Three construction workers wearing hard hats and safety vests looking at an outdoor informational sign in a snowy park. The sign provides directions and museum hours.
Tell Us About Your Project

About Nicolson Associates

We believe environments should be easy to understand, intuitive to navigate, and meaningful to experience.

Our Why

For more than 30 years, our mission has been to help visitors navigate complex environments with ease and confidence.

Our multi-disciplinary team includes designers, planners, sociologists, project managers, and expert fabricators.

We’ve seen the consequences of poorly planned wayfinding and disconnected environments, confused visitors, frustrated staff, and spaces that don’t function as intended. Often, it’s not due to lack of effort, but lack of early planning, strategy, and coordination.

Nicolson Associates was founded to bring clarity to complex environments through thoughtful design and planning. Our work helps organizations create spaces that support people, operations, and architecture so environments work as well as they look.

  • Logo with the word 'CRANBROOK' in gray letters, with a curved line above the text.
  • Gray logo with the word 'BEDROCK' and a stylized 'B' inside a circle with a line through it.
  • Gray logo of Old Dominion University with a stylized crown above the university name.
  • Gray text on white background reads 'Henry Ford Health' in bold, uppercase letters.
  • Logo of C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, part of Michigan Medicine.
  • SMU Cox School of Business logo
  • Logo for the Zekelman Holocaust Center with the text 'THE HOLOCAUST CENTER' and 'Zekelman' in gray letters on a white background.
  • Graphic with the words "Forgotten Harvest" and an ear of wheat.
  • Logo for Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, The Foundation, featuring a cross design and text
  • Gray logo for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals featuring a line of five children holding hands, with the hospital's name beside it.
  • Logo of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs with large gray VA letters and full name to the right.
  • Text on white background reading 'MICHIGAN CENTRAL' in gray capital letters.
  • Logo of MD Anderson Cancer Center with words 'MD Anderson Cancer Center' in gray text, with a strikethrough line crossing out part of the text.
  • Stylized logo featuring ornate lettering of 'B' for Book Tower with decorative flourishes, and the words 'Book Tower Detroit' beneath it.
  • Gray text on a white background reads 'Lawrence Technological University' in a modern font.
  • Logo of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights featuring a stylized hand and text.
  • Alma College logo with a circular emblem of a ginkgo leaf above the college name.
  • Logo of the Canadian Museum of History, featuring a stylized graphic symbol and the museum's name in bold letters.

Our Values

  • Clarity
    We believe good design should make complex environments easier to understand and navigate.

  • Collaboration
    The best outcomes come from working closely with project teams and stakeholders.

  • Thoughtful Design
    Every decision should serve people, place, and purpose—not just aesthetics.

  • Integrity
    We do what’s right for the project, the client, and the environment.

Our work adapts to the needs of each role and project team. Sometimes we’re brought in early to help shape strategy and planning; other times we step in to refine or correct an existing system. In every case, we focus on clarity, coordination, and thoughtful execution helping teams move forward with confidence.

A woman stands in a hospital lobby looking at a digital display board with information about the Mercy San Juan Medical Center Guild. The wall behind her has wooden paneling with a sign recognizing a donor wall.

Who We Work With

We regularly collaborate with:

  • Architects & Designers
    Supporting intent with wayfinding and experiential systems that integrate seamlessly with architecture and interiors.

  • Owners & Developers
    Helping translate vision into clear, functional environments that work today and adapt over time.

  • Facilities Directors & Operations Teams
    Creating systems that improve daily navigation, reduce confusion, and support long-term maintenance and growth.

  • Property & Asset Managers
    Designing intuitive environments that enhance tenant, resident, and visitor experience across shared spaces.

  • Project Managers & Construction Teams
    Providing clear documentation, coordination, and support to keep projects moving smoothly from design through implementation.

  • Public Agencies & Institutional Stakeholders
    Navigating complex approval processes and accessibility requirements while keeping clarity and user experience front and center.

