Brief
To design a series of information boards for the Harris Garden in celebration of 50 years of the garden being open. This was a group project that I undertook in collaboration with Megan Hancox, Hannah Smith and Emily Collard at the University of Reading in our 2nd and 3rd years. We took on this project as part of the Real Jobs scheme and our client was the groundskeeper of the Univeristy Gardens. The Harris Gardens is a wonderful place enjoyed by staff, students and members of the public.
Mock up of one of the interpretation boards
Restating the brief
The first stage of the project was to meet with our client and restate the brief based on our The brief for the project was to design a series of interpretation boards, alongside a new map of the garden. After being briefed on the project, the team and I decided to take the project a step further to create a brand identity for the garden.
Sketches
Putting pen to paper to sketch out our early ideas was crucial to work quickly as a team and communicating our ideas collaboratively.
Branding
In the early phases of the project, we focused on developing a brand that the client was happy with before moving on to the other deliverables so that had a basis of brand guidelines to apply amongst the other deliverables.
My Key Contributions
I would say that my key role in this project was the information architecture of the interpretation panels. After receiving feedback from our supervisor on some earlier designs, I took on the role of redesigning the boards to be more visually appealing for the user using the brand guidelines we had previously agreed on. Another team member created the botanical illustrations that I placed around the outside of each board to frame the text.
To read more about this project, check out our collaborative blog post.
Full set of interpretation boards designed for the Harris Garden
Project Takeaways
The Harris Garden project was one of the most challenging projects I worked on during my time at the University. However, the skills I gained from taking part are invaluable. We worked well as a team and resolved client-facing issues without the need for intervention from our supervisor.