CivicBrand Selected for Ketchikan Pedestrian Wayfinding Project

SEPTEMBER 11, 2026

CivicBrand has been selected by the City of Ketchikan, Alaska, to develop a new pedestrian wayfinding strategy and system for the community.

With a population of roughly 8,000, Ketchikan welcomes more than 1.5 million visitors each year, many arriving by cruise ship. On busy days, more than 15,000 visitors can arrive in the community, with most exploring downtown on foot and often with only a few hours to experience Ketchikan.

That creates a unique challenge for pedestrian wayfinding. Thousands of first-time visitors need to quickly understand where they are, where they can go and what they might discover along the way, while the system also needs to serve the people who live and work in Ketchikan every day.

“Wayfinding is about much more than signs. It’s about the experience of moving through a place and how navigation, placemaking, identity and culture all work together to create a stronger sense of place.” – Ryan Short, CEO & Co-Founder, CivicBrand

The project will begin on the ground with a human-centered design process focused on understanding how people actually experience and navigate Ketchikan. CivicBrand’s team will walk key routes from arrival points into downtown, experience the existing system firsthand, observe how people move through the community and talk with visitors about their experience.
At the same time, the team will systematically audit the existing pedestrian wayfinding system, documenting signs, decision points, gaps, confusing moments and opportunities to make navigation more intuitive.

Those observations will help the team identify opportunities, test ideas and develop a new wayfinding strategy and visual system that helps people navigate Ketchikan while encouraging exploration and reflecting the community’s distinct character, culture and sense of place.

The project will ultimately include a comprehensive wayfinding plan, sign designs, location recommendations and fabrication-ready documentation to guide future implementation.

This announcement was also published in:
Alaska Travel Daily
Signal News Seattle
Fox31 News Denver
The Anchorage Post
Global Traveler Today