Bonnet Springs Park
Type Design, Environmental Graphics
2022
With Sasaki for Bonnet Springs Park
Location: Lakeland, FL
Status: In Construction
Role: Creative Direction, Concept, and Design Development.
Fee for Graphics: $190,000
Reference: Andrew Gutterman. Associate Principal at Sasaki. agutterman@sasaki.com
Between 1880 and the early 1950s, the 180-acre Bonnet Springs Park site was home to the Lakeland Railyard, which served as a major hub for the movement of freight up and down the east coast. In 1952 the Railyard closed, leaving the land in an abandoned state and Lake Bonnet all but forgotten.
The Lakeland Packing Co. managed the fruit shipments and created its own unique labels. The labels found on crates served as the skeleton for designing the typography that identifies the park’s wayfinding signage and special environmental graphics.
For the donor’s recognition, there is a unique variation called “Rails,” it is a double stroke All-Caps sans-serif with softened edges that allow for acid-bath typography in plaques, as well as water-jet cut letters with rounded corners. The design of the typeface took into consideration the transformations that occur to letters when fabricated from soft metals.
