The remaining signs in the town councils £170,000 new signage scheme is beginning to appear around the town — including at the towns gateway points — but residents are already scratching their heads over the design by the town council.
As the remaining installations get underway, residents are getting their first look at the new signage replacing the previous way finding signage around Penrith.
And for some, the first impression is anything but spectacular.
“Blink and you will miss them,” was one resident’s reaction to the new gateway signage, with the design raising particular questions about the prominence of the town’s name.
On the new gateway signs, “Penrith” appears in relatively small lettering, with one resident pointing out that the word is no bigger than the palm of an adult’s hand.
For signage intended to mark the arrival into the town, the observation has led to questions about whether the new design makes enough of a statement.
After all, gateway signs are supposed to tell people they have arrived.
The new signage forms part of a £170,000 wayfinding and interpretation project, with new signs being installed at gateway locations as well as around the town centre and other points across Penrith.
The town council project is intended to improve wayfinding, provide updated visitor information and interpretation, and help tell the story of Penrith to residents and visitors.
But as the designs move from plans onto the towns streets, some residents are questioning whether the finished product has the distinctive identity they expected and if the town council has made any improvements on the distinctive signage they have removed and replaced.
The previous signage had become a familiar feature of Penrith. While some of it had undoubtedly become tired and in need of a refresh, residents have described the former signs as substantial and well designed, with a stronger sense of individuality.
The new signs, by comparison, are being described by some as far more generic.
One criticism is that rather than creating signage that is unmistakably Penrith, the new designs look like a “generic copy and paste of other towns’ signage”.
Another resident went even further, describing what they have seen as “lumps of black plastic”.
The comments come as the first of the new signs begin appearing at locations around the town, giving residents their first opportunity to judge the finished designs for themselves.
The council has previously said the project will introduce new visitor information panels, walking-route maps, interpretation content and digital elements, alongside improved fingerposts directing people towards key locations.
The scheme also includes interpretation intended to help visitors discover more about Penrith’s history, people and places.
But while the information contained on the signs will ultimately be an important part of the project, it is the physical appearance of the signage that residents are seeing first.
And nowhere is that more apparent than at the town’s gateways, where the signs are intended to provide a visual welcome to people arriving in Penrith.
With the old signs being replaced, the debate is therefore moving beyond whether Penrith needed new signage to what the new signage says about Penrith itself.
Some residents are questioning whether the opportunity has been missed to create something with a genuinely distinctive Penrith identity, rather than adopting a design they believe could appear in almost any town.
The £170,000 project represents a major investment in Penrith’s wayfinding and interpretation infrastructure, with the Town Council also taking responsibility for maintaining the new signage.
As more signs appear over the coming days and weeks, the full extent of the new scheme will become increasingly visible — from gateway signs welcoming people into Penrith to the wayfinding and interpretation signs directing them around it.
For residents who have already seen the first installations, however, the reaction is already becoming clear. “Blink and you might miss them”.
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