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Portland-based urban design and landscape architecture firm Mayer/Reed this month received a design award for work on the Vancouver Community Library project. The merit award from the Society for Experiential Graphic Design was for way-finding in the library completed in Vancouver, Wash., in 2011.

Mayer/Reed and Seattle-based architecture firm Miller Hull Partnership were honored for their contributions to the project built by contractor Howard S. Wright.

The international SEGD Global Design Awards recognize exemplary communication in the built environment. Jury members were impressed with Mayer/Reed’s efforts to help library patrons navigate the building, Mayer/Reed associate partner Kathy Fry said. This included large block lettering on the undersides of each concrete stair landing informing visitors of the type of books found on each level. This “drawer full of knowledge” concept was inspired by a card catalog, she said.

“It just gives people a very quick glance of what’s inside the library,” she said. “(The project) was recognized for that straightforward clarity.”

Fry and Mayer/Reed partner Michael Reed accepted the design award at an event in Atlanta.