Saint Peter Parks + Recreation Master Plan
Client: City of Saint Peter, Minnesota (ISG)
The City of Saint Peter set out to reimagine its entire park system—20 parks that serve more than 12,000+ residents. To make this happen, ISG partnered with the City to develop a Parks + Recreation Master Plan to serve as a guide and compass for future efforts.
While I always love having the chance to work on these documents, this one was extra sweet because I grew up only a short drive away and spent my fair share of time playing at gems like Gorman Park. To have the opportunity to now use my design abilities to help the City plan the future of these spaces is such a sincere treat.
Design Process
To me, the design for a master plan document begins before we even win the work. I consider the proposal design for a master plan to be my part of the pitch. By that I mean, if I can't create a strong document at that stage— what confidence am I instilling that I am the right designer for the final document?
At the time we began working on this project, Saint Peter was still using their previous city logo. I wanted to find a way to honor the logo elements while also presenting a document that felt maybe a liiittle more modern. One part of that solution was to lean into the semi-circle city landscape that sat above the wordmark. I took the shapes and developed a repeating pattern that could provide subtle visual interest across the document. These semi circles were also able to serve as visual language for the project phases.
An integral part of any guiding document is to seek the input of the community it will be applied to. This effort was no different. Our project manager set up a series of engagement opportunities and I was able to support the effort (along with our team of writers, GIS specialists, and other top-notch professionals) by creating engagement boards, presentations, yard signs, social graphics, and whatever else was needed to spread the word and share results.
Fun fact: by the time the final plan was designed and about finalized, the new logo was announced. We were able to swap it in and I breathed a sigh of relief that blue was still the main color.
Phase graphics from the proposal.
Final Document
Months of collaboration with community members, city staff, and internal teammates all came together in a 170+ page document. A thoughtful, data-backed guide that is ready to help the City of Saint Peter continue cultivating a strong parks system for years to come.