With around 31,000 students from over 120 nations, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is one of the largest and most diverse universities in Germany. JGU unites almost all academic disciplines under one roof, including the Mainz University Medical Center, the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts, the Mainz School of Music, and the Faculty of Translation Studies, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies in Germersheim. About 4,400 academics, among them about 570 professors, teach and conduct research in over 100 institutes and clinics. With 76 fields of study and 289 degree courses, JGU offers an extraordinarily broad range of courses.
As the only German university of its size, nearly all of the institutions of JGU are located on one single campus near the city center, which is also home to five partner institutes involved in top-level non-university research: the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPI-C), the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P), the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM), the Institute of Biotechnology and Drug Research (IBWF), and the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB). The campus of the University Medical Center is only about a kilometer away and the Mainz Leibniz Association institutions – the Institute of European History (IEG), the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), and the Roman-Germanic Central Museum (RGZM) – are located slightly further away in the inner city. In addition to this, many local businesses also carry out research, making Mainz a uniquely dynamic research hub.
Since 2013, a new guidance system is gradually being realised, which is characterised by a timeless look and yet reflects identity and originality. It was planned by TEAMGEISSERT from Langen. In the design, emphasis was placed on barrier-free perception and good legibility as well as on functional and clear information transfer. The signage corresponds with the architecture and visually conveys calm and confidence, which has a positive effect on the service quality of the campus. The system can be grasped intuitively and offers clear, seamless orientation. Meng realised the guidance system from the quintessenz system with individually manufactured additional elements, such as the 3D lettering or the applied surfaces on steles and wall signs.