Wayfinding Plan - Spring 2022

Downtown Wayfinding Plan

Medfield Community Branding and Wayfinding Project Final Report (2022)

Sign Elements and Wayfinding Specifications (2022)

• Supports Master Plan Recommendation 1.1.2, 2.2.2

• Welcomes visitors to Medfield and orients them to the town’s historic and cultural amenities

• Provide clear and concise signage to indicate parking regulations and restrictions for on-street and off-street locations.

• Provide wayfinding signage to inform and guide motorists to parking areas and pedestrians to Downtown destinations and back to their vehicle.

Supports Local Rapid Recovery Plan (Fall 2021)

Wayfinding signage can help visitors efficiently navigate an area and can Increase visibility of lesser known businesses and amenities, helping to attract new customers. The goal of the Town’s wayfinding program is to provide consistent and attractive information to assist the public in navigating the Town and to improve the overall downtown experience for all visitors. In the recently conducted survey of downtown businesses, many tenants indicated a concern about the lack of street parking in downtown, as well as a need for public beautification enhancements. A comprehensive wayfinding system would serve to direct visitors to public parking and other downtown amenities while also implementing physical improvements in the way of signage and banners to promote Medfield and create a sense of place.

Medfield has a relatively compact and walkable downtown with a variety of restaurants, goods and services. However, businesses and municipal officials have found it challenging to draw people to spend time downtown due to a perceived lack of public parking and some traffic intersections that pedestrians find unsafe to cross, especially during peak traffic hours. A public parking lot is available opposite Town Hall on Janes Avenue, but without clear signage directing visitors to this lot, it tends to be underused. In addition, some businesses off of Main Street struggle to attract customers due to limited visibility of their storefronts.

The purpose of this project is to create visual cohesiveness and a sense of place for the downtown area and to allow visitors to more easily navigate the district in order to access parking, businesses and civic resources. A successful wayfinding system, providing directional signs, on-street communication and clear Town branding would improve the downtown experience for visitors and improve access to and visibility of secondary attractions.

Scope of Services   For MDI Community Branding and Wayfinding

 To be provided by Consultants Favermann Design for the Town of Medfield, MA

 Actions

 A  preliminary meeting/conversation with Town Planner and Staff to develop strategy and goals.

1. Site visit and Analysis.
2. Three to five Advisory Committee meetings with Town of Medfield to discuss context and visual influences as well as individual wayfinding elements and placements.
3. Design of a brand theme, logo and optional slogan or tagline including color, font, placement, etc. to be approved by the Town of Medfield Advisory Committee.
4. Creation of as many as three (3) brand option designs for application to all wayfinding elements.
5. An Intermediate and final design review
6. Creation of a “hierarchical family” of individual signs and other elements to illustrate design elements.
7. Refinement of a final logo/logotype and slogan as a community brand.
8. Recommendations for placement and use of town brand on wayfinding elements and other social media and town communications applications (website, facebook, etc.).
9. Refinement of hierarchy to an intermediate phase for public review and discussion.
10. Using town maps, creation of sign element site placement by working with Advisory Committee.
11. Development of a final wayfinding sign and element hierarchy to be approved by appropriate committees including Select  Board  at a public meeting.
12. Once approved by the Town of Medfield Select Board, Favermann Design will create a full set of specifications that can be used for pricing and fabrication by appropriate vendors.
13. A Final Report will be submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) Massachusetts Downtown Initiative program (MDI). A draft will be reviewed and approved by the Town   Planner  before submittal.

 Note: Site visits will take place as necessary by Consultant.

Schedule

 There will be monthly advisory committee meetings. The potential daters of these meeting whether in person or virtual are the following: 

1. February 7 
2. March 7 
3. April 4 
4. May 9 

Note A: Images and refinements will also be circulated to the Advisory Committee digitally outside meetings for review.

Note B: These will be part of the Town of Medfield Planning Board meetings held at 7:30 pm.

5. The Board of Selectmen presentation will take place on June 7, 2022 (TBD).

 Deliverables

 Meetings:

1. Four (4) Project or Advisory Committee Review Meetings
2. A Family of elements mapping sessions
3. A public forum and Select Board approval presentation.

Note: These can be combined.

• Branding materials, preliminary report and final report
• Brand/logo design in digital format
• Optional tagline
• A hierarchical family of sign and wayfinding elements
• Social media brand recommendations.
• A map of individual wayfinding element placement at the downtown area and strategically throughout the Town of Medfield.
• A full set of specifications for cost estimations and fabrication of way find ing and sign elements.
• Final Report for DHCD

2/7/22 - Mark Favermann, Favermann Design, Wayfinding Grant Working Group

• Supports Master Plan Recommendation 1.1.2, 2.2.2
• Welcomes visitors to Medfield and orients them to the town’s historic and cultural amenities
• Provide clear and concise signage to indicate parking regulations and restrictions for on-street and off-street locations.
• Provide wayfinding signage to inform and guide motorists to parking areas and pedestrians to Downtown destinations and back to their vehicle.

3/7/22 - Mark Favermann, Favermann Design, Wayfinding Grant Working Group #2

05/16/22 - Mark Favermann, Favermann Design, Wayfinding Grant Working Group Favermann #3

06/14/22 - Survey Released

Earlier this year, the Planning Board began working with design consultant Mark Favermann of Favermann Design to explore community branding and wayfinding options. The Board partnered with a smaller 'working group' of residents as they endeavoured to come up with a suitable "logo" that the Town can use on new signage and banners in the Downtown area. Grant funding was provided by the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative. The Working Group has shortlisted the designs to the following four images (designs are larger in the survey): 

Please rank your choices: https://forms.gle/nSD1q4pFdqj1VCyh7  (voting closed)