Crafting a comprehensive outdoor media plan
The Challenge
Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, needed a coherent outdoor media plan that could serve both first-time visitors and seasoned park users. The challenge wasn’t just to design signs and trails—it was to align the park’s storytelling with what visitors were actually ready to hear, and to create a system that could guide them seamlessly through a complex landscape.
The Approach
I structured the project around three interlocking priorities: the visitor centre, the trail network, and a park-wide wayfinding system. Rather than jumping straight into design, I insisted we begin with front-end evaluation: a targeted visitor survey that revealed gaps between what people knew and what they hoped to discover. With that knowledge in hand, I facilitated a series of focused discussions with staff and stakeholders. My role was to cut through competing ideas, frame decisions around evidence, and ensure that creative ambitions stayed tied to strategic goals.
Lessons learned
The most powerful insight was how consistently “high interest, low knowledge” defined the visitor profile. Recognizing that pattern allowed us to simplify messaging, resist the temptation to overload signs with detail, and build interpretation that started where people actually were. The project reinforced a broader lesson I’ve seen across heritage sites: when you ground design in audience research, you create experiences that resonate longer, travel further, and stand the test of time.