Bicycle tourism is growing and generating “eye-opening” economic impact. Travel Oregon’s Bicycle Tourism Studio provides communities with planning and financial assistance to kick-start bicycle-based economic development. Mayer/Reed has been working with Travel Oregon to develop design strategies for bike and recreation-based place making, identity and wayfinding in places like Oakridge/West Fir, Mosier and Hood River.
Recently we were commissioned to design a logo and style guide for the Gorge Hubs. These community-operated “rest stops” for hikers, bicyclists and recreationalists will provide support amenities while promoting exploration of local experiences. We dove deep to understand how to leverage the “hub” concept into a statewide program with coordinated marketing and signage applications. The logo creates an identity for welcome centers in 6 communities along the Historic Columbia River Highway and State Trail. The style guide addresses applications for signage, maps, print and digital media.
The digital display used for the countdown clock is vertically oriented in a dramatic waterfall configuration, embedded in an internally-illuminated, translucent conical form, emblematic of Mt. Hood and re-imagined as a veil of watery lightness supported by a javelin shaped wooden mast. Led by Mayer/Reed, the design was a collaboration with Nancy Cheng, associate professor of architecture at the University of Oregon, whose work with digital fabrication processes to generate screens for filtering light inspired the design of the translucent cladding.
