Special Methods of Env. Ed.

For my Special Methods class, we had to create an interpretive sign, which I can now say is much harder than it looks! Everything from word limit to readability, font to layout, has to be considered while still conveying information and desired understandings. We had to consider our audience and placement of the sign prior to designing. So the intended audience and placement for my sign is: the general public living or visiting in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, most likely MD/VA, and I thought the placement could work both in an indoor setting or an outdoor setting.

My two biggest challenges for creating this sign was readability and layout. Readability is the (grade) level that the text reads at; mine rated at an 11th grade reading level, which surprised me, since I didn't use that many complex words or complex sentence structure. (This begs the question- what schools are they basing the reading ability at each grade level? If my sign is an example of what a 10th grader would struggle with, but a 11th grader should be able to read, that makes me nervous about the reading ability of the nation!)
Layout was also very difficult for me; I wanted to convey a certain amount of information and knowledge while still making it visually appealing. The flow of the reading also played into the layout, so placement of each individual section was crucial. The pictures were specifically chosen to augment the content, and I also tried to make the pictures as big as possible without compromising the flow or visual appeal.

The rest of the signs my cohort created were fantastic; we had topics ranging from bees to Darlingtonia (the pitcher plant that lives in the fen) to fire ecology to Ashland Creek and so on. Some were very artistic, and several of the students with much more drawing talent than myself actually drew some of the pictures they used in their signs.

I can safely say, after doing this sign, I now have a new respect and appreciation for interpretive signs that are all around us! Next time you see a (good) interpretive sign, try to appreciate the minute and time-intensive details that created that educational work of art! The bad ones you can ignore :-)