interpretive

Asheville River Arts District

The River Arts District in Asheville, North Carolina is an area of former industrial buildings located near the French Broad River. Visitors can experience working studios and galleries of hundreds of artists, showcasing painting, pottery, jewelry, glass, metal, wood and much more.

MERJE has been working with the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau for over 10 years on a variety of wayfinding programs. The CVB, along with the River Arts District (RAD), approached MERJE to help extend the Citywide program to a more detailed RAD wayfinding program.

Working with the existing RAD identity, MERJE designed wayfinding signs, kiosks and landmarks to help promote the district and make it easier for visitors to locate the various artist studios. The design utilizes components of the citywide wayfinding program, also designed by MERJE, but incorporates unique elements that capture the eclectic and authentic environment of the creative district.

Tampa Riverwalk

Tampa Riverwalk

Tampa Riverwalk is a 2.4-mile recreational pathway along the river in downtown Tampa for which MERJE designed interpretive signage that highlights natural and man-made points of interest, wayfinding that indicate transportation nodes and cultural sites, and map kiosks with solar panel canopies that illuminate the maps in the evening.

Focal elements communicate historical and educational interpretive information, as well as directional signage and maps as a wayfinding component. Complimenting these large scale, multifunctional focal elements, smaller components contain similar types of information such as distance markers for those who come for exercise.

Philadelphia Zoo

Philadelphia Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo was granted its charter in 1859 and is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its charter in 2009. To celebrate the history of the Philadelphia Zoo, MERJE worked with the Zoo’s development office, curators, and design department to create an interpretive exhibit celebrating its accomplishments and milestones. The exhibit provides a “face” to each of the Zoo’s achievements, whether it be recording keeping, animal care, education, or the visitors themselves. It also includes a Zoovenir wall that provides visitors an opportunity to contribute their personal memories of the Zoo by adding photographs to the exhibit.

Newark Walks

Newark Walks is a mobile app that guides users on a tour of the City’s cultural landmarks and historic sites, providing fun facts about each destination. Designed by MERJE and Winfield & Co., the app also provides a calendar of cultural events and can be customized to monitor calories burned and distance traveled. MERJE also designed a printed brochure and map, as well as interpretive panels at the destinations.

Miami wayfinding program

Miami Beach

Follow the fashionistas and you’ll find Miami Beach’s white sandy shores and round-the-clock South Beach dance clubs, but you may miss the art museums, botanical garden and galleries. Tourism is big business in Miami Beach and a new signage system designed by MERJE will help you find your way on your next visit.

Working with City officials, stakeholders and the community, MERJE created a wayfinding program and brand identity influenced by Miami Beach style. The polished, ellipse-shaped post provides a modern elegance to the spine of the sign structure. The guide sign face is simple, meeting Florida Department of Transportation criteria, but the back of the sign, the panel shape and brackets take on curved forms that turn a seemingly simple sign into a distinctive element on the street. Every aspect of this inspired design helps it to integrate into an environment that has an overwhelming architectural context and visual presence.

Helen Hayes Hospital

Helen Hayes Exhibits

As one of the country’s first physical rehabilitation facilities, Helen Hayes Hospital is widely recognized as a leader in rehabilitation medicine and research. MERJE worked with the hospital to create a series of landmark exhibits throughout the 105-acre campus. The exhibits reinforce the hospital’s brand message (“The Power of Rehabilitation”), highlight patient achievements and tell the history of the facility. The exhibits utilize images and words to offer encouragement and positive reinforcement, a historic timeline illustrates the progress of the facility and its patients over the years, and the hospital’s main lobby features an exhibit dedicated to Helen Hayes MacArthur. Mrs MacArthur was known as the First Lady of the American Theater and endowed the hospital with not only her name, but her enduring spirit and legacy of hope.

Frederick, MD Gateway

Frederick

Downtown Frederick’s greatest strength is the variety of shopping, dining and entertainment experiences that complement the rich history found among the well-preserved buildings. This “Great American Main Street”—the first in the State of Maryland—lives up to its national billing with more than 230 retailers, restaurants and art galleries, events nearly every weekend of the year, a daytime workforce of 5,000 people and more than 13,000 downtown residents. Downtown Frederick is the heart of the City of Frederick, a municipality of approximately 58,000 residents and serves as the County seat for Frederick County. MERJE is working with the Downtown Frederick Partnership to design a wayfinding program that reflects the historic character of its downtown. Gateways, directional signage for vehicles and pedestrians, as well as parking garage identification, maps, and kiosks are all essential parts of this wayfinding plan. This program will welcome, orient, direct and inform visitors and residents.

Chester Valley Trail

The Chester Valley Trail (CVT) is currently a 13-mile multi-use trail spanning throughout multiple townships in Chester County. The trail links Exton, PA to King of Prussia, PA, and will soon expand to Downingtown, PA. The CVT is a multi-use paved trail for bicyclists, walkers, and families alike.

MERJE was hired by Chester County Facilities & Parks to design interpretive and trailhead signage including; orientation maps, trail rules and historical information at the trailheads and interpretive signage along the trail. The goal of the project is to provide a historical context and orientation of the rich heritage of Chester County in specific areas along the CVT.

Our design reflects the historic nature of the content while bringing in modern elements and colors. Reflecting on the Rails-to-Trails history of the CVT, the design of the interpretive panel base resembles the railroad tracks.

Annapolis Market House Kiosk

Annapolis

For more than 300 years, this small seaport community has attracted visitors from around the world. The historic Downtown is a hub of activity that centers around the State House and other historic sites, shopping and dining, the City Dock, and the U.S. Naval Academy. MERJE was engaged to develop a master plan for this small, historic city with narrow streets and traffic circles. Focusing on wayfinding issues related to parking, MERJE found that there are plenty of garages in the downtown area, but many were under-utilized. The focus of the wayfinding plan was to get visitors to parking areas, and then guide them to destinations as a pedestrian, where they encounter kiosks with maps and interpretive information. The design of the system took its cues from the architecture, materials and colors of the historic buildings in Downtown Annapolis, where the majority of the wayfinding system is located.