The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is one of the winners of Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards. Explore the full list of projects we’re honoring for making the world more equitable, accessible, and sustainable.
The University of Hawaii is spread across 10 campuses on 4 islands that span a distance of 330 miles. With a total enrollment of 48,373 students, the state’s only public university is one of the nation’s most racially diverse campuses, and 21% of the student body identifies as Native Hawaiian.
In 2018, the University of Hawaii at Mānoa began to explore ways to honor the heritage of Native Hawaiians. The result—a new system of signs to help visitors navigate the 320-acre campus—is an elegant tribute to the legacy of the once sovereign nation. It is the first wayfinding system to include an Indigenous language at a U.S. university, and it’s the winner of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award in the Art & Design category.
Each sign is paired with a medallion that includes a QR code synced with a map accessible by smartphone. But the signs are also situated to point the visitor’s gaze toward a significant location that can’t be seen from the valley the campus sits in—like another island, the Wailele Spring, or even Oahu’s iconic Diamond Head (Lē’ahi.)
The goal is to inform people about significant landmarks around (and beyond) the campus, anchoring the site in its Hawaiian context. “The land is their ancestor,” Brian Strawn, a principal investigator for the new wayfinding and signage project, says of Indigenous Hawaiian people. “They come from the land, so it’s literally about hoping to share their love and knowledge of the natural world around them with others.”
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
