Client, Year

Baltimore National
Heritage Area, 2023

Services

Conceptual Design
Schematic Design
Design Documentation
Sign Locations & Messages)
Implementation Oversight

Photography

Baltimore National
Heritage Area

Navigating Through History and Culture

Baltimore National Heritage Area is a concentration of historic, cultural, and natural resources that work in concert to tell stories and preserve history. In collaboration with Baltimore’s tourism, municipal, cultural, and historical organizations, we redesigned city-wide trailblazer wayfinding signage suffering from age and deterioration. 

The city-wide system connects and directs to institutions dedicated to preserving and sharing Baltimore’s African American history and culture.

The ground based monument signs act as a beacon, capturing the attention of vehicles and pedestrians passing by.

The three sided monument signs house multiple scales of discernible information, including maps with directions and paths for walking to, or taking mass transit between the destinations.

The system consists of both ground-based and post-mounted signs to accommodate the limited available real estate while providing all the necessary information. 

More than 30 trailblazing signs are strategically placed around the city to capture vehicles traveling on major thoroughfares, and along the most straightforward route to each institution

The second phase of the project added four more institutions, eight in total, as well as double the amount of vehicular directional, and two highway signs.

The distinct five pointed star, inspired by the Black American Flag, denotes you have arrived at your destination. Derived from the North Star, used as a guide for the long journey towards freedom, it now represents a guide for the future.

The color palette and custom pattern is intended to merge the Pan-African, Maryland and Baltimore city flag colors to create a bold and distinct visual vocabulary for this wayfinding system.

A city’s stories become more accessible when its cultural landmarks are visibly connected. Baltimore’s history is everywhere, but visitors now have a way to find them.

Stay in Touch

PO Box 50337, Balt., MD 21211

©2024 Ashton Design

Stay in Touch