SEATTLE SKYLINE CHANGES: Signs, Billboards and New Media /

You are invited to participate in an important conversation about issues that are rapidly changing Seattle's aesthetics and urban texture.

Free event

Downtown Seattle is currently undergoing an unplanned and generally undetected transformation. A combination of outdated regulations and problematic enforcement has allowed the increase in advertising signs at a scale that is eroding the visual beauty this city is famous for. The currently proposed legal amendments to the downtown sign code make this conversation even more urgent. 

In keeping with Seattle’s stated intentions, we need to address the proliferation of major corporate branding, advertising billboards, wall signs and electronic media in the downtown landscape before it's too late.

Environmental designer Paula Rees will share a visual presentation outlining the history of signage in Seattle and demonstrating many of the changes that are altering our visual environment. Examples from other cities will inform our discussion about developing a vision for Seattle's future.

Rees has been a principal of Foreseer (formerly Maestri) for the past 30 years. She is also past president of the International Society for Environmental Graphic Design, and a founding member of KNOWEDGE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of community-based places.

Wine and cheese will served. Please come to take part in this important dialogue. It's free!