Part­ner­ship Cre­ates Great Col­lege Sig­nage: Heart­land Com­mu­ni­ty College

What start­ed as a basic sign plan project over 15 years ago has grown into a true part­ner­ship between Lat­i­tude Sig­nage + Design and Heart­land Com­mu­ni­ty College.

Key High­lights

• Built on trust and cre­ative col­lab­o­ra­tion, Heart­land Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege and Lat­i­tude Sig­nage + Design have enjoyed a near­ly two-decade-long partnership.

• The Heart­land Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege team, which includes Chris Down­ing — Assoc VP, Devel­op­ment and Com­mu­ni­ty Engage­ment, Andy Litwiller — Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Facil­i­ties, and Megan Rolfs — Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Mar­ket­ing, has relied on Tom Wilcox­en at Lat­i­tude for his deep under­stand­ing of high­er edu­ca­tion sig­nage and brand­ing needs. This includes donor recog­ni­tion and envi­ron­men­tal graph­ics, as well as wayfind­ing and room iden­ti­fi­ca­tion signage.

• Lat­i­tude attends week­ly team meet­ings with the client, act­ing as a true sig­nage part­ner for new build­ing projects, major ren­o­va­tions, brand­ing ini­tia­tives, donor recog­ni­tion, and more.

The Begin­ning of a Sig­nage Partnership

Sig­nage Project Highlights

The Agri­cul­ture Com­plex at Heart­land Com­mu­ni­ty College

• This net-zero ener­gy facil­i­ty fea­tures inno­v­a­tive radi­ant floor­ing and geot­her­mal systems.

• The com­pre­hen­sive inte­ri­or sig­nage sys­tem includ­ed room IDs, brand­ing, and donor recognition.

• Exte­ri­or sig­nage, includ­ing mon­u­ment signs, adds to the campus’s place­mak­ing strategy.

• A large-scale ag his­to­ry wall graph­ic was installed using Latitude’s waste-free, sus­tain­able print­ing tech­nol­o­gy, Ver­ti­graph­ics.

• Donor sig­nage reflects the building’s impor­tance while remain­ing sub­tle and modern

• The build­ing’s func­tion, archi­tec­ture, and sig­nage work togeth­er seamlessly.

Work­force Devel­op­ment Cen­ter Renovation

• This recent ren­o­va­tion includ­ed the Career Ser­vices and Stu­dent Engage­ment offices, as well as an esports arena.

• The sig­nage pack­age pro­vid­ed new store­front brand­ing, donor recog­ni­tion, wayfind­ing, and room ID signage.

• A large-scale wall graph­ic mur­al designed by stu­dents for the Sty­czyn­s­ki Fam­i­ly Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Lounge was brought to life using Latitude’s sig­nage expertise.

Ver­ti­graph­ics | On-Site Dig­i­tal Print­ing Tech­nol­o­gy at Heart­land Com­mu­ni­ty College

Class­room Wall Maps

• Large-scale world map graph­ics were installed in class­rooms with Ver­ti­graph­ics, a sus­tain­able, zero-waste ver­ti­cal printer.
• The project came about through work by the college’s Com­mit­tee for Glob­al Edu­ca­tion, an advi­so­ry board that reviews inter­na­tion­al cur­ricu­lum and programs.
• The new maps give teach­ers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to broad­en their instruc­tion through a glob­al lens.

Agri­cul­tur­al Com­plex His­to­ry Mural 

• Using his­tor­i­cal pho­tos, Lat­i­tude design­ers cre­at­ed a wall graph­ic with a con­sis­tent composition. 
• Pho­tos arrived in many dif­fer­ent his­tor­i­cal pic­ture for­mats; the design team worked to ensure the high­est-res­o­lu­tion images were more promi­nent and the low­er-res­o­lu­tion images were small­er to pro­vide the high­est-qual­i­ty graphics. 
• In addi­tion to siz­ing, the com­po­si­tion was giv­en a sim­i­lar or com­ple­men­tary sepia tone to bring them all together.

Wayfind­ing + Expe­ri­en­tial Graphics

Col­lab­o­rat­ed with the Facil­i­ties and Mar­ket­ing teams to cre­ate vibrant, brand­ed inte­ri­or wayfind­ing sig­nage with­in and between build­ings. This sig­nage design will be used through­out the cam­pus as dif­fer­ent ren­o­va­tions take place. 

What does a sig­nage part­ner­ship like this look like?

Every Fri­day at 8 a.m., Lat­i­tude joins the Heart­land team for stand­ing meet­ings to stay in lock­step on the college’s evolv­ing needs, from brand­ing updates to donor walls, ren­o­va­tions, and new facil­i­ties. Lat­i­tude has become embed­ded in Heartland’s inter­nal process­es, con­tribut­ing to projects from the ear­li­est phas­es to completion. 

“I tru­ly feel like part of the team,” said Tom Wilcox­en, busi­ness devel­op­ment man­ag­er at Lat­i­tude. ​“I’m there when­ev­er they need me.”

Heart­land relies on Lat­i­tude not just for sig­nage, but for cre­ative guid­ance, tech­ni­cal plan­ning, and exe­cu­tion from con­cept to instal­la­tion. The col­lab­o­ra­tive nature, respon­sive­ness, and mutu­al respect make this a true partnership.

Have ques­tions or more infor­ma­tion? Reach out to us any­time here.