Contact:

Awards:

  • 2019 PRSA-Renaissance Award
  • 2018 Award of Distinction
  • 2107 AGDA Best in Category
  • 2016 AGDA Best in Category
  • 2016 Fastest Growing Companies
  • 2016 US Commerce Association Best of Carnegie
  • 2015 AGDA Award of Distinction
  • 2015 AGDA Best in Category
  • 2015 US Commerce Association Best of Carnegie
  • 2014 US Commerce Association Best of Carnegie
  • 2013 Diamond Award (Top 15 CEOs)
  • 2013 US Commerce Association Best of Carnegie
  • 2013 Women in Business First Award
  • 2012 US Commerce Association Best of Canonsburg
  • 2011 US Commerce Association Best of Canonsburg
  • 2010 US Commerce Association Best of Canonsburg
  • 2009 US Commerce Association Best of Canonsburg

Barbara J. Martin, SEGD
Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer and founder of KMA Design, Barbara J. Martin is the Principal-in-Charge overseeing all design and master planning on the project.

With over 30 years of experience, she has developed a national reputation as an expert in creating architecturally and aesthetically cohesive signage and wayfinding systems. Her resume of projects includes work in educational institutions, sporting complexes, healthcare facilities, transportation and airport environs, entertainment complexes, governmental entities and large scale general assembly spaces.

Martin is primarily responsible for design and master planning for signage programs averaging in size from 300,000 to over 7,000,000 building square feet, and has managed individual projects with signage budgets exceeding 6 million dollars. She has planned exterior signage programs for complex campuses as large as 48 square miles.

Her particular area of expertise is “wayfinding,” the art of synthesizing key elements in functional and aesthetic design aiding in the cognitive mapping of unfamiliar territory.

As a faculty member for the American Hospital Association and the American Society of Hospital Engineers, Martin lectured on both wayfinding and developing signage master plans for health care facilities at several national health care conventions and conferences. She has also served as a guest panelist for educational programs regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Publications:

Magazine Articles:

  • Celebrating Seton Hill University’s Centennial, Sign & Digital Graphics, Feb. 2019
  • Arena Wayfinding Signage, Sign & Digital Graphics, May 2015
  • Rebrand Commencement, Sign Builder Illustrated Magazine, Sept. 2014
  • A Designer’s View of Healthcare Signage, Signs of the Times, Feb. 2014
  • A Full Fleet Makeover, Sign Builder Illustrated Magazine, Nov. 2013
  • Minding the Myths, Healthcare Design, July 2013
  • I Want You to Show Me the Way, Signs of the Times Magazine, July 2011
  • Women In Spotlight, Pittsburgh Magazine, September 2009
  • WBE/MBE Company Spotlight: KMA Design, Breaking Ground, Sept. / Oct. 2007
  • When It Comes to Signage, Strike a Balance Between Image,
  • Function, Healthcare Building Ideas, Aug./Sept. 2007
  • Wayfinding 101: Signage Planning for a College Campus, Sign Builder Illustrated, Feb. 2006
  • Case Study: Mount Nittany Medical Center, Health Facilities Management, Aug. 2005

Newspaper Articles:

  • Carnegie Wants to be More Visitor Friendly, Pittsburgh Tribune Review / Business, Jan. 2014
  • Signage Not Just An After Thought, Pittsburgh Tribune Review / Business, July 2005
  • Her Signs are Pointing the Way, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, July 2003
  • Pointing the Way with Sign Design, Orlando Sentinel, Mar. 1991
  • Environmental Graphics, The Charrette, Jan. 1990

Books Features:

  • Sign Design Gallery 2 by Design Inc.
  • City Signs, Innovation Urban Graphics by Gail Deibler Finke
  • The Third Annual National Conference on Health Facility Planning, Design and Construction, ASHE/AHA