Wayne Hunt

Graphic designer Wayne Hunt has brought wayfinding and thematic graphics to theme parks and entertainment for 40+ years. He was one of the first to organize directional signage into strategic wayfinding programs for large park sites. Starting with signage for Universal Studios and the first hotels at EPCOT in the 1970s, Wayne has been a design consultant to more than 50 theme parks and entertainment destinations, spanning 11 countries. “In addition to providing functional information for guests, creative signage can set the scene, advance story lines and enhance the guest experience. Good signage delivers disproportionate value for money spent.” Wayne says.

In 1977 he established Hunt Design, specializing in identity, signage and environmental graphics programs for entertainment, theme parks, public spaces, cities and hospitality. The firm grew to be a top design resource for the themed entertainment industry.

The relationship between Hunt Design and WDI started in 1979 with Space Mountain and has continued through Shanghai Disneyland. The firm designed signage and branding for Disney’s Pleasure Island, in 1988 - gone now but considered by many to be the original destination RD&E (Retail-Dining-Entertainment), now standard at most major theme parks.

With Universal Studios, Hunt Design has contributed to projects starting with Universal CityWalk in 1989 and most recently in Beijing and Orlando. The client list also includes Busch Gardens, Knott’s, Warner Bros., Six Flags, Sanrio, Lotte World, Fox, Paramount Parks and others.

Wayne has authored three books on environmental graphics and is on the faculty of Art Center College of Design. He is past president of Ryman Arts and both the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD). In 2004 he was named a Fellow of SEGD and 2016 a Fellow of the American Institute of Graphic Arts Los Angeles chapter.

He has been a guest critic at the USC Schools of Architecture, Design and Film and lectured at multiple universities including UCLA, University of Illinois and Harvard Graduate School of Design. Three posters designed by Hunt are in the permanent decorative arts collection at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

​In 2015 Hunt began to share his ongoing personal mixed media art with friends and associates and in 2017 had a successful one-person show debut at Andlab Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. He mounted a second Andlab show in 2019 and will be featured in a show at Collum Gallery in Sacramento in 2020. His work is in many private collections.