High School Signage & Storytelling

Originally called Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences, this urban school has embraced its snappy ‘SAAS’ acronym. In response, for their new building, we brought those SAAS letterforms to life in all different scales and materials.

Out front, an oversized, sculptural ‘SAAS’ announces the school to the neighborhood and welcomes students and visitors into the new entrance. The sign also serves as a photo opportunity: the letterforms are pushed and pulled to integrate seating and spots for students to lean and perch. Though it’s been in place for only a few months, the sign has already become a highly recognizable and beloved icon for the school.

Inside, giant letterforms cascade down a feature stairwell, which is visible from the street. Elsewhere, angled shapes extracted from the letter “A” create dynamic murals. Warm wood is featured throughout, used for room signage, directories, and even a dimensional donor wall. The wall is designed for flexibility over time: blank blocks are interspersed throughout the array of names, so that as more donors give, the blanks can be slid off, printed, and re-instated into the display.