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Marion, Iowa © Tasha Sams
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Wayfinding is an important component of a successful destination. It moves people through an environment and into desired locations within it using signage and other visual cues. Wayfinding guides people to places they seek but it also brings awareness to places they may have otherwise missed. It can guide people away from areas you don’t want them to see. Wayfinding helps people find parking areas sooner. The less time spent in cars means more time “spent” in your stores. When visitors see well maintained wayfinding signs, they are reassured that they are on the right path and that they are in a safe area. Wayfinding connects people to places.
Branded wayfinding not only guides people to and through places, it serves as a highly visible brand delivery mechanism. A consistent, thematic wayfinding system will knit parts of a community together, support the brand, and tie marketing communications with the place experience. Branded wayfinding helps transform a designation into a destination. It connects people to experiences.
Just as some people make the mistake of confusing a logo with a brand, others confuse the design of a wayfinding system as effectively communicating their community brand. A brand is much more than a design, and branded city wayfinding is much more than a bunch of signs with a logo slapped on. A branded wayfinding system should be inspired by, and integral to, the city’s brand strategy.
There is a symbiotic relationship between a city’s brand and its wayfinding system. By incorporating a brand into a city, wayfinding ties the brand to the physical environment, creates an emotional attachment for people through familiarity and reassurances – as well as new experiences and encounters. Branded wayfinding can provide added benefits and purpose to an otherwise generic signage or wayfinding system. In addition to its basic functionality in providing orientation and navigation, a branded system introduces personality, storytelling, and most importantly arouses the senses and stimulates emotions through its connection to the core values of the brand. This can contribute to a deeper relationship between the place and its key audiences.
Logo and branded gateway sign for the City of Gulf Shores, Alabama
In order for a wayfinding system to support a city’s brand effectively and provide outstanding experiences at critical touch points, the city brand should be fully developed and ready for implementation before the first visual concept for wayfinding is explored. A branded city wayfinding system draws inspiration from the brand assets – logo, color palette, graphic character fonts, emotional benefits, and personality outlined in the city’s brand manual or style guide.
A branded wayfinding system should never be regarded as an expense for a community who understands that the long term benefits are substantial. If designed right, it will prove to be a smart investment which will transform the community’s trajectory and bring a measurable economic return.
Branded wayfinding systems vary in size and complexity. Depending on a community’s density and geographical size, a branded wayfinding system can be as simple as a few guide signs on Main Street or as complicated as a comprehensive program with landscaped gateways, district demarcations, several levels of vehicular and pedestrian guide signs, kiosks, directory maps, interpretive signs and trailblazers. Each unique program will incorporate a combination of elements that are customized to perform within a specific environment.
Step 1: Establish a wayfinding steering committee. This committee will include a core group of vested individuals who represent the city, business community and residents. They will evaluate and justify the need for a branded wayfinding program and research/secure funding. One person should be a dedicated point of contact and chair. Your chair will serve as a communication conduit between the committee, stakeholders, the public and contracted vendors.
Step 2: Hire a qualified wayfinding designer. Issue an RFQ ahead of an RFP. This will allow you to pre-qualify respondents and weed out the “wannabes.” Qualified designers must have experience in developing successful community wayfinding programs, understand the principals of fabrication and branding, and have worked with and understand USDOT guidelines.
Step 3: The contracted designer assesses the project area on site, interviews key stakeholders and submits an assessment report. The assessment report should include, at a minimum, a summary of the objectives, notes from the stakeholder interviews, identify problems and attributes of the existing wayfinding conditions, general observations, documentation of traffic flow, key arrival points, districts and regions, USDOT jurisdictions and potential destinations.
Step 4: Loose concepts are generated and a wayfinding plan starts to take shape. The designer should host a charrette with your committee while concepts are in their early schematic phase. This will allow the designer to arrive at three to four presentable concepts more efficiently. Shortly after the charrette, a public workshop may be worth having to start facilitating community buy-in.
Step 5: A single chosen concept is developed and the wayfinding plan is refined. During this step, the designer should get estimated probable costs from one or more fabricators. These costs will help you establish a fabrication budget or allow the designer to evaluate the design and meet your budget expectations. We also suggest that mock-ups be made and evaluated in the environment. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a mock-up will speak volumes!
Step 6: The finalized design and wayfinding plan is translated into bid documentation which includes design intent drawings (scaled elevations and details), a message schedule (content on each sign) and a location plan (locations of every sign in the system on topographical maps).
