HDC News

HDC news, views & current projects from around the world!

HDC Interpretation - Interpretationn master planning books - July 2011

New HDC Books on the Way This Summer !!!

Other interpretive experts read the best selling books on interpretation - We wrote them!

The bad news is that Dr John Veverka's best selling book "Interpretive Master Planning", published by Acorn Naturalists, has recently gone out of print. If you have a copy, look after it, original copies are now selling for over £150 on Amazon!

The good news is that the Edinburgh-based publishers; MuseumEtc are publishing an all new two-volume "revised edition"!

The revised edition incorporates some significant changes including new photographs and planning examples, new articles on interpretation, a new section on Interpretive Graphic Standards and new sections covering our latest concepts for interpretive planning.

Interpretive Master Planning at the Henry Ford Estate - May 2011

Interpretive Master Planning at the Henry Ford Estate

HDC have just won an important new heritage interpretation project in the USA.

We have been asked to provide interpretive master planning for the Henry Ford Estate in Michigan.

Ownership of this fascinating estate has recently been transferred from the Univ. of Michigan to the team that manage the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House (Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan).

They are looking for innovative ways to "reinterpret" the estate and tell the story of Henry Ford, one of the most famous and controversial industrial leaders in history.

Beware of Bogus Heritage Interpretation Experts? - January 2011

Just what makes a heritage interpretation professional, a "professional"?

Recently we have come across a growing number of individuals and companies that misleadingly claim to be professional heritage interpretation experts.

If they are not trained, qualified and accredited, they are not "professional"!

Unfortunately, they get often get hired because they present you with impressive looking proposals and fancy pitches - and because the majority customers don’t really know what makes a heritage interpretation professional, a professional, they get hired.

The result is poorly planned, designed and implemented interpretation, and that is bad for you!

Your site depends on interpretation for its survival – get it wrong and you could be out of business, and perhaps out of a job! 72% of our time at HDC is spent helping clients rescue poorly planned and designed interpretation that has been developed by so-called professionals that don't really know what they are doing.

These phony experts give a bad name to those of us that have spent years and years studying, training, earning our professional qualifications and struggling long and hard to build our skills and knowledge base.

Remember that if you hire someone without the proper training, the specialist skills and knowledge and a good level of demonstrable experience, you wont get the service and standards you need to make your interpretation project the success that it needs to be!

So, please help us to stamp out these bogus “experts” that damage our industry by asking a few simple questions...

Do they have specialist heritage interpretation training?
If so, where and how did they train and who with and for how long?

Do they have recognized professional heritage interpretation qualifications?
Membership of AHI or a similar organization is not a qualification!
Accreditation or certification with NAI, NPS or at a university such as Michigan, Indiana or Perth is!

Do they possess the specialist knowledge required by interpreters?
Can they explain something simple such as recreational learning theory, experiential learning, mass customization, market of one, objective based interpretive master planning, pre-testing methodology or negative social proofing?
Do they have any real experience?
Just what sort of experience do they have? Is it first hand experience or just made up? Is heritage interpretation a full time career or something that is a sideline?

Do they have the necessary skills?
Do they have the full set of heritage interpretation skills or are they going to farm out the areas they don’t know about? Any a trained and qualified heritage interpretation professional should be able to offer you all the skills you need as a complete package

Do they work to the NAI or NPS standards of best practice?
Do they work to recognized standards of best practice and are they accredited?

Warning for interpretive and heritage destination sites. - December 2010

Will the downturn in the economy affect your visitor numbers this year?

Almost certainly...

You have probably noticed, the current economic climate is, shall we say, challenging!

Visitor attractions across the USA and Europe are beginning to feel the strain as visitors stay home. Pay freezes; tax hikes, increasing fuel costs and the cost of living have put a strain on family budget like never before. It is not that visitors want to stay at home at the weekend and school holidays, it is that it just that the costs are too high for such a little return on that investment…

What families are looking for now, more than ever before, is value and a return on their investment. The investment being the financial and emotional cost of visiting your site set against the perceived value of the educational and entertainment (“edutainment”) experience they receive from your site. Remember, your admission fee is just a fraction of the total cost for a day-trip to a voisitor attraction.

