Friday Harbour was designed to be a destination where every day feels like a Friday, all year-round. Located on the shores of Lake Simcoe, it is set to be one of Ontario’s premier destinations and is already attracting a vibrant community. This ambitious $1.5 billion development involved the excavation of the existing marina basin and the construction of the largest in-land marina in Canada.
As part of the Resort development, an extensive and unique signage program was a must. In essence, Friday Harbour’s signage program needed to accommodate an entire community: the 600-acre site encompasses luxury town homes and condos, recreational amenities, a nature trail system, a network of streets that serve pedestrians, vehicles, and a system of shuttles, as well as an extensive retail area.
Entro designed the exterior signage program with the intention of creating a sense of unity among the Resort’s different environments and offerings. A sophisticated, minimal font and colour palette communicate the quality and tranquil beauty of the Resort and worked with the overall brand position the Resort had developed.
Identification pylons and wayfinding signage are particularly important for enabling navigation throughout the Resort, as well as through the seven kilometers of trails which are open to the public. Within the trails, interpretive signage tells the story of the site’s history, as well as conservation efforts underway. A team of 50 environmental consultants teamed up to design a 200-acre Nature Preserve that provides habitats for southern flying squirrels, birds, snakes, dragonflies, turtles, frogs and vegetation, including the endangered butternut tree.
We especially enjoyed creating signage for The Nest, the Resort’s award winning 18-hole golf course, designed by world-renown course designer, Doug Carrick. Working closely with the Resort and golf club staff, we created a signage program that is very much a departure from an off-the-shelf collection of signs common to most golf courses, and instead, extended the style of the Resort’s signage to the greens. Golfers have remarked on the unique sense of place and the distinct, “reinvented” experience evoked by the signage.
Learn more about Friday Harbour Resort here.