A Wayfinding Framework for Jamaica Plain, Boston
A community-driven wayfinding system that uses Jamaica Plain’s biggest attractions to reroute tourists to the neighborhood’s local businesses.
You are hereOverview
Visitors come for the Arboretum and Jamaica Pond, then leave without finding the local businesses a few streets away.
My approach
I led the field research, from street interviews to mapping, and turned it into a two-part service design.
Making Jamaica Plain’s culturally rich neighborhood discoverable
Boston draws more than 20 million visitors a year, but most see the same handful of places. Jamaica Plain remains largely undiscovered.
We saw its landmarks not as the destination, but as a front door into the neighborhood.
People happily travel to JP for the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Pond and the Emerald Necklace. But once they arrive, nothing invites them any further.
From a walking tour to a placement strategy
How might we make Jamaica Plain more visible to tourists visiting Boston?
People end up at the attractions in the neighborhood, but never beyond.
JP didn’t need more visitors or more marketing. It needed to be seen the moment someone leaves the Arboretum and asks, “What now?”
Mapping local businesses in JP
We walked JP with Collin Knight of Live Like a Local Tours and reviewed the literature to map what’s there.
We didn’t want to design for local businesses from a distance.
So Peter Loughlin and I went in person to hear from business owners.
The surprise: every interview ended with a referral.
We arrived with four businesses on our list and left with a map of a community already looking out for itself.
Clustering what we heard
Four themes, in owners’ own words.
Cross-promotion already exists
Owners already send customers to each other.
- We’re not competing with anyone on this (Centre) street.
- A board would make it easier when I’m busy with a customer.
- We send people to the Arboretum, to restaurants down the street.
- I already tell them, go check out the Pond, go to Diversity.
Green spaces bring people in
The parks are why people come to JP at all.
- I’d start at the Pond and then over to the Arboretum.
- Jamaica Pond walking around there is fantastic, even if it’s snowing.
- 30,000 people go to Arnold Arboretum on Lilac Sunday, and nothing for them to do after.
- The Emerald Necklace goes all the way to Franklin Park.
In-person experience is irreplaceable
What makes these shops special only shows up in person.
- Hold something in your hand and talk to a real person.
- Amazon reviews read like astroturf, there’s a reason behind everything we carry.
- I know my customers by name after a certain point.
- We bake everything in-house, been here 20 years.
Physical wayfinding is the missing link
Visitors need something in the street, not just on a phone.
- Informing people JP exists is super important.
- Not everyone is reaching for their phone.
- Why do people come to Boston and only think of Fenway?
- If we were a small town, we’d have parades and carnivals.
The two-part intervention
Two touchpoints, each answering something we heard on the street.
Totems outside big attractor destinations
A proximity map of walkable local businesses that answers the question visitors already ask: “What’s around here?”
Physical magnet boards at the businesses
A countertop board where owners pin the businesses they genuinely recommend. Chosen by people, not an algorithm, and every tile scans for directions.
Scan a magnet for directionsHow a visit flows through the neighborhood
Totems catch visitors where they are. Boards keep them moving.
Placed where it matters