Step 7: Implementation begins with the preparation an RFQ and/or an RFP. The designer will supply you with technical specifications and scope requirements to be included in the RFP. They will help you with qualification requirements to be included in an RFQ, should you elect to issue one prior to the RFP. The designer will help with production oversight by interacting with the contracted fabricator. They will review their shop drawings and sample submittals. They will eventually review the installed program to make sure the contract has been fulfilled to its specifications.
About the author:
Todd Mayfield is a Principal and Group Creative Director for Axia. He has over 33 years of wayfinding, brand development, advertising and graphic design experience. Todd has earned numerous awards for design excellence and is also an accomplished fine artist and published author. He lives in Wellington, Florida with his wife and daughter.
Streets play an important role in our downtown districts. Learn more about Main Street America's recent work with the Department of Transportation to promote vibrant and sustainable downtown roadways.
Learn how the Safe Streets and Roads for All program is providing grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
Streetscape in Denison, Texas. © Mel Climer — Climer Design
REV Birmingham and Woodlawn United share how they work to reenergize spaces and places in Birmingham, Alabama, through civic infrastructure projects in the city’s historic commercial corridors.
Learn how this Louisiana town has used an accessibility-first approach to build a welcoming and inclusive community.
Downtown Ruston, Louisiana. Photo by Henry McCoy.
Learn how the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta uses this unique mural program to celebrate Valentine's Day and raise important funding for their work.
Learn how micromobility can increase access, equity, and inclusion in your Main Street with examples from local programs across the network.
This Washington Main Street is encouraging people to brave the rainy weather with their free umbrella share program.
Parking is a challenging problem for many Main Streets. We explored the arguments for and against free parking, and a method for conducting an inventory of parking in your downtown.
Miami, FL © Matt Alaniz
Learn how Bainbridge Island Downtown Association leverages their connection to the ferry to create a walkable and vibrant downtown.
Bainbridge Island, WA © Anna Carson
An innovative artistic project brings new life to the alleyways in Billings, Montana.
Billings, MT © Downtown Billings Alliance
In big cities and small towns, people face increasing danger when navigating communities on foot. As advocates for connected and walkable downtowns, Main Streets have a crucial role to play in increasing pedestrian safety.
Lansing, Michigan © Lansing 5:01
Learn how you can participate in the Thriving Communities program as a capacity builder or how you can receive support from the program.
To celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month, we explored three innovative and interesting parks-based projects and collaborations in Main Street communities.
Waterloo, Iowa, shares advice and lessons learned from their e-scooter program.
Learn how you can harness design principles and strategies to create a cooler, more welcoming downtown.
Main Street America was awarded $5.9 million to support 20 communities in the Main Streets Community of Practice through the Department of Transportation's Thriving Communities Program over the next two years.
The City of Leeds, AL welcomed a new downtown mural over the holidays that has brought a sense of excitement and anticipation for the continuing efforts to focus on the Leeds downtown district.
Leeds, AL © Jeremy Dove
What is more Iowan than turning grain bins into public art? Learn how Main Street Coon Rapids created these beautiful murals to celebrate their downtown.
Coon Rapids, IA © Main Street Coon Rapids
Pollinator gardens are fantastic ways to increase green space, promote sustainability, and educate your community on the local environment.
Crofton, MD © Kerry Kelly
The AARP Community Challenge program gives out quick-action grants to activate public spaces. Meet some of the Main Streets awarded grants through the program this year.
Learn how these outdoor microspaces can contribute to more vibrancy in our public spaces.
Chairman Emeritus Ed McMahon explores the power of place in creating spaces people love.
Boise, ID © christiannafzger
To support Georgia Main Streets throughout the recovery process and position them for long-term sustainability, Main Street America launched the Georgia Main Street Innovation Grant Program, made possible through generous support from The Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.
Thomasville, GA © Thomasville Main Street
Intentional placemaking has had many unexpected benefits for this Alabama town.
Wetumpka, AL © Jenny Sue Stubbs
We heard from organizations across the nation about the incredible impact their markets have had on community engagement, entrepreneur and small business support, and keeping their district vibrant.
Mount Airy Downtown, Inc., celebrated the return of their Market Street Arts and Entertainment District (MSA & ED) last weekend, as part of their pandemic recovery efforts.
Mount Airy, NC © Robbie Curlee
A vacant storefront is the perfect stage to creatively promote the available space or to showcase other businesses and events in the area.
Ripon, WI © RetailWorks, Inc
Interested in creating a StoryWalk in your downtown commercial district? Read on to learn more about installing a successful story walking trail.
