What does success look like?

Good interpretation is purposeful.

All interpretive planning—including planning wayside signs— begins by figuring out what we’re trying to accomplish, and every interpretive product is evaluated by a single question: did it meet its goals?

So whether we are planning a single sign, an interpretive trail, or a multimillion-dollar exhibit, we need to be clear on why we are embarking on the project, and what we hope to get out of it. 

So what can interpretive signs do for you? (And for your visitors?)

What benefits will your signs bring? How will they make your world a better place? In general, we can look for benefits in three broad areas: your organization, your visitors, and your resource. (By resource we mean our place, our ecosystems, our historic home, our precious objects… whatever it is that we exist to protect and present.)

Benefits to your visitors

The people walking along your trail and encountering your sign might benefit in a variety of ways: they might learn and understand something about the place they’ve chosen to visit; they might get enjoyment and satisfaction that they wouldn’t have had without encountering your sign. They may have feelings of connection to your place that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. You may help them facilitate a good experience for others—their children or friends—by enhancing their knowledge of the place.

Benefits to your organization

When people read your sign and react positively to it, it can bring benefits to you. Increased visitor satisfaction might be one of your organizational goals; increased environmental literacy among your visitors and stakeholders might be another one. You may also see increased brand and agency awareness, and increased commitment to your mission and your conservation goals.

Benefits to your resource

Again, by resource we mean your park, your site, your wildlife, you historic home, your stream, your lake, your forest.(My colleague Dr. Jacquie Gilson refers to these collectively as Places+, to get away from the idea of resource as something that must serve us by being exploited.) By connecting visitors to your mission through interpretive signs, you might hope to see less litter, less walking off the trail, improved ecological indicators along the trail or in the stream, and so on.

Take an audience-centred approach

In the world of visitor experience and interpretation, we meet our goals only after the visitors meet theirs. That is to say, we can hector and harp at our visitors to stay on the trail or stop littering, but if they’re not having a nice time, experiencing the walking trail on their own terms, they’re not going to attend to your sign, and they’re not going to take your messages to heart. If your sign doesn’t appeal to them—to their senses, to their values, to their needs and interests in the moment—you’re never going to hit home with your message. They’re not even going to read it.

Interpretation is free-choice education. Nobody has to listen to you; never forget that. The audience’s needs and interest come first.

Here’s a visual to sum it up:

How to write goals

Goals are high-level statements that answer the “why” or “to what end?” to your product. “Increase visitation.” “Increase visitor satisfaction.” “Increase learning and appreciation.” “Promote awareness and visitation to a new trail or picnic area.” “Increase awareness of Indigenous culture.” “Help reduce littering in a day-use area.” “Increase donations.” These are all potential goals for an interpretive sign project. Do see any of your goals among these?  

Impacts, not just actions

Note that all of the above examples refer to actual impacts or desired outcomes. “Produce sixteen signs” is not a goal; it’s an action—a way of achieving goals. We need to be careful not to confuse actions with impacts, particularly in some organizational environments where managers like to trumpet how much they’re doing without ever measuring if it’s actually making a difference in the world.

Goal statements are high-level. They connect directly to your mission or mandate; they answer the question, “Why are we doing this? To what end? What difference do we want to make in the world through this project?”

Action or impact?

Goals are measurable

When you identify a goal, you need to identify the indicators of success for that goal. This is a term we have in common with ecologists: “Goal: increased stream health. Indicator: water clarity and species diversity”. In this example, the ecologist doesn’t know what their numerical benchmarks are yet, but they know where they will look for them. And eventually, the ecologist will have to define how clear the water will be, how many and what species, and so on. But for now, they’re just identifying the indicators.

So for us, a goal of, say, to increase attendance in the shoulder season might have the following indicators of success: gate revenue or visitation statistics.

More examples:

“Increase awareness of herptiles at risk”.

Indicators of increased awareness: audience testing of knowledge against learning objectives 

“Increase interest in coastal plant life.” Indicators:

• Audience feedback
• Enrolment in plant programs
• Attendance on coastal trails
• Purchases of plant field guide
• Comments on comment cards
• Inquiries at the local visitor centre

Try it: match the goal with the logical indicator

By identifying  goals and indicators, you are creating an evaluation framework for your product. You will revisit these goals and indicators at multiple points in the product’s development, checking in to see that you’re on track toward creating something that meets your (and your organisation’s) goals. 

Checklist: 

• I understand what my sign project is trying to accomplish. I can describe how it fits into my organisation’s goals. 
• I have the start of plan for evaluating the success of my signs. I have identified performance indicators for my goals.

Summing It Up