SRA Gateway Expansion
A branded microsite and communications system for a multi-year terminal modernization — keeping travel clear while the airport grows.
The SRA Gateway Expansion is Summit Ridge Regional Airport's biggest project ever: a new terminal entrance, more gates, an expanded parking garage, a rental-car center, a covered drop-off, and an outdoor arrival plaza. A project this disruptive — moving drop-off, parking, entrances, and rental cars for years — can't live as one page on the airport site. So Optimistic gave it its own public-facing identity: a project brand, a construction-impact microsite, and a full print and field communications system to keep travelers clear and confident through the work. This is a concept piece, built to demonstrate our approach; the project is illustrative.
We don't announce a terminal project. We make a construction zone clear, calm, and easy to navigate.
The Gateway Expansion modernizes the parts of the airport travelers touch most — the entrance, ticketing, security, gates, baggage, parking, and drop-off. But a multi-year, $310 million project is also a communications problem. For years, drop-off lanes, parking, entrances, rental cars, and the security checkpoint would all shift, with detours, shuttle changes, and milestones along the way.
Travelers arrive at an airport already stressed; a confusing construction zone makes it worse — and erodes trust in the airport. A standard project page can't carry that. The project needed an identity and a microsite that could make a disruptive build feel clear, calm, and navigable — and a place to live that wasn't buried in the airport site.
One journey, applied to SRA Gateway Expansion.
A project brand under the airport
A gold-forward "Gateway" identity that reads as part of Summit Ridge but signals "this is the construction project" — confident, hopeful, and unmistakable on a fence banner or a detour sign.
Impacts-first microsite
A standalone microsite led by a "What's changed today" board — drop-off, parking, entrance, rental cars, security — plus a live status card, so travelers get the answer before they leave home.
Field & print communications
The brand extends into a construction poster ("Terminal Access Has Changed"), a parking-detour flyer, a project brochure, and a fence banner — so the same clarity reaches travelers at the curb.
Trust through transparency
A plain-language timeline, a what's-being-built section, renderings of the future terminal, a FAQ that answers traveler worries, and public-meeting and document pathways.
A project brand that turns disruption into direction.
The airport has its official identity. The Gateway Expansion needed something more visible and wayfinding-driven — an identity that could carry years of detours, notices, and milestones while keeping travelers calm and oriented. So we built a gold-forward project brand that reads as "Summit Ridge, under construction."
Signal Gold leads everything — the same gold travelers follow on a temporary drop-off sign, a fence banner, and the microsite's impacts board — so the brand itself becomes a wayfinding cue.
Inside the SRA Gateway Expansion brand book.
A wayfinding-led project identity — a gold-forward Gateway lockup, Signal Gold leading the palette, directional type, and a calm, reassuring voice.
The Gateway lockup is gold-forward and always reads as part of Summit Ridge. Lead with Signal Gold for wayfinding; never bury the project name under construction texture.
One project brand, from the website to the fence.
A construction project this visible needs to communicate everywhere — on the microsite, on a fence banner, on a parking-detour flyer, on a "Terminal Access Has Changed" poster at the door. Same gold wayfinding, same reassuring voice, whether it's the homepage impacts board or a printed detour map.
A communications system for a construction zone
What's changed today
A live impacts board leads the site — drop-off, parking, entrance, rental cars, and security — with "changed this month" flags.
Live project status
A status card shows the current phase, the next milestone, and reassures that flights and security are operating normally.
What's being built
Entrance, ticketing, security, six new gates, baggage, garage, rental center, covered drop-off, and an arrival plaza — each explained simply.
A timeline you can follow
Site & utilities → terminal & garage → gates & security → plaza & roadways → grand opening, with the current phase highlighted.
The future terminal
Renderings and a feature list show travelers what they're getting — light, space, more gates, and clearer wayfinding.
FAQs that calm nerves
Will my flight be affected? Where do I get dropped off? Where do I park? Answered in plain language, up front.
A construction zone, made navigable.
A public-engagement platform that leads with the day's impacts and reassurance: travelers see what changed, what's normal, and how to navigate it before they arrive. The project, agencies, and data shown here are illustrative concepts.