1 / 18

Signage & Wayfinding in Grey County

Signage & Wayfinding in Grey County. Opportunities, Challenges & How We Can Move Forward Together. Why Signage? Why Now?. What we hope to introduce today… Signage: there’s more to it that we might think!

matt
Download Presentation

Signage & Wayfinding in Grey County

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Signage & Wayfinding in Grey County Opportunities, Challenges & How We Can Move Forward Together

  2. Why Signage? Why Now? What we hope to introduce today… • Signage: there’s more to it that we might think! • What we could do with signage in Grey County (and the opportunities and challenges of change)… • What signage in Grey County looks like right now… • How do we develop a signage strategy? • How do we reflect Grey County’s character as a family of unique communities?

  3. Signage 101 • Types of signs: • Regulatory (including Warning and Informational) • Municipal Identification/Community Development • Wayfinding/Tourism Destinations • Heritage • Private (advertising) • Important to consider balance between the number of signs needed to provide information and the need to keep roads clean, clear and without clutter (to keep roadways safe & directions straightforward) • Important to consider consistent look and feel

  4. Community/Municipal Identification • Hierarchy of settlement areas (*Official Plan) • Municipal: • Identify the official municipal name at the boundary • Community • Identify settlement communities within a municipality • Tourism & Heritage • (not required, but have tourism/heritage benefits - Relate community to local context)

  5. Key Considerations • Consistency • Look and feel • Placement • Information on sign • Road safety • Number of signs • Size • Location • Clarity • Clear identification & purpose • Avoid/reduce duplication

  6. Wayfinding Signage • What is “wayfinding”? • The consistent use of signs, maps and other graphic methods to convey location and direction to visitors throughout a region. • Challenge • Bruce Grey Simcoe has identified the lack of consistent, coherent wayfinding signage throughout the region • Opportunity • Each municipality within Grey County offers a unique visitor experience and amenities/attractions, but tourists and visitors are seldom aware of community, county or regional borders

  7. Types of Wayfinding signs • Tourist-Oriented Directional Signs (TODS) along provincial roadways. • Signage managed by the County • Signage managed by municipalities • Private signage created by local businesses to provide directional information to visitors.

  8. RTO-7Tourism Wayfinding & Signage • Signage system developed specifically to address tourism-based wayfinding needs throughout Grey, Bruce and Simcoe Counties • Designed to provide communities with cohesive, cost-effective promotional platform • Designed to provide flexibility/opportunity to incorporate community-specific branding • Caveat: Provides little direction on municipal identification signage hierarchy (eg. county/municipal/community)

  9. Some Examples

  10. Time for a Refresh • Many road signs need replacing • Wear & Tear • Faded or damaged • Opportunity to think strategically & regionally about a practical aspect of our County brand and local municipal brands • Incorporating new County brand & local municipal brands • Pair County and Municipal branding for a collaborative approach & image • Integrate regional place-making/destination development principles

  11. What’s out there right now….

  12. Signage Needs • Safe & Functional • Signage needs to be functional, first and foremost • Need to have strong, reliable criteria for determining where signs are placed, what information they display, what they look like and how they are managed (i.e. consistent approach) • Distinctive & Recognizable • Opportunity to pair municipal branding initiatives with new signage to demonstrate a rich tapestry of communities within Grey County family • Identity & Reputation • Signage is often a “first impression” for visitors & residents • Opportunity to help identify Grey County & its communities as distinct, unique and welcoming

  13. Opportunities, Challenges & Considerations • Overall intent of asignage program is to balance the number of signs throughout Grey County & its municipalities to provide a clear, methodical sequence of directional elements to municipal and privately-owned destinations. • A signage system of this nature can provide an efficient, cost effective solution. • Establishing a signage hierarchy and a preliminary wayfinding approach.

  14. An example of a signage strategy: Town of Innisfil • Suggests Visual Identity Standards, a Signage System Hierarchy, looks at existing wayfinding locations/gaps • Based on RTO7 wayfinding signage strategy and adds municipal identification signage • Worked with form:media (same company as developed RTO7 wayfinding strategy) • Uses a hierarchy of signage, including: • Tourist Oriented Directional Signs (TODS) • Signage managed by Simcoe County • Signage managed by the Town of Innisfil • Private signage

  15. An example of a signage strategy: Town of Innisfil • Overall intent is to “limit the number of signs throughout the Town while providing a clear, methodical sequence of directional elements to municipal and privately-owned destinations.” • Effective, efficient and economical solution to signage - consistency & coherency • Included public consultation • Phased-in implementation, using signage hierarchy and assessment of current assets

  16. Next steps… • Initiate consideration of a strategic approach to signage in Grey County • Looking at options for creating consistent, collaborative community signage guidelines • Opportunities to partner Grey County brand and member municipality brands • Potential for seeking consultant guidance • Opportunity to create a working group to consider Tourism, Transportation, Branding, etc across signage needs

  17. Moving Forward… • Opportunity to develop a Grey County signage strategy • Options for how we move forward: • Collaborative County approach (utilizing consultant) – full partnership in strategy development & implementation plan • County-led (utilizing consultant), with municipal input • County-led (no consultant), with municipal input • County-only

More Related