Developing a school master plan: When should I do the VSW?

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Your signage communicates core messages and ensures your school’s branding is consistent. This requires signs that align perfectly with the master plan.

The question is — how do ensure your school signage is consistent with the master plan?

In this article, we outline the full process of creating a school master plan, including how to plan signage in schools. We also discuss the value of completing a Visual Strategy Workshop (VSW) early in the planning process.

What is a school master plan?

A master plan is a long-term strategy intended to guide the future development of school premises. Master planning is incredibly beneficial for schools, ensuring strategic alignment, effective resource allocation, stakeholder engagement, and readiness for the future.

During the planning process, you will assess the current state of school facilities, identify future goals, and develop a long-term plan. The core elements of a master plan include:

Making the most of usable space
Upgrading existing facilities
Planning for future expansion

With each of these three goals in mind, always consider the role of signage in your master plan. School signs are a valuable tool for conveying messages, ensuring all the other elements of your school align. Below, we explain how and when to consider signage in the master planning process.

How to incorporate school signs in your master plan

A school master plan must include signage for information, wayfinding, and identification. By incorporating this into your master plan, you allow for more creative solutions, proactive signage planning, and sufficient budget allocation.

During your overarching master planning, it is vital to allocate sufficient time toward signage planning. This will ensure you have plenty of time to collaborate with signage companies, manufacturers, designers, and other stakeholders.

By working with a signage consultant in the early stages of master planning, you can ensure all signs are cohesive with the rest of your infrastructure. This is why we offer our Visual Strategy Workshop, to audit your existing signage and create a strategy in line with your master plan.

What is a Visual Strategy Workshop?

The purpose of a Visual Strategy Workshop (VSW) is to evaluate your school signage, focusing on how effective, visible, and compliant it is. We’ll also assess the signage according to your school’s branding and values to ensure consistency. That’s why it’s worth booking a VSW as early as possible in the master planning process.

During the workshop, we will assess a wide range of signage factors, such as:
How hard is it for visitors to find reception?
How hard is it for visitors to find buildings around your site?
Is gate and entry numbering clear?
How effective is your block and building signage?
Where should deliveries be sent to?
Are the values displayed clearly around the school?

If you’re still unsure, use our free VSW checklist to assess your current school’s signage and determine if a VSW is the right next step.

Should we wait until the master plan is finished before doing a Visual Strategy Workshop?

When creating a master plan, you may think it needs to be completed before you make any signage upgrades. However, master planning can take 2 to 5 years, so are you prepared to put up with poor signage until then?

By upgrading your school signage sooner, you will be well on your way to achieving the goals in your master plan.

When we conduct your Visual Strategy Workshop, we can create an adaptable signage standard. This way, new signage can be added to the master plan as it comes to life. If you decide to install more signage later, we will use consistent branding and designs to achieve a cohesive signage suite.

Our Visual Strategy Workshop: assessing signage in schools

Discovery call

Before we meet face-to-face, we’ll arrange a no-strings-attached discovery call with you to better understand your signage pain points.

Site Visit

At our site consultation, we’ll meet for a face-to-face discussion of your needs and ideas. This will help us determine whether a Visual Strategy Workshop is right for you.

Visual Strategy Workshop

Our VSW takes a few hours, with several members of our team. This allows us to review the signage from a visitor’s and student’s point of view.

Preparing your Signage Solutions

We will create a custom signage proposal with signage designs, a site map, and a full quote.

Presentation

We will present the signage proposal and discuss the workshop with you — we welcome your feedback! When the school stakeholders are happy, we can start manufacturing and installing your new signage

School signage companies in Australia

At Corporate Sign Industries, we design and manufacture high-quality signage that aligns with your school’s master plan. We offer a range of school signage, including: