One of Perth’s biggest and best-loved beaches is reborn with user-led wayfinding and signage that celebrates this local favourite hotspot.

Diadem’s precinct-wide signage suite design celebrated Scarborough’s history as a fun destination by the water.

Following the success of their high-profile redevelopment of Perth’s Elizabeth Quay, the urban design team of Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) were engaged to reimagine the large outdoor public spaces of Scarborough Beach.

The initiative was led by Western Australia’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) as the proposal presented a significant tourist opportunity.

TCL needed a provider to deliver a robust wayfinding strategy before the solution moved to concept design. Building on its extensive public spaces experience, Diadem was engaged to create a strategy that would draw people together and help them easily navigate the precinct’s spaces.

The landscape architecture adopted the indigenous ‘Wallu’ theme, meaning meeting and parting, a reference to a place where people come together, and where the sea meets the sand.

The signage suite patterns were designed to cast shadows onto the Scarborough terrain when hit by the harsh sun, changing throughout the day and connecting the signs to land. Diadem undertook sun studies to determine the signs’ positioning and optimal shadow-casting.

One intent of the wayfinding strategy was to redirect the precinct’s traditional traffic flow. This would shift the focus away from the main access point – the central road leading down to the clock tower – and encourage its use as a hub for tourists and pedestrians rather than cars.

This change created three distinct access points that needed a wayfinding solution to serve several purposes; introduce the precinct, direct traffic, and provide wayfinding through the area.

Rolling out the design, Diadem ensured the new signage was vandal-resistant, durable in the salt-spray air, bright and highly visible and placed accurately to provide direction to visitors.

Through the project, Diadem safeguarded the precinct’s original creative intent and met its many stakeholders’ needs. The strength of the strategic process ensured that, even with a shifting scope, the result successfully met the local area’s needs.