Known for its small-town appeal, Berkley, a suburb of Detroit, offers residents and visitors unique dining and shopping opportunities in both of its Downtown districts. With a city motto of “Small City - Big Impact”, it is important for Berkley to provide its residents and visitors with a positive experience when they enter the city limits and that begins with wayfinding.
Because of the ease with which visitors can transition from town to town in this area, one of the main objectives of this program is for Berkley to clearly identify its boundaries and welcome visitors to the city. To accomplish this, the new wayfinding signage design includes multiple options for gateway and welcome signs to be used throughout the city including a retrofit option that reuses existing brick walls. The full sign type array also includes large gateway signs and smaller single-post welcome signs that introduce the Downtown districts as well as the city brand.
This unique design takes subtle inspiration from the City’s brand standards while giving a nod to the local architecture through panel shapes and pattern applications. Modular pieces including framing structures and message panels have been designed in order to simplify long-term program maintenance and keep down future costs.
