Commonwealth Pier

Arrowstreet / 2019-2023

This campus—composed of two office buildings, a hotel, a newly renovated historic pier, and countless retail spaces—needed a new system of signage and wayfinding to reflect their new branding and to stand apart from the quickly developing Seaport district of Boston.

Concept Design

With a completely new brand and a request for a fresh start on the signage, we had to design three concepts that would pay homage to the historical aspect of the Pier as well as be modern and attractive enough to stand up to the surrounding new buildings and high-end brands in Seaport.

It was a tough challenge, but we took influences from the old & new architecture, landscaping, and the branding to create our three different directions.

Design Development

From there, we took bits and pieces from all three concepts that the clients liked and continued developing. Design Communications Ltd. (DCL) was selected to do Design Build alongside us, and SoSo Limited was hired to take on the digital components. We worked as a team with both groups, as well as regularly met with the client, Pembroke, as changes came along and as we worked through through color, typography, and materiality.

Several sign type prototypes were built by DCL, which helped us and the client review in different conditions and make some design decisions.