In remembrance and in honor of Dr. Marin Luther King Jr., over 900 streets in the United States were named after him. Many are located predominantly in African American communities.
Milwaukee, WI © Historic King Drive BID
Dubbed the Blues Alley, the Ripley Main Street program plans to install murals of local pioneering Black blues artists, cutout guitars painted by local art students, and blues lyrics painted on the walls.
Ripley, MS © Ripley Main Street
Since 2013, Try This West Virginia has sought to improve health environments in local communities as a collaboration of organizations working together to combat the health challenges facing West Virginians.
Main Street America partnered with OneMain Financial to create Made on Main Street.
Creating a historic or art walking tour is much more than simply a collection of pictures and descriptions.
Over 300 attendees enjoyed a family-friendly block party that celebrated the community and showcased Prosser's upcoming streetscape improvement project.
Cambridge was the first Main Street community in Maryland to install public chargers.
The Downtown Newton Development Association (North Carolina) partnered with the City of Newton on a temporary tactical urbanism project to demonstrate how their permanent streetscape improvements will benefit downtown.
Over 500 people braved the misty rain this past weekend to come and celebrate Painesville and its Made on Main Street community transformation project.
Wilson Artsy Alleys is an initiative of the Wilson Downtown Development Corporation which takes the arts to new locations in forgotten places.
In October 2017, Main Street Ottumwa collaborated with local partners, Main Street Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Better Block Foundation to stop planning, talking, and wishing, and start doing.
Kelly Tompkins of Main Street Enid shares more about the Maker Trail project and how it inspired creativity and helped people discover downtown.
The Metuchen Downtown Alliance created a cool, family-friendly public gathering space in “the worst looking spot in town” with the help of just $2,500 in Edward Jones Placemaking on Main Challenge matching grant funds,
A collaborative effort launched between Laramie Main Street Alliance (LMSA) and vertical farming company, Plenty, looked to blank downtown walls as a canvas for growing food, creating conversation, and activating overlooked spaces.
From walkability and transportation connectivity, to access to nature and availability of fresh food, place is inextricably linked to achieving positive health outcomes in rural America.
Beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower fountain through Main Street Paris's new Love Lock Fence.
Kasey Drummond, Glenrock Main Street Director, explains how they brought the acclaimed graffiti artist ARCY to their Main Street and explores the work he produced in three additional Wyoming communities on his summer tour.
Karen Dye, Newkirk Main Street's program manager, was inspired to “make downtown more fun and festive” with painted water meter covers after learning about the practice at a recent Main Street Now conference.
Appealing to mobility-challenged shoppers yields benefits beyond the store.
In contrast, the Main Street Program in Laramie, Wyoming, is thriving, having successfully cultivated millions of dollars to help fill these vacant, blighted spaces with permanent structures.
In this article we’ll explore the process of planning, funding, installing, operating, and enjoying music on your Main Street.
In 2016, the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture (UNCG) to provide design assistance to Main Street communities.
Placemaking is a strategy that Six Corners Association has enthusiastically applied to our community development efforts because of its seamless integration with the Main Street Approach.
How one Wyoming Main Street implemented a free bike share program.
In 2015, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to engage Wisconsin Main Street organizations and farmers markets in the Metrics and Indicators for Impact – Farmers Markets (MIFI-FM) toolkit.
The local Main Street organization, Downtown Milford Inc., is trying to address these shifting demographics by creating a more inclusive sense of community.
This is the story of how a National Endowment for the Arts gathering in DC inspired the leaders of a small town in Appalachia to connect with those in Milwaukee to transform a neglected park.
Main Street communities across the country are no stranger to seeking creative strategies to solve their most nagging issues – vacant buildings, marketing downtown, bolstering retail to name a few.
This article is the second in a series on corridors and the important role they play in Main Street revitalization. The previous article focused on the historic origins of corridors, corridor types, and functions that they serve in our communities.
Façade appearance is a critical aspect of the overall aesthetic appeal and unique character of downtown.
While the Main Street program may not take the lead in corridor enhancements, it can be a vital partner and advocate for improvements in overall community appearance.
Street pole banners preserve the historic character of main streets while fostering community awareness and engagement.
With strong community support, the Library Foundation was able to raise over $1.2 million dollars in private donations.
A lot of signs are necessary to make a downtown work well, but not every community knows what a good sign system looks like, or how instrumental it can be to the creation of a successful downtown.
A key goal of the Atlanta Streetcar is to attract investment to and revitalize the neighborhoods along the streetcar alignment.
