Design
Concept, family, detail and positioning resolved before anything is fabricated.
Design, manufacture, install
Six stages from brief to installed signage.
One model, carried end to end — design, manufacture and install — held in-house so intent survives from the first sketch to the sign on the wall.
Three capabilities
Why end-to-end matters.
Manufacturing
In-house facilities and strategic partners — the drawing and the fabrication answer to the same team.
Installation
Fitted on site across many locations, so the positioning study survives contact with the building.
Stages A to F
The professional design process.
AConcept design
Operator guidelines and data folded in; concept options across materials, finishes, fonts, pictograms and colour.
BFamily / schematic
Each sign type refined into a coherent family — sizes, colours, materials and illumination options.
CDetailed design
Sign sizes, locations, power and structural coordination resolved with client and consultants.
DPositioning
Signs, maps and journey planners placed so visitors move with confidence — never guessing how to get from A to B.
ETender documentation
Message schedule, specifications, signage standard manual, location plans, technical drawings and BOQ.
FManufacturing
In-house facilities and strategic partners — the capacity to fabricate and install across many locations.
The approach
Design science, applied to movement.
TAO began in 2020 from the merger of two firms — one in advertising and branding, the other in architectural and engineering design. Wayfinding is treated as design science: signs built around how people route and read a space, rather than around where there happens to be a wall.
Start a project
Let’s map your space.
Tell us what needs designing, making and installing.
Or email tao@aldesignstudio.org