Gangdong-gu began the project for creating streets with beautiful signs in 2008.

This project involves replacing old neon signs with eco-friendly energy-conserving LED signs and as of this year, a total of 1,028 signs have been replaced.

The 880m of Cheonhoyet-gil and 730m of the street in front of the Community Center have been selected for the 2017 sign improvement project. The goal of this project is to newly design Cheonhoyet-gil and make the street in front of the Community Center, which residents frequently pass by, more pleasant to walk on.

The project, which is being carried out under the concept "design that highlights the characteristics of the industry" and "from a flat design to a three-dimensional design", boasts a differentiated quality compared to the existing signs that has been achieved by changing the brand image of various styles that suit the characteristics of each industry through use of compelling freestyle handwriting which has been developed over the past 10 years of the sign improvement project.

In particular, the buildings of Cheonhoyet-gil were old and filled with mainly illegal signage, reducing the aesthetic quality of the street. However, through this project, the appearance of the city was evaluated as having become more beautiful by ‣replacing the signs with three-dimensional signs developed with a design that suits the characteristics of each industry and various styles of handwriting ‣maximizing energy efficiency with eco-friendly LED signs ‣and replacing illegal signs with legitimate one.

The project for improving street signage to become more beautiful is a project that supports design, production and installation with outdoor advertisement development funding. It passes through an in-depth deliberation by recognized design examiners and is produced and installed by branch members of the Gangdong Branch of Korea Outdoor Advertising Association.

However, like all other projects, this sign improvement project was also inevitably delayed due to obstructive factors in the initial stages. Shop owners could not understand the need for replacing large illegal signs with signs minimized to a legal size and had a negative perspective towards removing 2~3 signs and replacing them with one sign and therefore, it was difficult to obtain consent from shop owners.

After multiple visits and persuasion, the project began with the success of obtaining consent from all 120 shops, and since the completion of the project, the district has been receiving positive feedback from the shop owners and is even receiving requests from nearby shop owners to replace their signs as well.

With the completion of the project, a district official said, "We hope that Cheonhoyet-gil and the Community Center street will invigorate business and become streets of Gangdong-gu that people want to walk on, and that many people will come to our district as a result", and stated that they will strive to improve the brand value of Gangdong-gu into the future.

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