Recognized as one of the world’s top resort destinations, this alpine community hosts as many as 18,000 skiers a day. The town has also succeeded in leveraging that winter tourism expertise to attract visitors year-round.
This influx of visitors, though, has created wayfinding challenges throughout the Gore River Valley.

After a nationwide search, town officials chose Corbin to redefine the way visitors navigate Vail. The resulting wayfinding system reflects Vail’s European character, down to the regulatory signs. Six villages were identified and assigned names and unique colors to point them out from the Interstate highway that bisects the valley. “Mountain portal” signage was developed to direct skiers who may take a lift up one slope only to ski down another slope into a different village later.

The signage is also tailored to support the town’s unique pedestrian focus, where visitors use a free public transit system to travel around town before walking to their destinations in the heart of each village.

Corbin also created detailed photo illustrations to demonstrate how the signs would appear once installed.

Town officials and residents embraced the plan, speeding up the original timetable for its implementation in order to have newly-designed signs installed during the 1999 ski season.