Inch Levels & Lough Foyle
Client
Donegal and Limavady Council's
Project
Coastal / Large
The Inch Levels and Loch Foyle project is a scheme to develop the two RAMSAR listed areas, collectively, into a world class visitor attraction. This is to be achieved through infrastructure development (paths, hides, footbridge and signage) alongside an innovative marketing, education and events programme (branding, website and printed collateral).
One of the challenges was to create a suite of signs that were sympathetic to their environment. They had to be visually unobtrusive and ensure minimal disturbance to the birdlife from those using them.
Because birds are easily scared by human activity, we developed a number of different sign options based on the strategies of camouflage and screening. The chosen option uses wooden poles for the sign structure: these are durable, inexpensive and will weather-down nicely. They can also be easily configured for a variety of sign types, which allowed us to create a distinctive set of S shaped signs that formed a soft barrier between people and the wildfowl.
Obviously, we didn’t want the signs to be so unobtrusive as to be camouflaged so a yellow accent - similar to a leg tag used for bird ringing - was added to the poles and acted as a visual marker for visitors.
The signs displayed historical information on land reclamation and the building of the railway. This was augmented by images and text on the local flora and fauna. To aid young ornithologists we made sure that all the wildfowl photographs were professionally shot and clearly showed the defining characteristics of the bird in question. We also sourced 19th century Ordnance Survey maps that were updated and shaded to show the depth of the water as per the Inch and Foyle Admiralty Chart data.
Agency services
- Concept development
- Cartography
- Wayfinding strategy
- Interpretative strategy
- Sign design and material specification
- Research and copywriting
- Picture research
- Design and Illustration
- Logo and Identity
