Wharf

Savannah Armer

November 24, 2012

Signage of San Francisco

Stacy Asher

Fisherman’s Wharf

Fisherman’s Wharf of San Francisco is one of the biggest tourist attractions that the city of San Francisco has to offer. Ghirardelli Square, Pier 39, and the wharf are just some of the different top visited points in the area. When in the area you are confronted with constant offers of tours of the cities with double decker buses, bike rides over the golden gate bridge, and yes even Segway tours. The area is always packed with tourist looking to get their “San Francisco” experience. The Wharf’s signage is designed for tourist to get from attraction to attraction in order to make the most profit possible.

Going back into history to 1906, the wharf wasn’t in existence yet. The wharf is not a natural body of land; instead it is a man made area that used the rubble of the 1906 fire to create it. Originally the coast only went to the point of Coit tower before being extended. The area gets the name the Italian immigrants who came to the area to fish much like they did in North Beach.  It has been the home base for san Francisco’s fishing fleet ever since. During the 1939 Golden Gate international exposition the signage was vast. The city wanted to direct all the traffic into Treasure Island to show what success they had achieved to the rest of the world. In that time their was no internet, phones were available but they weren’t used in the ways we can use them today. Directing people would have actually been difficult, but they pushed the message to leaders all over the world and got the turn out that they had wanted.

The signage in the wharf is extremely detailed. The signs give you the closest big attractions on the top, direction to the transit information area and a whole map with points to let you know how to get from place to place. The signage is so detailed because most of the people looking around in the wharf aren’t locals that know the area. They have no knowledge of San Francisco and because it is such a public transportation city, most of these travelers are on their feet. In order to maximize the tourism economy, one of the biggest industries in the city, they need to have maps that allow tourist to visit as many places as possible. When someone feels confused like they don’t know any area, they tend to get frustrated and not spend as much time as they would have otherwise. The signage is extremely effective because it gives the tourist in the area all the information they need to get from point A to point B. They make it almost impossible to get lost in the area.  Another area which is filled with self directing signage is Pier 39. When arriving in the area you are confronted with eight different flags all with the same message, Pier 39. Because it is a very popular attraction but it is slightly hidden away towards the coast, it is extremely important the area makes itself as obvious as possible.