Jane Davis Doggett is a graphic artist and pioneer designer of wayfinding and graphics systems for airports.
Life and career
Doggett grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Sophie Newcomb College in 1952 and Yale University School of Art and Architecture in 1956 with an MFA in graphics, where she worked under noted colorist Josef Albers, who had recently been appointed Head of Yale's Graphic Design department. "As an early student of Josef Albers, she took his famed Interaction of Color course and absorbed Albers’ inspired principles of color perception while establishing her own strong artistic identity." Her first job after graduate school was with George Nelson, working on the anthropological part of the permanent exhibit at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. She then worked in Europe for the magazine Architectural Record, photographing architects and engineers and their work. Her first airport design job was for the Memphis airport in 1959. The project's architect Roy Harrover knew Doggett from both Nashville and Yale and brought her in to do the graphics. Her first innovation was the development of a standardized font for use throughout the airport. This font became Doggett's trademarked “Alphabet A” and was used in many subsequent airport projects, since it was very readable over long distances. Additional airport projects included Tampa International, George Bush-Houston, Baltimore-Washington, Newark, Miami, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, and Cleveland-Hopkins among others. As of 2014, Doggett had designed wayfinding systems for 40 major airport projects, which is said to be “more than any other designer in the world.” Each year, 20 million airplane passengers are guided by her way-finding signage and graphics. Doggett is credited with four innovations that are now commonly employed in airports and other large public spaces:
Use of color, letter, and symbol to guide visitors through large unfamiliar places.
Designs that begin on highways outside the structure, simplifying and making the wayfinding process safer for drivers or other travelers while also reducing the number of signs needed. Doggett's system eliminated two-thirds of the highway signs that had originally been proposed for the Tampa airport.
Building the verbal or symbolic message into the architecture rather than tacking it on as a sign.
Creating a visual symbol to brand the airport and represent it as a gateway to the surrounding region.
