Wayfinding Signage Update Project

Tillsonburg’s Wayfinding Signage project involved reimagining, redesigning and replacing all wayfinding signage throughout the Town of Tillsonburg, updating the signs with current branding and providing wayfinding to key locations throughout town in support of area businesses, industry and tourism.

The Economic Development & Marketing department led the project to design and install the 48 new signs, an initiative which began in spring 2021 and was completed in spring 2022. Input was solicited from the community throughout the development process, and involved committee members, business community leaders, staff senior leadership and Council. The collaborative approach ensured community involvement in determining key tourism destinations, points of interest and signage locations.

Tillsonburg won the EDCO provincial award for our new branding in 2017, and the updated wayfinding signage is the latest component in the continuum of marketing materials to be updated with our award-winning brand image. New signage also offered the opportunity to correct some of the deficiencies in the existing signage such as less-than-optimal readability and missing locations.

NEW WAYFINDING SIGNAGE – BRANDING

The new wayfinding signage features Tillsonburg’s current branded look, with a clean, simple design and a “Tillsonburg blue” Futura font on a white background. A large font size and high contrast allows for maximum readability in accordance with AODA. Each sign features the Tillsonburg logo (on large format signs) or the Tillsonburg green leaf design element (on smaller format signs).

The new signs are intended for use by both residents and visitors, so strategies were developed with both target audiences in mind.

NEW WAYFINDING SIGNAGE – STRATEGY

An emphasis was placed on the Downtown area as a key destination for visitors and residents, to help support an ongoing “shop local” mindset. Design elements used to highlight the Downtown area include a ‘Downtown’ callout box and the downtown logo/ symbol, where feasible.

The Downtown heritage logo, in burgundy, is not only attention-grabbing against the white background but also introduces the downtown’s distinct branding in a “bread-crumbs” approach, and creates a sense of arrival for visitors when entering downtown with the corresponding large downtown heritage signage.

The large entrance signs, positioned at five main access points into the Town, also serve as “Brag Boards” by listing all the great amenities Tillsonburg has to offer.

New signage was introduced for key tourism locations, including the Tillsonburg Community Centre, Soccer Park and Waterpark, where none existed previously. The new signage helps visitors find these key tourism locations, and reminds exiting visitors of other Tillsonburg amenities and the downtown area shopping, dining and arts.

In pursuit of environmental sustainability the old metal signage posts which were removed, as they were rusted beyond repair, were sent for metal recycling. The new signage materials (aluminum post and aluminum panel) were selected for their longevity, providing a long-term cost benefit and ensuring the signs continue to look good for many years to come.

FEEDBACK

The signage project and images of the signage were posted to Tillsonburg’s Facebook page upon completion and much positive feedback was received.