Hoping to attract more visitors to Bristol, town officials hired a wayfinding consultant to look at the town from a visitor’s perspective and develop a series of signs that will inform people of all the points of interest within the town, and direct them on where to park.

KMA Design, an environmental graphic design company from Carnegie, Pa. submitted a bid and was awarded a $37,600 contract to improve navigation through Bristol.

“They’re going to come up with a plan,” said Diane Williamson, the town’s director of community planning. “They’ll come up with a style of sign that is reflective of the community and somewhat iconic.”

Implementing a signage system and providing visitor information has been a concern of the Bristol Merchants Association and Explore Bristol.

A steering committee which includes members of the two groups, as well as citizens and town department heads, had their first brainstorming session with representatives of KMA Design on Monday.

Future meetings will include members of the town council, and in March the group plans to hold a public workshop where ideas will be shared and public input will be welcomed.

Phase one will focus on directing visitors who enter Bristol from Mt. Hope Bridge heading north, Ms. Williamson said. Two areas of concern are where the road divides to Metacom Avenue and Hope Street, and Hope Street to Wood Street.

Phase two will focus on downtown signs, directing visitors along the waterfront and throughout the shopping district.

“We want to greet visitors and call attention to the town’s highlights. It piques your interest to go to the next block, leads people to find stuff they didn’t know was there,” Ms. Williamson said.

The planning and design phase is expected to be complete by August. After that, the town will need to approve spending to have the signs manufactured.