Minale Bryce Design Strategy

Minale Bryce Design Strategy (MBDS) is a design studio that was founded in 1968 by Michael Bryce, who is acknowledged in Australia and overseas for his work in graphic, urban and environmental design. In 1968, he commenced his architecture practice in Brisbane, developing a special interest in graphic design. In 1988, his practice joined the worldwide Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy Group with offices in London and Paris and clients worldwide including Harrods, San Pellegrino, FA Premier League, BNP, Rhone Poulenc, Bluewater Kent and the Eurostar train.

The practice was the principal design adviser to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, designing the Olympic bid logo and advising on the application of the corporate branding. Its sport-related design work also includes the signage for the Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, logos for the Australian1996 Commonwealth Games team, the Brisbane bid for the 1992 Olympic Games, the Dolphins Australian Swimming team, PGA Golf Tour, the Wallabies Rugby team, Oceania Football, and the world cricket body, the ICC.

In November 2008 MBDS was transferred to Hans Gerber, who joined Minale Bryce in 1997 and has been a Principal of the Sydney office since 2002. MBDS operates from Sydney and specialises in communication design in the built environment.

The transfer of ownership was coordinated with the international design network Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy, which pioneered the concept of the multi-disciplinary design consultancy since its inception in 1964.

The Group has its headquarters in London and has offices in Paris, Brussels, Milan, Moscow and Sydney. The group is identified by its iconic scribble logo, representing the design process; ACTIVE, creative and analytical.

MBDS has won honor and merit awards for environmental graphic projects from SEGD, the U.S. based society for environmental graphic design.

Environmental Graphics

SEGD uses the term Environmental Graphics to suggest an integrated approach to the problem of weaving verbal and visual information into the fabric of buildings and spaces. The philosophy behind environmental graphics and/or signage is to view spatial use not as secondary to the evolution of buildings; but as part of planning from the very outset. In order to understand what people do and how they find their way, one has to understand the underlying process which is no longer a concept of ‘spatial orientation’ but a notion incorporating all the perceptual, cognitive and decision-making processes necessary to find one’s way. This concept is called wayfinding. While the notion of wayfinding is now accepted, it has not yet made its full impact on the design profession, let alone on the clientele.

The roles that are currently fulfilled by architects and graphic designers are still hostages to that outworn but still prevailing notion that architects design buildings, while graphic designers come along at the end of the building process and install some signs, and that the public is somehow helped by this. It is admittedly difficult to break out of this straitjacket, but it is important that we do. Society no longer tolerates the idea that people’s inability to find their way around in the built environment is either trivial or unimportant.

There is an urgent need for us to escape from the tyranny of the status quo and explore new approaches to coping with these very real but, until recently, largely unacknowledged problems. One suggested approach is that of engaging a specialist signage designer from the outset of the project to investigate the options of integrating graphics and wayfinding with the architecture and interior design intent so as to achieve a legible and intuitive environment. Signs are an integral part of the fabric and comprehension of the built environment. An illustration is that in a typical 800-bed hospital without adequate signage. An average of 8,000 hours is spent each year by staff members giving directions to visitors. The cost of installing an efficient and consistent sign system to stop this inefficiency is recovered in a short period of time.