Vukovar Water Tower

The core concept of the signage design grew out of an earlier visual identity built on the 650 direct hits from various weapons that the Water Tower sustained during the Homeland War. We set out to turn those hits into circles and build a raster graphic from them, forming a symbol of diagonal squares long recognized as a sublimated sign for the Republic of Croatia.

The grid system took its cue from the circles of the visual identity and served as the starting point for this orientation and signage system. Every sign has its own grid in which the directions of movement are shown. The grid of circles is perforated into the material, while text and pictograms are printed directly onto the surface. As people walk past the signs, the holes (circles) in the surface create a three-dimensional effect that visually separates two layers of information: functional and raster (visual identity).A dedicated set of pictograms was designed for orientation; its structure is based on the typeface of the visual identity.

Several lookouts sit at the top of the water tower; each view comes with a custom map of the area showing its landmarks. The large ring runs around the full diameter of the water tower and carries the names of the 6,989 donors who helped bring this project to life.