Person using a yellow DeWalt circular saw to cut a wooden plank in a workshop.
Two people reviewing architectural blueprints and technical drawings on a wooden table with a laptop, a calculator, and a pen.
A person's hand holding an orange fabric swatch over a white table with various fabric samples, color swatches, and a black notebook with white text reading 'Let's talk about your project'.

Meet the Team

  • An older man with glasses, a beard, and short gray hair, wearing a light khaki short-sleeve shirt and a backpack, standing outdoors near a rocky stream with moss-covered rocks and a small waterfall.

    Richard

    Founder & Principal Designer

  • Man wearing a black beanie and glasses holding a large fish on a boat with water and cityscape in the background.

    Brian

    Creative Director

  • A middle-aged man with short gray hair and a beard, looking at the camera with a serious expression, wearing a black jacket over a dark shirt, against a blurred gray background.

    Mark

    Senior Designer 

  • A woman standing next to a large pine tree with a sign that reads "NOTCH 2" with drawings of trees. The woman is wearing a gray zip-up jacket, khaki pants, and sunglasses hanging from her jacket. The background features additional pine trees and a cloudy sky.

    Stephanie

    Account Advisor

  • A man smiling with a dog nuzzling his face inside a car.

    Scott

    Account Advisor

  • A man sitting at an outdoor table in an urban park at dusk, with city buildings, string lights, and trees in the background.

    Eric

    Project Manager

  • A young woman with blonde hair, wearing sunglasses, an orange sweater, and light blue jeans, sitting on the grass outdoors on a sunny day.

    Shawnah

    Fabrication Manager 

  • A woman with long wavy hair wearing sunglasses, a beige cap, and a black jacket smiles while standing near pink flowering bush on a sidewalk with bicycles and storefronts in the background.

    Mickinze

    Fabricator

  • Lindsey

    Lindsey

    Fabricator

  • Alex

    Alex

    Digital Specialist

  • Eirik

    Eirik

    Digital Specialist 

  • A man standing next to a vintage Doctor Who-themed pinball machine in a room with beige tiled flooring and cream-colored wall. The man is wearing a black Aston Martin hoodie and jeans.

    Jerry

    Programmer

Portrait of a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a blue dress, gold jewelry, and smiling with arms crossed against a dark background.

Janet R. Carpman, PhD

Carpman Wayfinding Consultants / Associate

  • Janet R. Carpman, PhD is a nationally recognized wayfinding expert based in Boston, MA, passionate about creating places where everyone can easily find their way around. Her wayfinding work spans sites and facilities for health care, arts & culture, education, courts, public transit, and state government. Jan has worked with clients in 30 states and 3 Canadian provinces for more than 40 years to analyze wayfinding problems and find innovative solutions involving design, behavior, operations, and technology.

    She is committed to understanding and meeting the wayfinding needs and preferences of all users, including first-timers, older adults, and people with disabilities. She also recognizes the budgetary, corporate identity, and mission-related wayfinding concerns of stakeholders and the day-to-day, job-related wayfinding requirements of staff. She is proud to have involved thousands of users, stakeholders, and staff in her research, planning, and design work.

    She was the first Director of Wayfinding at the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston (2018-2022). Before that, for more than 30 years, she was a principal in the wayfinding consulting firm, Carpman Grant Associates, Ann Arbor, MI. With her partner, Myron Grant, and associate, Richard Nicolson, she analyzed, planned, and designed wayfinding systems for ~70 organizations. Their projects included wayfinding-related design reviews; environmental analyses; user analyses; website analyses; wayfinding master plans; staff wayfinding training programs; sign location plans and message schedules; sign designs; map designs, and room numbering systems.

     Jan co-authored (with Myron Grant) two, award-winning books, Design that Cares: Planning Health Facilities for Patients and Visitors (3rd edition), Jossey-Bass, 2016, and Directional Sense: How to Find Your Way Around, IHCD, 2012. 

    She holds degrees from the University of Michigan (PhD, Architecture & Sociology), Harvard University (Master of City Planning), and the University of Rochester (BA, Sociology).

    VISIT WEBSITE

Let’s Work Together

If you’re navigating a complex environment and looking for clarity through design and planning, we’d love to talk.

Lets Talk