How to Promote Sustainability with Interpretive Signage
Interpretive signs can be a tool for positive change. Interpretation teaches users the value of their natural resources, and helps them feel invested in the environment where they live. At Facet, we design interpretive signs that inspire users to help the environment. Encouraging users to help protect natural resources at home is simple: make change appealing and easy!
What are some ways to promote sustainability?
A sign for the O’Dowd Lake Restoration in Scott County, Minnesota spells out the direct benefits to homeowners who choose to install native plants along their shorelines instead of grass, showing that it’s a win-win for both homeowners and the environment.
This interpretive sign explains four key watershed benefits from stormwater improvements for the Upper Las Positas Creek Restoration. A map of the watershed and its sub-basin helps visitors understand how their location contributes to the larger watershed system.
Use Statistics to Catch Users’ Attention
Signs along the Sammamish River Trail in Bothell, Washington, call walkers’ attention to ecological features, local history, and environmental impacts. An array of startling statistics, illustrated with simple graphics, jump out at readers.
Make Sustainable Decisions Easy
Offer Sustainable Alternatives
This interpretive sign at Premera Blue Cross’ Mountlake Terrace campus in Washington encourages users to replace thirsty plants in their garden with drought-tolerant plants. A photo montage and tables listing plant attributes help users pick beautiful plants that will work in their garden at home.
Teach Better Methods with Simple Steps
A water conservation demonstration garden in Redmond, Washington, uses interpretive signs to explain sustainable gardening practices. It breaks down the best practices for soil amendment into four key steps.
List Concrete Actions
The Carolina Clear initiative in South Carolina aims to change user attitudes towards stormwater features, like ditches, using a set of interpretive signs distributed throughout the state. This interpretive sign (right) offers a clear list of actions that users should and shouldn’t take to protect their waterway’s health.
Trying to promote sustainability at your site?
Let’s talk about what might work for your community! We partner with public and private agencies to design engaging tools that help people better understand the natural systems around them. Let’s talk about what might work for your community.