City Signage to Guide Tourist Traffic

Bentonville officials are hoping a signage and wayfinding system will direct tourism dollars into the city.

The city has been working with the Philadelphia-based firm MERJE Graphic Design to develop a wayfinding plan that will guide visitors to key attractions such as the downtown Bentonville Square and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Kaleen Griffith, president and CEO of the Bentonville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the museum is what originally sparked the conversation about developing a wayfinding system.

“We want to be prepared for a vast increase in vehicular traffic,” she said.

The museum is slated to open in 2011 and city officials want to have the majority of the signs in place by that time.

Bentonville’s signage plan is a collaborative effort between the city, the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Downtown Bentonville and Crystal Bridges.

It’s expected to cost between $400,000 and $500,000, Griffith said, depending on how many signs the city decides to install.

The recommendation from MERJE includes a menu of various types of signs, with vehicular signs posted on telescoping pole systems that allow for additional destinations to be added as needed.

In addition to the museum, signs will direct visitors to other points of interest within the city.

The hope among city officials is that the museum will get the visitors to Bentonville and the signs will keep them there.

Daniel Hintz, executive director of Downtown Bentonville, said the museum is expected to bring a whole new set of users to the city and the downtown area can benefit from that influx.

One of the goals of the signage program, he said, is to get users from the highway into the city and walking around downtown Bentonville.

“That way people stay longer, they spend more money and they have a more dynamic experience,” he said.

Hintz said the signs will help promote the square, the Walton 5 &10 and Peel Mansion & Gardens by bringing attention to those attractions and pointing out their historical significance.

Signs will not only serve to direct visitors, but kiosks and maps placed around the square will include information about attractions.

Brad Crain, a Bentonville City Council member, said he was pleased with the design of the signs, which were presented to the council in March.

“The quality of the design and the thought they put into it really helped to say Bentonville,” he said. “The imagery ties in very well with our theme here.”

Crain said he sees a great need in the city for wayfinding signs.

“What we all know and understand is that over the next few years, the amount of traffic is going to significantly increase in our region,” he said. “We need to make sure that we are leading folks from point to point within the region to ensure that the quality stays around.”

Wayfinding is key to increasing overnight stays with tourists and providing return guests to the city, which will in turn increase tourism revenue, Crain said.

Wayfinding Trend
Cities across the country are jumping on the wayfinding trend and developing signage programs for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The city of Tulsa spent about five years designing and planning its downtown wayfinding system in preparation for the opening of a new event center. Corbin Design of Michigan developed the system, which directs visitors to public venues such as the Bank of Oklahoma Arena, the Performing Arts Center, Convention Center and Civic Center.

Jim Norton, president of Downtown Tulsa Unlimited, said the city’s goal was to have signage in place by the time it opened the new BOK Arena last September.

The 18,000-seat arena was part of a bond issue the city passed in 2003 in an effort to breath life into its downtown area.

“We knew when that arena opened that we were going to need to find a way to get people from the interstate to downtown and to parking areas, and that we would need pedestrian signage to get them from the parking areas to where they needed to go,” Norton said.

The signage has worked and has been very well received by visitors, he said.

The city installed 148 signs for a cost of $740,000. The signs were funded through a one-cent sales tax dedicated to funding capital improvement projects.

“We’ve had lots of appreciative people,” Norton said. “It’s worked out well for us.”

Fayetteville to Follow
Allyson Twiggs Dyer, executive director of the Fayetteville Convention and Visitors Bureau, is hoping the city will follow Bentonville’s lead and develop a similar signage program to direct visitors to attractions such as the Walton Arts Center and the city’s parks.

“In tourism, signage is huge,” Dyer said.

It’s difficult to direct visitors to the city’s attractions, she said, using landmarks alone.

Signs help visitors navigate the city and make their experience more enjoyable, Dyer said.

“It’s really beneficial to visitors. It helps them stay longer when they’re not frustrated with finding places,” she said.

Dyer envisions attractive signs that point visitors to the Fayetteville Air Museum, the downtown square and the Botanical Gardens.

“I’d love to see it happen, it makes your city really professional looking,” she said. “It tells people a story, it says we took the time to put signs up because we feel like you as a visitor should take the time to see these places.”

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said he is fully supportive of such a plan, he just has to find the money. The city is looking into grant funding, he said, to come up with about $200,000 needed for directional signs.

“We have a lot of historical places and things people need to see in this town,” he said. “We need signs to point them in the right direction.”

The University of Arkansas has already developed a wayfinding and signage program with the help of Cloud Gehshan Associates, a design firm out of Philadelphia.

Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities, said the University has a plan in place and is now exploring funding options to be able to construct the signs.

A needs analysis conducted by Cloud Gehshan in 2005 determined that the campus lacks adequate directional signs and maps. Existing signs are difficult to read and sized too small, the study noted.

The University approached the city of Fayetteville over a year ago about partnering in the plan, hoping to create a regional system that would be consistent throughout the Interstate 540 corridor.

Fayetteville’s Advertising and Promotion Commission agreed to put up $20,000 last summer, with the city council putting up a matching amount, to have Cloud Gehshan perform a wayfinding study.