So what is the real cost for a family of 4 for a one-day visit to a visitor centre, heritage site, museum, zoo, or fun park, etc.? Lets do some numbers:

Car fuel: = £40.00
Refreshments: £4.50 per head = £18.00
Lunch: £9.00 per head = £36.00
Parking = £10.00
Your admission fee £7.50 per head = £30.00
Souvenirs - $20.00

TOTAL £144.00

Add to that organization stress and trip stress involved in getting to your site and that is a big investment!

These are just general, relatively conservative estimates, however the fact is that a day-out visit for a family of four, to an average heritage site is going to cost around £144.00.

Is a 2-3 hour visit to your site really worth £144.00? Just how many videos and computer games could you buy with £144.00? Or, how about a trip to the cinema or day wandering around a garden centre, walking or cycling in the countryside or some other activity? All are likely to cost less than £144.00.

Remember too, that there is stiff competition for those precious visitors - there are more attractions for visitors to choose from today, than there has ever been, and yet the total number of visitors visiting heritage sites each year remains fairly static.

Look around - many of your competitors will be leaner, fitter businesses that offer a more engaging, fulfilling and better value visitor experience than you…

So what are you going to do? What’s your plan?

If you want to survive this economic downturn, you need to act, and act quickly!

If you need help developing your survival plan, speak to us at HDC and we will help you ride the storm to quieter waters!

Coin Operated Telescopes and Binoculars - December 2010

Coin Operated Telescopes and Binoculars

Check out our new range of coin-operated and non coin operated tourism telescopes and binoculars!

Download the brochure below...

Download document

New Exhibits at Woburn - May 2010

HDC have just completed a design and fit project for a new visitor centre at Woburn Abbey. The visitor centre celebrates the work of Humphry Repton, the visionary landscape gardener who designed Woburn's wonderful gardens.

Interpretive Storytelling - January 2010

Telling Stories

One of the things we love about Brands is their ability to tell stories — helping people connect to organizations, products and places.

Interpretive Programs dive even deeper into the function of storytelling. An Interpretive Program, as it relates to environmental graphic design, is a system of signs, graphics and other visual elements that share short stories reflecting on the history, people, culture, ecology and architecture of a place.

Once consigned only to parks and historical sites, interpretive
programs are also successfully being implemented to direct visitors in how they experience “place.” Programs can range from urban, art and architecture walks to presentations about reclamation and sustainability efforts.

As environmental graphic design consultants, we are responsible for the visual interpretation of these stories through compelling graphics, intriguing structures and informative signs.

However, before the story is written and the images are placed, an Interpretive Planner and Writer are needed to clarify the purpose, structure the theme and story, verify information and help it all make sense in a cohesive program for your place or space.

Studio Graphique interviewed Nancy Desmond from the Cleveland Metroparks and John Veverka of HDC Ltd, two of our Certified Interpretive Planning partners.

We discussed with each of them how their work has changed and expanded in recent years as well as the value Interpretive Programs can provide communities.

Q. What ‘types’ of places typically institute interpretive programs? How has this changed or evolved in the last 5 years?

A. Nancy: Many people may see interpretation as the story of historic buildings or a beautiful park. Recently the vision has expanded in terms of what is deemed valuable. There seems to be an awakening in our area (Northeast Ohio) to the variety of resources we have and how they play a part in who we are as a community — embracing the things that give us identity, such as places or events. The purpose of interpretation is to connect people emotionally and intellectually to the resource. These types of stories can inspire a lot of pride. For example, seeing beyond the historic building or the beautiful park to what makes Cleveland, Cleveland — such as the scale of industry developed along the river. It may not be pristine or
pretty, but it is still vital to the identity of the city and its place in our world.

The notion of what messages are important has also expanded beyond museums and park borders, exploring public spaces and public art, why a building is a LEED® certified building, and what it can mean to the future of our community.

A. John: In the last couple of years, there has been an increase in what we call Community Interpretation. A town or a village may hire an Interpretive Planner to develop walking tours or work to create outreach programs that focus on the natural or cultural history of the place. These programs are used as a way to increase marketability for a community; to get people to spend more time there because of the ‘experience’ of learning about a new culture or a site’s history. Interpretation has also found its way to becoming an economic driver — an incubator for community businesses. These places are developing programs that create links to their other amenities such as multiple heritage sites, restaurants, shops, parks etc., so the experience is expanded. We have found that for every dollar you spend on interpretation, you can potentially get $3-4 back in benefits — in physical dollars, marketing dollars and public relation dollars.

