Signs, logos, events, guerrilla marketing and more for the Onondaga Creekwalk. Those are the ideas of a Syracuse University design class charged with bringing more people to the newly opened waterside path. Our Kat De Maria has more on their ideas, and how they could make a difference.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It's lunchtime on a beautiful spring day. And there's plenty of traffic on the Onondaga Creekwalk.
The path, from Armory Square to Onondaga Lake along Onondaga Creek, opened officially in the fall. City leaders say people have started to use it, and they want to build on that trend.
"This project has really allowed us to look at what are some new things we can do to bring some positive momentum to it," said Syracuse Planning and Sustainability Director Andrew Maxwell.
The project is for the communications design class at Syracuse University, to brand and market the Creekwalk by the people newest to it (and the area). The students say their first step was to take a walk.
"For me the coolest part of the creekwalk is how it really brings nature and the city side by side. There are points on the creek where you look left and see a beautiful creek and look right and you see a city," said student Alexander Turk.
"The Creekwalk kind of gives a place where people can walk and feel safe and enjoy their surroundings," said student Daphnee Ochoa.
The students developed logos, advertisements, signs, a web site, utilizing modern touches like organic moss graffiti and an interactive application to use during a creek walk.
"The screen in front of you would show what you are doing on the walk and what you can see," Ochoa said.
Even though they may not all be implemented, and certainly not all at once, some of the students' ideas may appear on the Creekwalk soon.
"We really are focused in on now on how can we put some signage in place that's going to make the creekwalk that much easier to use, user friendly, people will know where they are on the creekwalk," Maxwell said.
As for events proposed by the class, like a CreekTreat trick-or-treat trail or CreekReel movie screenings, those may have to wait. But the students' enthusiasm is contagious and could make for more exciting afternoons on the Onondaga Creekwalk to come.