Clearstory
Clearstory is a woman-owned environmental graphic design firm in San Francisco providing wayfinding, placemaking, and signage design services for healthcare facilities, government buildings, educational institutions, corporate campuses, and public spaces across Northern California.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Clearstory does
Clearstory is a woman-owned environmental graphic design (EGD) firm headquartered at 202 Green Street in San Francisco. Founded in 1995 by Kate Keating as Kate Keating Associates and rebranded to Clearstory Inc. in January 2020, the firm provides wayfinding, placemaking, signage design, and sign standard development services for complex architectural projects across healthcare facilities, educational institutions, government buildings, corporate campuses, transportation hubs, and public spaces. The practice integrates design from site analysis through construction administration, delivering interior and exterior signage systems, donor recognition programs, interpretive graphics, digital wayfinding planning, and post-occupancy evaluation.
The firm's service portfolio includes Wayfinding Design Services, Placemaking Programs, Signage Design, Experiential Design, Site Analysis, Sign Standard Development, Interpretive Signage, Digital Planning, Signage Master Planning, Donor Recognition, Post-Occupancy Evaluation, and Room Numbering. Clearstory's proprietary contribution includes the Universal Wayfinding system developed by founder Kate Keating for healthcare environments serving limited English proficiency populations. The firm maintains a portfolio of marquee projects including Sutter Health CPMC Van Ness Campus (740,000 sq ft, 274 beds), Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (530,000 sq ft expansion), Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (550,000 sq ft rebuild), Kaiser Permanente Mission Bay, John Muir Health Behring Pavilion, SFO Terminal 1, the GSA San Francisco Federal Building, Netflix corporate headquarters, and the Presidio Tunnel Tops.
Clearstory operates as a B2B professional services firm with sales-led, project-based revenue. Pricing is custom and not publicly disclosed; engagements are sourced through direct client relationships with healthcare systems, government agencies, educational institutions, and corporate real estate developers, typically working alongside Tier-1 architecture firms including SmithGroup, Perkins+Will, DES Architects, Aidlin Darling Design, and Mark Cavagnero Associates, with implementation supported by fabricator partners WeidnerCA and Martinelli Environmental Graphics. The firm is privately held, bootstrapped with no external funding, and led by President Julie Vogel and Principal Nikki San Miguel, who assumed leadership following Kate Keating's 2017 retirement.
Clearstory firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Clearstory
- Legal name
- Clearstory Inc.
- Website
- https://clearstorysf.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Clearstory is a woman-owned environmental graphic design firm in San Francisco providing wayfinding, placemaking, and signage design services for healthcare facilities, government buildings, educational institutions, corporate campuses, and public spaces across Northern California.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Clearstory industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Environmental Graphic Design / Wayfinding Design Services
- akta.pro primary industry
- Wayfinding, Signage & Environmental Graphic Design (BPAHAKAN)
Keywords
Where Clearstory is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Clearstory business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Design Services: Professional design consulting services for wayfinding, placemaking, signage design, and environmental graphic design. Services span from site analysis through construction administration for architectural projects.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Clearstory product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Clearstory provides professional environmental graphic design services focused on wayfinding, signage, placemaking, and sign standard development for complex architectural projects. The firm delivers integrated design programs spanning site analysis, signage master planning, donor recognition, interpretive signage, and post-occupancy evaluation, primarily serving healthcare facilities, educational campuses, corporate headquarters, transportation hubs, public parks, and government buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area and California.
Product overview
Clearstory is an environmental graphic design firm (formerly Kate Keating Associates, rebranded in January 2020) offering wayfinding and placemaking services. The company provides a comprehensive suite of design services including Wayfinding Design Services, Placemaking Programs, Signage Design, Experiential Design, Site Analysis, Sign Standard Development, Interpretive Signage, Digital Planning, Signage Master Planning, Donor Recognition, Post-Occupancy Evaluation, and Room Numbering. The firm specializes in developing programs for healthcare facilities, corporate and educational campuses, parks and open spaces, civic developments, and transportation hubs across the San Francisco Bay Area and California.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Wayfinding Design Services
- Placemaking Programs
Companies that use Clearstory
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Clearstory technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Clearstory partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- SmithGroupcoreArchitectural firm collaborating with Clearstory on multiple healthcare and institutional projects including UC Davis Health Medical Center, Sutter Health CPMC Van Ness Campus, and Behring Pavilion.
- Perkins + WillcoreArchitecture firm partner on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford expansion project (500,000+ sq ft).
- Jay Paul CompanycoreReal estate developer partner on multiple Class A office developments including Moffett Towers I and II, Moffett Place, Moffett Gateway, and 181 Fremont high-rise.
