Mapping The Cowsey
Reading Borough Council and Nature Nurture
2026
Wayfinding
With what started as a Real Job and progressed to a fully independent freelance endeavour, my colleague Malak and I embarked to design a full wayfinding system for The Cowsey, a large green space located in Whitley (in Reading).
For some time, concerns about the level of antisocial behaviour and a desire to make the area more accessible had been raised. Reading Borough Council enlisted Nature Nurture to take on the creation of walks, with us being enlisted to design maps and other wayfinding items.
The project demanded an integration between previous designs that Nature Nurture developed – particularly for the branding of the walks – and our map style, which prioritised tones that were on the ground and visible to prospective walkers. A medium was found, as shown here.
It was also necessary to map large parts of the surrounding area to ensure that the map fitted on the signs specified. The development of these roads were among the more difficult parts of the project – they demanded an understanding of GIS software. We used OpenStreetMap for this.
The whole map came together with roads, iconography, and the visual presentation of the walks, in blue, pink and dark mustard. These colours provided maximum contrast against the earthy tones of the paths.