A Sharp New Look for New York City Beach Signs

By the time Superstorm Sandy finished tearing through the New York City region last November, 14 miles of city beaches had been transformed into disaster areas, with millions of tons of sand displaced and boardwalks completely destroyed. The city's parks and recreation department worked all winter and spring to reopen its beaches for the 2013 season by Memorial Day weekend. There's still more work to be done, but one crucial new element is already: completely redesigned beach signs.

The new signage serves a critical role in post-Sandy wayfinding along the city's beaches. Designed by Paula Scher of Pentagram, which also oversaw the redesign of the city's park system identity, the blue and yellow signs introduce each beach with easy-to-spot location markers, typography, and an image of the site. "This was about making the beach the hero, since the boardwalk is gone," says Scher.