Interpretive signs invite users to attach positive meanings and values to their experiences in heritage settings. There are two types of interpretation signs – traditional and digitally integrated.

Traditional interpretation signs are the classic stand-alone entities where the sign content, aesthetic and narrative is limited to what is installed onsite.

Digitally integrated interpretation signs by comparison have customised webapp support meaning they also stand as a portal to a richer online experience.

At a functional level this includes publishing the sign content in HTML to ensure it can be read or heard by a user irrespective of their physical ability or native language. Additional content can also be provided such as to allow the user to follow their own lines of enquiry in relation to the interpretive messages.

Above: A webapp both publishing sign content in HTML and providing a guided tour of the garden by the designer Philip Johnson was created as an integral part of the design and roll out of the interpretive signage for the Chelsea Australian Garden at Olinda in 2022. View the webapp ...

Given the variability of internet coverage across natural areas, both types of signage are important tools for land managers to have access to. Ensuring the experience provider can easily and simply deliver digital content in areas with adequate mobile phone reception requires customised responses that can provide the service at minimal setup costs and no recurrent expenses.

One thing both types of signs have in common is the need to connect with people on both a rational and an emotional level. This requires a considered focus not just on signage content and messaging, but also on the overall sign aesthetic including the landscape setting within which the sign is located.

Above: Interpretive signage located within the Mungo Meeting Place, Mungo National Park

We adopt a user experience (UX) design approach in our interpretation sign design process.

Users need to encounter interpretation signage in a setting that invites them to step aside from their journey in a safe and sheltered location to take a moment to appreciate their surroundings.

As they approach an interpretive sign, they will be responding to it at an aesthetic / intuitive level well before they get close enough to stop and read its written content. The delivery of effective interpretive signs requires a varied and diverse skill set to bring these threads together in an integrated manner.

At Nature Tourism Services we undertake all of the non material fabrication components of the interpretive signage process inhouse. We subcontract out the manufacture and installation of any signage elements to a select supplier base with whom we have fully integrated Total Quality Management systems.

Nuanced content development and graphic design solutions are central to the delivery of effective interpretive signs. Some examples of our approach in this regard are shown below.

The ideal interpretive sign project is one where the signage undertaken as an integral part of the precinct landscape design process.

This ensures that the signage is fully integrated with and supported by the landscaping rather than simply being 'dropped in' as an afterthought.

Visitor nodes are especially valuable assets to include as they provide 'step aside' places where people are invited to break their journey and consider the interpretive experience on offer.

On rare occasions there is also the opportunity to connect the signage directly with landscaping elements such as occurred in the case of the redevelopment of the summit precinct at Mount Canobolas in 2021.

Here a major interpretive sign featured the first public presentation of the Three Brothers creation story speaking to the formation of Mount Canobolas. A special artwork created by Mick Crook was commissioned by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service as part of this storytelling.

With the artist's permission, this artwork was then adapted by Marianne Walsh as a pavement installation that people pass across as they approach the sign from the carpark. The challenging work of constructing and installing this installation was delivered by Screenmakers and Botanic Landscapes.

The more supporting context that surrounds an interpretive narrative, the easier it is for us to connect with it and attach value to the interpretive sign.

The preparation of every interpretive sign is a journey of discovery into the hidden meanings and contexts surrounding some time, thing or place. Sharing the fruits of this research with the reader then underpins the design and production phase of the interpretive project.

A striking example of how this approach works in practice comes from our interpretive work for the redesign of the Stringybark Creek Historic Reserve visitor experience near Mansfield, Victoria in 2017/18.

Some details of this work at the site where three policemen were murdered on the evening of 26 October 1878 by a group of four men who thereafter became known as the Kelly Gang are outlined below.

The power of visual storytelling is enhanced by deep etching out the elements of interest in Photoshop. This is an approach we use in many of our interpretive signs.

A feature of our interpretive design process is that we always shape the story through images composed in Photoshop backdrops in the first instance. The text is then customised to describe and effectively caption the visual narrative. Good design transcends language barriers. Interpretive signs are a form of public art. They should be aesthetically pleasing.

Interpretive signs should do more than assist people to attribute positive meanings and values to their heritage experience. They can also help to shape and enhance the nature of the experience itself.

A simple example here comes in the case of installing signage at a lookout at the end of a walking trail. Here the sign helps supports a sense of arrival and reinforces the notion of successfully reaching a destination.

This same approach also applies to the installation of signs along a track or other visitor corridor. Signs are strategic interventions that need to be used in a considered manner with the support of at least some landscape intervention. Creating a small node with the support of seating invites the user to break their journey and to more fully consider and engage with their surroundings. Additionally there may also be user safety issues in play where implicitly suggesting people stop mid track and congregate around a sign may put them or others at risk.

An example of this comes from the work we assisted Ballina Shire Council with in 2017 with the creation of a shared use cycle / walk path through the culturally highly sensitive location of East Ballina Aboriginal Place. Here the entry sign installation was carefully positioned so as to draw people well off the shared path into a safe and undisturbed interpretive node where they could take in the content on offer.

Thereafter along the course of the trail a similar approach was adopted where Ballina Shire Council responded positively to our idea to integrate a series of "step aside nodes" into the course of the path in such a way as to invite peple to safely break their journey.

Another example of this approach comes from our work helping craft The Gully Aboriginal Place pathway experience at Katoomba in 2012. Here the concept of developing step aside nodes along the pathway was central to our approach. This was then integrated into the pathway construction design. Works also included installing a sheltered node to provide space for groups to congregate.