- WeidnerCAcoreFabricator and design build partner on projects including SFO Long Term Parking, Moffett Towers, Netflix HQ, and B.F. Sisk Courthouse.
- Martinelli Environmental GraphicscoreFabricator partner on projects including Mosso Apartments, AIA SF Center for Architecture + Design, Stanford Pediatric ED, and Presidio Tunnel Tops.
- DES ArchitectscoreArchitectural partner on Moffett Towers I and II, Moffett Place, and Moffett Gateway developments in Sunnyvale.
- Aidlin Darling DesigncoreArchitecture firm partner on AIA San Francisco Center for Architecture + Design project.
- Mark Cavagnero Associates ArchitectscoreArchitectural partner on LightHouse for the Blind and Ute and William K. Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Clearstory competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Entro: Entro is a global wayfinding and signage design firm with offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It is the closest direct peer to Clearstory, offering similarly specialized services for healthcare, transportation, and civic environments with comparable design-led, project-based delivery.
- 505design: 505design is an independent wayfinding and signage consultancy headquartered in New York, working on healthcare, transportation, and cultural projects. It competes head-to-head with Clearstory for similar typologies of large, complex built-environment commissions.
- Mijksenaar: Mijksenaar is a Dutch-born wayfinding design firm with international reach, widely regarded as a pioneer in the EGD discipline. It is comparable to Clearstory in that it focuses on wayfinding systems for healthcare, transit, and public-sector clients using a design-research-led approach.
- Selbert Perkins Design: Selbert Perkins Design is a U.S. experiential graphic design and placemaking firm that delivers wayfinding, signage, and identity programs for healthcare, education, and corporate campuses. It is a close direct peer to Clearstory in service mix, client verticals, and project scale.
Broad incumbents
- Two Twelve (Stantec): Two Twelve was an independent wayfinding and signage design firm that was acquired by Stantec, a global engineering, architecture, and design consultancy. The Two Twelve practice is now a dedicated EGD arm within Stantec and represents a scaled incumbent competing for many of the same healthcare and civic wayfinding commissions as Clearstory.
- Gensler: Gensler is one of the largest global architecture and design firms, with a dedicated Experience Design and wayfinding practice serving corporate, healthcare, and aviation clients. It competes with Clearstory at the upper end of the EGD market, typically as part of integrated design-build contracts rather than as a specialist subconsultant.
- Populous: Populous is a global architecture firm specializing in sports, convention, and entertainment venues, with an in-house experiential graphic design capability. It is comparable to Clearstory in the sense that large venue and public-space commissions require similar placemaking and wayfinding expertise, though Populous owns the entire project rather than acting as a subconsultant.
- HOK: HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm with healthcare, aviation, and civic practices that often include wayfinding and signage work. It is a broad incumbent comparable to Clearstory in that it competes for the same institutional client base, typically as a fully integrated design partner.
- Pentagram: Pentagram is one of the largest independently owned design firms in the world, with partners who lead work in environmental graphic design, signage, and wayfinding for cultural, civic, and corporate clients. It is a broad incumbent that occasionally competes with Clearstory on high-profile EGD commissions while operating at a much larger scale and broader design scope.
- CannonDesign: CannonDesign is a large integrated design firm with strong healthcare and education practices that often include in-house experiential graphic design and wayfinding services. It is a broad incumbent that competes with Clearstory for healthcare and campus commissions, typically by absorbing EGD into a single-firm contract rather than engaging a specialist subconsultant.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Clearstory social profiles
Digital presenceClearstory financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Clearstory leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Clearstory funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Clearstory M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Clearstory
What does Clearstory do?
Clearstory provides professional environmental graphic design services focused on wayfinding, signage, placemaking, and sign standard development for complex architectural projects. The firm delivers integrated design programs spanning site analysis, signage master planning, donor recognition, interpretive signage, and post-occupancy evaluation, primarily serving healthcare facilities, educational campuses, corporate headquarters, transportation hubs, public parks, and government buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area and California.
Is Clearstory a public or private company?
Clearstory is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Clearstory founded?
Clearstory was founded in 1995. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Clearstory based?
Clearstory is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Clearstory make money?
One revenue line is on record: design Services.
Who are Clearstory's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Entro, 505design, Mijksenaar and Selbert Perkins Design. Broad incumbents are Two Twelve (Stantec), Gensler, Populous, HOK, Pentagram and CannonDesign.
Does Clearstory have an API?
No public API is recorded for Clearstory.
What industry is Clearstory in?
Clearstory's product category is Environmental Graphic Design / Wayfinding Design Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAKAN, Wayfinding, Signage & Environmental Graphic Design.