Mukilteo Sign Project: Design Goals

Mukilteo Sign Project: Design Goals

Mukilteo is a unique town located on Puget Sound, nestled in a natural setting with parks, beaches and views of the Olympic Mountains, Whidby Island, and warm sunsets. The Mukilteo community values its small-town character, history, tradition, creativity, and natural setting. The primary design objective for the new gateway and new park signs is to replace the existing signs with a fresh look that reflects and communicates those values to visitors and for the community alike.

Gateway Sign

The target audience for the new gateway signs is primarily the first-time visitors traveling into town using the main arterial routes. The new designs should welcome these visitors in a friendly manner, should be easily seen (legible), during the night and the day, and should be placed at strategic entry points to Mukilteo. The signs should clearly communicate to those approaching that they’re leaving one city or jurisdiction behind and about to enter through a gateway to Mukilteo. Residents who work and live in Mukilteo will also see the signs, but way more often and on a regular basis. Therefore, the gateway sign design must also be appealing to this audience as well; not just one time, but over time. The look and feel of a successful gateway sign design should effectively communicate Mukilteo’s unique character with a unique look. The signs should differentiate Mukilteo from the messages being communicated by gateway signs into neighboring towns such as Everett, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Marysville, and Edmonds.

Park Sign

The target audience for the new park signs is primarily residents and neighbors, the primary users of the parks. The primary function is park identification. The new designs should welcome residents in a friendly manner, should be easily identifiable as belonging to the city, be legible during the night and the day, and should be placed at strategic, high-traffic points at the park’s edges.

Design Elements

Although the new gateway and the new park sign designs may be a different sizes and orientations, they’ll also need to have a consistent design element which ties them all together; ultimately to be thought of as a single family of signs that represent Mukilteo. Some sign design elements that accomplish this visual connection will be the use of similar materials, fonts, colors, etc. The primary focus of the materials will be to express the local and natural environments (Forests, Gulches & Shoreline) and to feel warm and inviting. But also, the Mukilteo lighthouse identity can and will be used as a unifying design element. The lighthouse is a key differentiator for Mukilteo and is to be incorporated as a key graphic symbol into the layout of each sign design.