Defining an Urban Image with a Comprehensive Graphics System

The image established by an urban area can have a profound effect upon the future well being of that area. Economic development and other forms of growth can be encouraged or discouraged by the image of an area. In addition, the way the image is projected is of major importance in how the image is perceived by others. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a process by which the image of an area can be defined and a comprehensive graphics system can be designed to project that image. Techniques are presented for encouraging citizen participation in the definition process. Professional survey and inventory procedures used to study the image of an urban area are described. Methods to establish the extent of the graphics system, categories of data collection, a discussion of sign types, as well as the hierarchy of geographical space and the development of the comprehensive graphics design matrix are presented. The application of comprehensive graphics systems and their support of the image of particular urban areas are compared and discussed through the presentation of examples from Europe and Asia, as well as a discussion of a system now being developed with both directional signage and promotional materials for a historical county and its cities in Kansas.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Intl.1995.44

Volume Editors
John K. Edwards