Signs of Change at the Garden
We’re very pleased to introduce our new interpretation in the Garden! Working alongside illustrator Astrid Jaekel, and designer Martin Seagar, from MS Creative, we’ve developed beautiful new display boards, sharing our story and aims with our visitors. Developed with visitor experience in mind, our new interpretation boards will make our key work and themes easier to understand and bring a consistent colourful design across the Garden.
These include a new map for visitors to receive on arrival, and to view outside our Visitor Centre, with beautiful illustrations from Astrid Jaekel, better highlighting key areas of interest for visitors. As well as being more eye-catching, our new design will be much easier to use, and representative of our new projects in the Garden. Every map is marked with an easy access route, making the best route immediately clear for visitors using wheelchairs or buggies. We’ve also included Canongate and Viaduct Walk, making it easier for visitors to orientate themselves within St Andrews.
New interpretation panels have been added at key sites around the Garden, such as the Tangled Bank and Meadow, providing further explanation of the work happening there, illustrated with the wildlife visitors might find. These are specifically designed to avoid heavy text, instead focusing on beautiful illustrations for easy browsing. A special interpretation panel has been added at our new Exploratree play area - with interactive cut outs encouraging families to explore wildlife in the area through play. Garden birds and red squirrels can be spotted from the top of the Exploratree tower or through the magnifying glass cut outs on the boards!
We’ll also be adding a series of signposts which have space for changing content. Taking the shape of a leaf, these signs will highlight specific news and updates, as well as trails and activities, changing throughout the year. Keep an eye out for two new trails arriving in these this March!
The front of our Visitor Centre has been refreshed with new signs too, making visitor information clearer and linking this area to signage throughout the rest of the Garden, and finally, we’ve added two new signs at our front entrance, making the Garden much easier to find from the road!
Our Development Manager, Rebecca Duncan, shared that, “It’s been fantastic to work alongside creative artists on this project. These illustrations are beautiful visual aids which start to convey the ethos of the innovative direction St Andrews Botanic Garden is taking.”
Remember to look out for our new interpretation next time you’re in the Garden and let us know what you think! You can also view our new map at: https://www.standrewsbotanic.org/map
