A look at design students' City of Edmonton River Valley interpretive signage project

In the spring of 2022, senior class design students took on a redesign project for the City of Edmonton — and the results are exceptional.

20 March 2023

Credit for all photos: Brett Prosser, City of Edmonton

Written by Sue Colberg, Associate Professor (Design Studies):

In the spring of 2022, my senior class (DES 594: Visual Communication Design Practice) took on a design project for the City of Edmonton. Heather Knowles, River Valley Coordinator | River Valley Parks and Facilities, had called me the previous summer to see whether redesigning the interpretive signage system for the City of Edmonton River Valley Parks would be something we would undertake as a Client Project for class.

A great learning experience for the students, this project provided a number of challenges. Students were tasked with developing updated, contemporary looking designs that would work within the City of Edmonton Visual Identity (branding) System AND the River Valley Parks Visual Identity System, while taking into consideration the reuse of the physical support structures already installed in the parks. The objective was to create a system of signs that would be educational, engaging for visitors, and long-lasting. The students not only designed great systems, they also researched the visibility and readability of the signs under changing seasonal conditions, the durability of various materials, and cost-effective production methods.

Under my supervision, and with Heather’s feedback, the class worked, over the course of the Winter Term, to develop their designs. Ten teams, of two students each, refined their visual proposals and presented them to clients Heather Knowles and Juanita Spence (Supervisor, River Valley Parks and Facilities). After the final presentation to the clients, the proposed designs of one team were selected for production and eventual implementation.

Design students Jayden Fandrick and Lara Oshanek were hired by the City of Edmonton to work on development of the interpretive sign series over the summer of 2022. The signs can now be seen in various locations in the River Valley Parks.