19 February 2015

Are Canberra's gateways welcoming?

| La_Tour_Maubourg
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Does anyone think the Welcome to Canberra signs are not welcoming?

We previously had a large blue sign with text that read “Canberra the Nation’s Capital”. Below that, the sign featured the coat of arms, yellow text that said “Welcome to Canberra, Sister City of Nara, Japan,” and – below that – “Welcome to Ngunnawal Country.”

That seemed nice.

Our current arrangement is a large white monstrosity where “Welcome to Canberra” is the same font size as “Ngunnawal Country.”

Do people come especially to Ngunnawal Country only to realise the nation’s capital lies within?

Is it necessary to state that we are “Friendship City” or that we love Beijing?

One may agree that traditional dwellers of the land deserve recognition but perhaps keeping “Welcome to Canberra” sign simple and effective will best do the trick whilst using the previous method of additional signage for Ngunnawal etc.

Take note of Sydney’s gateway sign: a colourful “Sydney” with a silhouette of the Opera House. Effective and gets the message across.

No, I’m not targeting any individual groups; and yes, I’ve seen the plans for the individual lettered Canberra sign for Eagle Hawk Hill.

Wondering if anyone shares the same thought?

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Dame Canberra11:13 am 20 Feb 15

While I’d prefer tourist dollars to be spent on attracting visitors to Canberra through events, I don’t mind the current Welcome to Canberra signs. In the scheme of things, it’s a very small issue. If a visitor has made it close enough to Canberra to read the gateway signs, then they’re (hopefully!) still going to visit even if they don’t like the artwork.

Perhaps we could inject some humour in the next iteration…

“Canberra: Some people actually like it!” …

“Canberra: We pretend to be s**t so that you don’t want to live here and our roads stay quiet!”

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