Downtown Wayfinding System Installed

“Wayﬁnding is as much a cultural change as a physical one.” reads Corbin Design’s homepage. Corbin, the Michigan firm who has designed similar systems for Los Angeles and Atlanta, first presented their designs to the public in July of 2007. The wayfinding system is a network of signs and maps designed to help Raleigh’s visitors in their arrival downtown and direct them to their destination. The signs help both pedestrians and motorists throughout their journey. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance and the Convention and Visitors Bureau worked with the city to develop the system.

Downtown’s navigation is relatively simple for locals but out-of-towners didn’t have an easy system of references for getting around downtown. Corbin identified downtown navigators as:

Schoolchildren visiting the museums and capitol building
Citizens conducting business at government buildings, courthouses
Residents conducting private business at offices and stores
Residents from the surrounding area attending parades, special events or performances
Business owners considering locating their offices in downtown Raleigh or the surrounding Research Triangle area
Nearby residents, students and young professionals visiting restaurants, bars and clubs
University visitors, such as high school students and their parents, guest lecturers, etc. seeking entertainment while they visit
Residents and tourists alike who take advantage of Raleigh’s unique shopping areas
People attending downtown conventions

The new wayfinding system is simple in approach and design and large in scale - making for easy to find and read signs that can be read at far distance. 132 signs make up the network; click the image below to zoom the map large. Many of the signs include an oak leaf motif and a refined set of typefaces to represent the city.

Graphic: Map of Raleigh Wayfinding System Locations [ZOOM & DRAG]

RaleighRob04/13 08:18 AM

They’re great and hopefully will help lower the number of suburbanites getting lost in downtown.

I have, however, seen some of the proposed routes to places and scratched my head saying “Well, you could get there that way, but I wouldn’t.”

Trudy04/13 09:36 AM

Wow, these things look a whole lot better on paper than they do in real life.

olebill04/13 10:13 AM

Trudy,
I agree but signs usually go through a quick, initial fading process that will likely temper the brightness of the blue a bit which will hopefully bring them more in line with the images on paper.

Carver04/13 11:10 AM

Signs Signs everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign

hackles1004/13 11:32 AM

I think they look great. Can’t please everyone! The new signs are a big step up from anything raleigh had in the past!

s04/13 12:55 PM

I love the color. Indigo blue is way more contemporary than ‘municipal blue’.

Micah04/13 01:19 PM

The “Welcome to Raleigh” sign in front of Dorothea Dix Hospital on Western is already damaged. It was up for two days.

hackles1004/13 02:11 PM

Damaged in what way? Vandalism…or by the elements?

RaleighRob04/13 02:59 PM

^Probably hit by a truck. Those green street name signs at intersections are constantly being bent outta shape by them.

Raleigh Indian04/13 04:09 PM

I have seen such signs in other cities too and they are really useful.

JRD04/13 07:12 PM

Dont like the signs at all. They dont tell the best ways to get to the places on them>

TSnow2760404/13 07:53 PM

JRD, was that you I saw driving the backend of that fire truck?

Brian04/13 08:16 PM

I was standing in front of the Busy Bee on Thursday and a woman asked me how to get to Marbles. I told her it was a block over and two blocks down and she said, “That’s it? I’ve been following the blue signs but can’t find the damn thing.”

RaleighRob04/14 08:22 AM

^The blue signs point to it well, I think. Marbles’ big problem is they have no clear signage for their building, once you actually get there. If you’ve never seen it before you wouldn’t know what it was.

Jacob04/14 02:37 PM

I just went to Charlotte this past weekend and I can tell you, their wayfinding system in uptown(downtown)far exceeds ours. The design is more attractive and appealing to the eye and more informative than ours here (especially the maps attached to the post). While I am high favor of this new system, I think it needs several improvements, but great start!

TiberC04/16 07:36 PM

We have electronic devices growing out of our bodies. So does it make sense to put up costly directional signs anywhere? I would be more excited and intrigued by a city endeavor to reduce way finding signs!
.....................
Somewhat related, and from a different angle, I would personally like to see business signs return to our downtown…LIGHTS and EXCITEMENT!
.....................
If you need a load of signs to find your way, then you need to try harder. “iPhone? Here, use mine.”
.....................
This “”“”“"Cash”“”“”” should have been spent on finding ways NOT to tear down historic buildings.
.....................
Does anyone else feel like Raleigh is being sucked down the drain of a stainless steel toilet?

RaleighRob04/17 08:44 AM

^What are you, 19?? If you think the majority of everyday adults have GPS-enabled phones to get around everywhere, you’re pretty clueless. Heck, I didn’t even own a cell phone, period, until 2 years ago. I sure as heck ain’t gonna shell out the money for an iPhone that’s mostly bells and whistles and not really practical.

Oh and here’s a shocker…I still own paper maps too! Oh the horror. :-p

dbd04/17 09:29 AM

I like the signs. I work and live downtown and people are always asking me how to find the courthouse, museums, Peace College, etc. It can be very confusing, especially if you park in one of the parking decks - the pedestrian exits tend to dump you on a side street. I think the ones on South Street and South Saunders are especially good, to help out folks driving in from 40 with their mapquest directions to the convention center or Progress Energy center.

TiberC04/17 04:04 PM

RaleighRob,
..................
If you think an iPhone is NOT practical, then you’re in the extreme majority of people: The Utterly Ignorant.
..................
I’m so clueless for embracing practical technology. I don’t know how I live with myself.
..................
I don’t care if you use a paper map or a mobile device with an electronic map (GPS isn’t necessary), both of those are justification for NOT having a sign! People going into an unknown area should spend a few minutes looking at a map first! And when they lose their way, having a few artfully designed kiosk-style maps placed strategically downtown would be far better than these signs. The map itself could be updated easily/cheaply and they would encourage pedestrian travel!

David04/17 04:11 PM

TiberC, signs are designed to be the tools you use to orient yourself on a map. A wayfinding system is just that, a network of tools used to help one navigate. Promoting a single method would always exclude different types of audiences. The iphone, a map, just signs- none of these in isolation would be a complete way of navigating Raleigh or any other city.

TiberC04/18 09:39 AM

David,
..............................
I agree that signs are necessary for orienting oneself on a map. In fact, streets are usually marked at intersections.
..............................
You’ve further justified using kiosk-maps.

Welcome to New Raleigh. We welcome your participation in the ongoing discussion. Before posting we ask that you read our Comment Policy and we invite you to register with our site. If you want to keep up with the news on our blog, subscribe to the RSS feed or get emailed every time we post.

David Sunday, April 12, 2009