Hawkeye Campus
Courtyard
The Hawkeye Community College Courtyard project pairs a landscape redesign with a clear, intuitive signage system that helps students, visitors, and faculty navigate and connect within the heart of campus. Directional signs and heads-up maps provide easy "you-are-here" orientation, making key destinations simple to find and creating a more seamless experience throughout the courtyard.
Three-sided pole markers identify distinct social hubs, giving each gathering area a clear sense of identity and making it easy for people to plan where to meet. The signage system complements the redesigned landscape rather than competing with it, using Hawkeye's orange, blue, and white palette to create a cohesive visual language across the space.
The result is a wayfinding system that feels approachable and welcoming, standing out just enough to be noticed while reinforcing the courtyard's calm, connected sense of place. Together, the landscape and signage transform the courtyard into a more navigable, recognizable, and inviting destination at the center of campus.