Obama Presidential Center

Exterior Signage & Wayfinding
Interior Signage & Wayfinding
Map Design

Located on Chicago’s South Side within historic Jackson Park, the Obama Presidential Center is a 19-acre civic campus honoring the lives and legacies of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The campus brings together a world-class museum, cultural programming, landscaped gardens, public gathering spaces, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library, forming a dynamic destination for learning, reflection, and community engagement.

Via Collective was part of a multidisciplinary wayfinding team responsible for developing a comprehensive signage and environmental graphics program to support a clear and consistent visitor experience across the site. Manual served as Signage and Wayfinding Design Lead, guiding the development of the system’s design direction. Our work established the strategic foundation for all wayfinding design and implementation, beginning with a Stakeholder Engagement Analysis that synthesized interviews and engagement findings into a cohesive vision for user experience, accessibility, and universal design. We also developed Creative Briefs for Wayfinding and Map Design, which defined the overarching roadmap for signage, campus navigation, and interior mapping systems. Through ongoing collaboration with project stakeholders, these documents established nomenclature, design criteria, deliverable scope, and visual and experiential principles, serving as the basis of design throughout the development process and ensuring a unified, intuitive experience for visitors across the campus.

SECTOR:
cultural institutions

CLIENT:
Obama Foundation