Wayfinding Design

Art Director

Festival guide maps & iconography — print & digital kiosk

Overview

The Portland Winter Light Festival spreads light art installations across the city, from the City Center and West Riverfront to the Eastside Esplanade and PSU Campus. Visitors needed a clear way to find their way between them.

As art director, I designed the festival's guide maps, with a cohesive visual system of custom icons and clear layouts that help attendees plan routes and explore key points of interest.

One system, every format. The maps were optimized for web, print, and interactive kiosks, the first year PWLF offered navigation tools this comprehensive.

A City-Wide Map

The city map ties the whole festival together. Each art experience (West Riverfront, Eastside, PSU, and Out & Around) gets its own color in the key, alongside the Crystal Dolphin Shuttle Route and Portland Streetcar lines. Visitors can see at a glance where each zone sits and how to get between them, then plan a route before they head out.

Wayfinding On-Site

The same maps scale up to large-format displays and interactive kiosks, so visitors can get their bearings on the ground. Callouts zoom in on dense areas like Inner South East, where stops like Bunk Bar and Glow Bar are easy to spot. Every map was designed in Adobe Illustrator to hold up at any size, from the web to a wall.

Zone Maps + Icon Key

Each zone gets a detailed map with its own key. Custom icons mark installation numbers, warming stations, info booths, bathrooms, and food and drink, so visitors find what they need fast. Landmarks like OMSI and Tilikum Crossing anchor the layout, and the dark, neon-accented style echoes the light art it guides people to.

Outcome

Easier to explore. User-friendly maps improved navigation and interaction with the festival's art zones.
Icons that guide. Custom icons highlighted key areas and landmarks, enhancing the wayfinding experience.
Every touchpoint covered. Multi-format maps supported digital, print, and kiosk platforms, so visitors had a map wherever they were.
A bigger festival. By helping attendees explore and engage with the city's installations, the maps contributed to record-breaking attendance and visitor satisfaction.

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