Carkeek Park environmental learning center

The redesign of the salmon lifecycle educational signage in Carkeek Park in North Seattle was a project I initiated in my senior year at Seattle University. As a graphic design major and environmental studies minor I wanted to combine my interests and apply them in a way that would educate and serve my community and environment. On a visit to Carkeek Park during a field studies class I noticed that the salmon lifecycle signs scattered throughout the park were dated, damaged, and in some cases even missing. I reached out to the Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center and volunteered to redesign the signs, as well as offered to apply for a grant through my university to pay for the cost of reprinting the signs. With their interest and approval of the project we began collaborating on the process of updating and redesigning the signs.

Updates such as new data, an evolving trail system, and an ever-changing beachfront landscape all had to be considered and incorporated. I created illustrations for each of the signs, unifying the signs with one stylistic approach and cohesive layouts. I found the organization of the data and re-development of the map to be especially interesting tasks, as they perfectly combined the creative and analytical practices of graphic design. Knowing that further updates would be needed on the signs in the future we decided to simply have the signs printed on large format paper and laminated, so that the cost of replacements or updates would be minimal.

I continued with the project after my graduation from Seattle University, but it was unfortunately halted in 2020 due to Covid-19 and organizational changes. We did not manage to update every sign in the park, but the vast majority were updated and installed. As a whole the project allowed me to develop skills such as grant writing and wayfinding design, as well as renewed my interest in science communication using graphic design.