BU’s Sign Maker
For more than a decade, Wendy Haig-Ramage has been helping us find our way
In the video above, Wendy Haig-Ramage talks about her work as the director of BU’s sign shop.
11.16.2015
You may not know her face or name, but you’ve seen her work. It’s all over campus.
Since she arrived at BU in 2003, Wendy Haig-Ramage has been plying her craft as director of BU’s sign shop. Working out of a small space in the back corner of the sprawling BU Facilities Management & Planning facility on Ashford Street, she turns out signs, maps, and directories.
Haig-Ramage cannot recall a time when she wasn’t drawing or creating art. After graduating from college in Arizona, she moved to Boston and opened her own sign shop in 1983. Her company—staffed almost entirely by women—made signs for buildings all over the city and surrounding towns.
When Haig-Ramage started at BU, she was the only tradeswoman employed at the University. By her own reckoning, she’s made thousands of signs over the past 12 years. And while they may not be high art, they are indispensable. Students have her to thank for all those signs announcing the names of buildings, the room numbers outside of classrooms, where to find a wheelchair ramp or a bathroom.
She says she loves being known as BU’s sign lady. “It’s a very creative job and offers a lot of variety,” she says. Best of all, she knows that her work helps the University run a little smoother. As she points out, “Everyone needs to know where to go.”
Bill Politis can be reached at bpolitis@bu.edu.
This story originally appeared in BU Today on 11/16/15.