport signage. Additionally, airline permanency made the use of premium materials
for sign systems more economically feasible. These higher-end materials often had an ancillary
benefit of reduced maintenance and repair costs over the life of the sign, which meant signs--
and terminology--that were designed to last.
However, when President Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act on October 24, 1978, the
status quo was altered radically. With the stroke of a pen, airlines were now able to enter and exit
airports with relative ease. The aggregate efforts of each airline's dynamic changes in "testing the
market" (expansion or contraction in the number of cities served coupled with frequent reloca-
tion within the airport terminal complex) required substantial and continual changes to sign sys-
tems throughout most of the nation's airports. As a result, the cost associated with maintaining
an effective informational signage system increased dramatically and, despite best efforts to the
contrary, the traveling public was often left to navigate through inconsistency and confusion.
To help rectify this situation, a joint aviation industry Airport Signing and Graphics Task Force
was established in March 1982. This task force--led by Joseph Erhart, then manager of corporate
design for Republic Airlines, and comprised of representatives from ATA, AAAE, and ACI-NA
(then known as the Airport Operators Council International)--accepted the assignment to
investigate the state of the industry and develop a reference guide that would inform airport
operators, airlines, and consultants of economical and practical signing methods to be applied
to various aviation facilities.
In order to make this effort a more comprehensive and authoritative document, the task force
requested and received valuable assistance and input from professionals in the design community:
sign manufacturers, the Society of Environmental Graphics Designers (SEGD), the American
Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), the Institute
of Transportation Studies (ITS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Civil Aero-
nautics Board (CAB). For 2 years, these individuals played a key role in helping to create a publi-
cation that would help the aviation industry reduce costs, increase flexibility, and provide a more
uniform information system to assist the traveling public. The resulting publication--representing
the philosophical consensus of everyone involved--entitled Guidelines for Airport Signing and
Graphics was first distributed in September 1984.
Over the years, Guidelines for Airport Signing and Graphics has been updated twice (1994 and
2001) to maintain its relevancy in the midst of an ever-changing and increasingly complex indus-
try. The contents of the previous publication included guidelines and design criteria for devel-
oping practical, functional, and flexible airport signing and graphics systems.