Q. What are your top three criteria for an interesting and successful interpretive program?

A. Nancy: The simple answer is called the ‘So what?’ principle. How does your story connect to people; why does it matter to others? How does it connect to larger more universal messages, whether it be family, work, life or death — these larger experiences that we all go through? For example, interpreting the efforts of LEED® Buildings are not just about identifying the type of solar panels, but about the efforts to sustain the environment we all live in. So when you are thinking about doing an interpretive pro- gram, whether its a sign or walking tour, the important thing is not why it’s important to you or your organization, but why it matters to everyone else.

A. John: First and foremost, a place has to have a story. What do you want people to know, learn and experience? Second, we look at the type of audience you can sustain and the capacity of the site. An aver- age heritage tourist could spend $150 for a day visit between gas, parking, food, admissions, etc.

Is your site worth a person’s $150 investment? Most places don’t have the capacity for that type of day visit. We’ve found that the economics of the experience is the third element that is necessary for success. Partnering or creating experience links is a way for communities and heritage sites to ‘package’ their amenities to draw out the day visit to several sites vs. just one site.

In Rockford, Illinois we created a pass program to extend the stay of visitors in that community. For $25 dollars they got passes to 5 differ- ent museums, turning their $150 experience into $200 worth of day trip benefits.

Q. Why is it important to hire a professional planner? What type of clients/teams do you typically work with?

A. Nancy: We have the training to help clients connect their stories to the ‘bigger picture.’ We can format within your story the larger theme that makes for compelling messages. Many people are not aware that there is a science behind interpretive design. Interpreters have an understanding of what themes provide the strongest impressions, how many words a person is going to read and what images people will connect with. These ‘themes’ are important to helping people connect to and remember the story.

Along with the skill sets brought on by the Interpretive Planner, the Designer and the Client are a crucial part of a successful Interpretive Project Team. The Designer brings useful and beautiful layouts, the planner provides the message and the Client brings the story. Without all three, the program fails.

A. John: In the case of Interpretation, you want to have a ‘Certified’ Interpretive Planner. They would most likely have a college degree in Interpretive Services that would include studies in not only interpretative planning, but also feasibility of interpretive services, marketing, advertising, and fact-based areas such as history, zoology, etc. These learned skill sets along with professional field experience will allow them to develop a well-rounded pro- gram instead of just telling a story.
We can also help address issues of program feasibility or maintenance. After a committee puts together an interpretive program, will someone be there to refresh the story over time? Who will replace it if it is damaged? Is there a person available to maintain the program? Is money available to market it? Having a Certified Interpretive Planner to address these issues and set parameters is a huge benefit for the sustainability of an Interpretive Program.

We like to work with clients that have the financing to create a solid program as well as a long term commitment to maintaining the program. We look for clients that have ‘sweat equity’ in the Interpretation of a site — those who are an integral part of the planning team and show a commitment for developing and sustaining the program. When we start a project, we always include a training workshop for the client and volunteers. This introduces them to team member responsibilities as well as the process they will be exploring to develop the interpretive program. The more educated the client is about the process, the more invested they become.

Q. How important is the role of the Environmental Graphic Design Consultant in a strong interpretive program?

A. Nancy: The best Design Consultants pay close attention to what the Planner and Client want, and respond to it. They don’t impose their opinions on the story, with the exception of applying their best professional practices to how the viewer will respond to the visual interpretation of the information. Its a careful collaboration within the team.

A. John: A good Design Consultant has an understanding of how people visually learn and remember. You can have a good story, a great plan, but without the great design, the plan can fail. We like to have our design team members involved in the early planning phase so that they are a part of learning, developing and understanding the objectives and outcomes of the interpretive program. This also establishes smooth communication between the ‘concept’ of the program to the design of the program.

HDC joins forces with Fossil Graphics! - February 2009

HDC is pleased to announce that it has teamed up with Fossil Industries in the USA to offer the Fossil interpretive panel. These panels are far superior to anything else available on the market - they are virtualy indestructable and using Fosil's 12-colour digital printing, brighter, cleaner and more detailled and anything the competition has to offer. What is more all panels come with a 10-year gurantee and are built using environmentally ffrindly processes!