With over 21 million visits per year, downtown Indianapolis is experiencing dramatic growth. A number of cultural, sporting and governmental venues are generating significant interest in the downtown, but the competing signs leading to these venues were generating confusion.

The goals of developing the new “Direction Downtown” wayfinding program were:

• To identify downtown as a destination from the Interstate highway system;
• To enhance downtown’s public image through unique, helpful graphics;
• To better organize and present information about downtown destinations to make them easier to find;
• To simplify traffic patterns by guiding drivers through downtown along specific routes;
• To identify public parking; and
• To create ongoing policies for signing venues for traffic and pedestrian use.

Corbin’s solution for organizing the information centered on the creation of four quadrants based on the historic City Plan, originally derived from the plan for our nation’s capital. The family of signs included vehicular and pedestrian elements to direct visitors to over 60 attractions.

Visitors, residents and merchants alike have praised the program’s effectiveness. The Society for Environmental Graphic Design recognized our work on the project with a 2000 Merit Award.