Healthcare Design - August 2022 - 78

ADVERTISEMENT
Q&A
Andrea Guzman
Associate Principal, RSM Design
Describe your business in
one sentence.
RSM Design is an award
winning, multidisciplinary
architectural graphic design
firm specializing in branded
environments, placemaking,
wayfinding, and signage across
a broad array of sectors-
health and wellness, life science,
higher education, parks,
hospitality, workplace, civic and
cultural, workplace, residential,
and retail.
How does your firm work
with clients to help them
navigate the current
healthcare market?
The pace of change and a focus
on creating environments that
promote human connection
have driven the need for a more
unified brand voice and comprehensive,
strategic master
introduction to on-site to lasting
brand impressions. Examination
through this lens allows insight
into the experience of patients,
visitors, and staff and their
unique physical/spatial, emotional,
and mental needs at each
juncture that can be positively
enhanced by a supportive built
environment.
planning efforts. RSM Design's
robust discovery process
includes research to understand
the brand promise, the character
and values of place and
interactive workshops to develop
a unified vision and aligned
guiding principles. Central to a
master plan approach is building
a framework of user experience
touchpoints throughout the
journey from pre-arrival brand
What's one major design
trend that's shaping your
work today? And how so?
A welcome shift has occurred
toward expanding the concept
of wayfinding and graphics
into a broader ecosystem of
brand experience, information,
and communication in the built
environment. The wayfinding
experience is now integrally
tied to brand impressions
through pre-arrival digital tools
and extended into the environment
through more
strategic site design,
intuitive visual cues in
architecture, and the
use of landmarks such
as art, graphics, and
sculptural elements to
convey the essence of
and information about
a place. People are
now seeking shared,
authentic moments
that create delightful
experiences and
we must creatively
communicate these
narratives in unique
and memorable ways.
Designing in consideration
of these
factors allows us to
Dugoni School of Dentistry and Jon Draper
reduce the amount of traditional
signage in support of
a more transformational and
less transactional environment.
Close collaboration and seamless
integration with architects,
landscape, lighting, and artists
is crucial to bring this approach
to life.
What role does collaboration
play in your process?
How do you ensure the
right people have a voice at
the design table?
Stakeholder engagement is a
discipline and design thinking
exercise within itself. As part
of our initial workshops, we
facilitate a stakeholder management
planning effort to
identify all users, their unique
roles, understand decision
making structures, and create
a process roadmap. This proactive
approach allows us to
build consensus broadly and iteratively
throughout the design
process. While more time may
be spent upfront engaging in
collaboration, a more successful
design outcome is always
realized. We work with client
teams to identify a diverse
group of stakeholders and will
suggest inclusion of internal
patient experience staff members,
patient advisory groups,
and often patients themselves!
rsmdesign.com
http://www.rsmdesign.com
Healthcare Design - August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - August 2022
