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Mikiten Architecture

Updating the Image of Disability

11/1/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
A picture speaks volumes.

Look at the tired old symbol on the left. It's static, rigid, and passive. The person is angular and stiff. Stuck, you might say.

Now look at the image on the right.
Active.
Self-determined.
Empowered.
In motion.
And rounded like a person. 
We use the symbol on the right in all our projects, and are getting other architects to do the same. Disability means something different now than it did even ten years ago.

Think about how omnipresent this symbol is. If this was a corporate symbol, would it have remained the way it is for so long? No way. Madison Avenue would have been updating it over the years.

It's time to update how people with disabilities are presented. The California Building Code does not force the use of the old symbol, and building departments actually love this. It just makes sense.


​Madison Avenue teaches us that symbols carry a lot of meaning. So will this.
2 Comments
Tim Berneche link
11/18/2015 11:45:37 am

Hey Erick,

This is a great symbol. Couple of questions: is there a place where we can download a template or cad file? And is the image copyrighted?

Reply
Erick Mikiten AIA link
11/18/2015 01:56:31 pm

Hi Tim,

We are in the process of fleshing out our signage details to all have this symbol. We're keeping a list of architects who want to employ it. which you're now on, and will email our PDF's and DWG's in the next week or two. Soon thereafter we'll make it a download from our website. I was given free use of the image by Portland TriMet, whose graphic designer came up with it in the first place.

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    Erick Mikiten, AIA, LEED-AP

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Mikiten Architecture  |  2415 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA  94710  |  510-540-7111
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