Album cover signage located at each room. AST staffers voting on their favorite room name concept.
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When reading a recent article on DesignBoom, I was reminded of an in-house competition held at the new Arrowstreet studio to name our conference rooms.   The article covers how the Spanish graphic design studio, Tata&Friends, created a series of posters called Rock Band Icons, which graphically represent famous rock bands with black line symbols on a bright yellow background. Viewers are invited to see if they can name the band based on cleverly grouped pictograms.

Our competition here at Arrowstreet encouraged staffers to come up with concepts for room names based upon personal impressions of each meeting space.  Ideas ranged from naming the spaces as Starbucks cup sizes (we love coffee), animal groups, and beloved Somerville taverns we frequented before the big move.  One of our Principals even suggested selling naming rights to the highest bidder.  Room names such as The Batchelor Pad (after our President & CEO, Jim Batchelor) and the Green Monstah were a few favorites.

My entry was inspired classic rock albums and the appearance, location, and use of the room.  With room names such as “Under the Red Sky” by Bob Dylan (in reference to the red walls in the East Conference Room) “Just Push Play” by Aerosmith (the video conference room), and “Crossroads” by Eric Clapton (the centrally-located Main Conference Room), it’s impossible not to have a little rhythm in your step when your meeting is announced over the loud speaker. For wayfinding purposes, we placed signs outside each meeting space featuring album covers corresponding to the room names.

Next time you visit our office for a meeting, we invite you to take a seat in the “Voodoo Lounge” before entering the “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Topics: Events, Arrowstreet Move