The art of signage: Orchestrating the Crowds for Commencement  

In a quiet corner of Northeastern University’s bustling campus, the Gainsborough Garage hums with activity. Here, a diligent group grinds away to ensure the success of a fast-approaching event: Commencement. As students prepare to graduate and families fly in from across the globe, the Sign Shop at Northeastern’s Planning, Real Estate, and Facilities (PREF) Division is immersed in crucial preparations for one of the university’s biggest events. 

The Northeastern PREF Sign Shop is an in-house team that creates, produces, and installs signs across the campus. From directional signs and event banners to ADA requirements and safety signs, the Sign Shop elevates Northeastern’s standards of campus communication, crowd-maneuvering, and spatial organization. “It’s really unique for our campus to have an in-house sign shop,” said Meaghan Healey, Senior Director of Trades Operations at PREF. “That’s not something that a lot of campuses have.” 

Conversations about the May graduation events began as early as February as the Sign Shop’s crew of just four full-time members have to plan, plot, design, print or hand-make, and install hundreds of signs for all the ceremonies. But a month before Commencement, the clock starts ticking; and with requests coming in for external projects unrelated to graduation, the team must manage their time and resources with utmost care. “We have to make sure no matter what that we have everything we need for Commencement,” said Christina Salvato, Sign Shop Foreman. 

Each of Northeastern’s nine colleges hosts individualized ceremonies that require services from the Sign Shop. “In the past few years, the teams have really streamlined it so that every college is entering the building and exiting the building in the same way and using the same set-up,” said Salvato.  

To efficiently manage time and resources, the Sign Shop repurposes signage for ceremony spaces whenever possible. Different colleges vary in size and student organization, necessitating tailored preparations to manage the crowds effectively. Immediately after these ceremonies, Salvato and her team must quickly remove signage to prevent theft or damage, allowing them to repurpose those signs the following year. 

The height of Commencement is the Fenway Ceremony, welcoming thousands of graduating students and their guests on Sunday, May 5th to receive their diploma and official degree. An initial walk-through of Fenway Park was necessary to allow Salvato and her team to envision the utilization of the space. 

“It’s very different going there as someone watching a baseball game than somebody going behind the scenes and seeing every possible door you can walk through,” Salvato noted. 

After understanding how students, family, and staff would interact with the park, the Sign Shop determined a color palette of black, white, and gold to stand out against the stadium’s bright green and red colors. The draft package, sent out about weeks in advance, allowed coordinators to provide feedback on language usage and other relevant information.  

The team can only begin installing signs at Fenway 24 hours before the event, and the turnaround time for removal is even tighter. With the parks obligations the next day, the team must start dismantling signs as soon as the ceremony ends.  

Fortunately, the Sign Shop can count on the support of other PREF departments. “It’s imperative to highlight that while we do a lot for Commencement, and it really is one of our busiest and most important times of the year, we also get a lot of help from other shops or departments within PREF,” said Salvato. 

From the paint shop or the carpentry shop to the Transportation Department or Building Services, Salvato and her team are never alone throughout Commencement and can rely on coworkers across PREF to get involved when need be. “It’s all hands-on deck,” Healey admitted. 

As nostalgia, tension, and sentimentality imbue the air during this transitional time of year, let’s pause to acknowledge and appreciate the power behind signage. The unrelenting efforts of our Sign Shop move thousands forward not just towards their graduation, but towards their future. “Commencement is the finish line, the ultimate goal of the university. Everyone takes a lot of pride,” said Salvato. “It is very exciting.” 

Written By Tula Singer. June 16th, 2024