Our sign standards accommodate over 300 provincial parks in Alberta, Canada. Based on surveys of nearly 100 sites, we developed an information hierarchy for identification, motorist guidance, visitor information, and interpretation. The resulting system is designed to establish a strong visual consistency and utility while respecting the need for making the signage cost efficient and durable. A web-based management system is being developed for planning, documentation, ordering, manufacturing, and program maintenance.

We developed a program so all parks in the Alberta system can provide orientation information and interpretation to visitors in a consistent manner. Besides improving communications, goals included reducing costs and enhancing the public’s awareness that the various park units are managed by the same agency. This modular system of panels and assemblies is embodied in a standards guidebook with a planned program for web-based management of all sign panels in the 300+ park system.

Within Alberta Parks there are many stories to tell about natural resources and the hand of man on the land. We developed a program to improve the quality, consistency, and readability of interpretive wayside exhibits as an extension of our Alberta Parks Sign Program. This program was prepared with writer-planner Bruce Hopkins and includes a step-by-step approach to planning, writing, graphic design, illustration selection, production, and implementation.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Alberta Parks, Meeker & Associates worked with type designer James Montalbano in developed a new identity using a clear wordmark based on type designs from the late 1920s. This historic reference to the Rockies and the power of the landscape is reflected in a clear graphic that is understood at a glance. The brand mark was designed for use in environmental graphic applications with adaptations for use on web sites and in print.