What's the Point of Panels?

There is a lot of point, very much so, but you'll have to read to the end to find out how!

I am sad to say I have seen a lot of terrible interpretation panels recently. I don't mean panels that I have a few criticisms about here and there, picking out some phrasing, choice of an image or tweaking the layout for improvement. I refer to panels so bad I recoil in horror at the sight of them. The reaction is physical and emotional, much to the amusement of colleagues, friends and families I have been with at the time.

Friends wonder why I should have such a strong impulse to complain about them when, they argue, it's just a notice board, nothing important. That just throws the problem into starker relief. People who recall positively a newspaper headline or Facebook post, bringing them up in the time-honoured 'did you see?' type conversation, barely notice the 'notice boards' stuck resolutely and firmly into the ground a few feet away because the panels fade so effectively into the background. These panels, having had hundreds of pounds of public, Lottery or charity money thrown their way, are resolutely invisible despite their hardwood legs of elephantine girth and their invitation to discover wonders about the place we have spent time and effort to visit.

Why should so many panels fail so spectacularly? Could they be a redundant technology, a throw back to an analogue past of VHS videos, cassette tapes, milk bottles on the doorstep, child-delivered newspapers and paying a person to hand deliver your message in the form of a written letter? Would my friends be switched on more by the offer of an app to help them explore in the digital world the woodland/nature reserve/castle* we visit?

* delete as applicable.

I believe not, but the panels I've seen lately would suggest the bell is about to toll unless some basic principles are considered.

Why?

I have seen panels with shy, eight-or-more-word titles, hiding somewhere along the top, set in a point size and tone variation of the background colour which makes them only readable from close by. It's as if a timid thesaurus-devouring dormouse has been asked to suggest how he or she might like to describe what the panel is about, if they wouldn't mind. Then comes the essay, or abstract of an essay, on the subject arranged around a chicane of four to five moderately sized images parked randomly across the panel. None are given any prominence and sometimes an image is simply a poor reproduction of what is in plain sight in front of you. I've seen numerous panels tucked away from main visitor entry points and thoroughfares, as if they somehow might cause embarrassment if positioned too obviously to be read.

What this amounts to is a panel that does not achieve its first aim - to attract the visitor over to see it.

For panels to work they need to adhere to a few basic principles based on visitor behaviour.

They should be positioned and designed to reach out and grab the visitor's attention within the second, or less, that the visitor takes to pass by. Once they have captured the visitor, they need to offer a story which can be easily recognised and navigated through within the few seconds a visitor will spend assessing whether the panel offers anything of interest to compete with their other desires, or that of their dog, children, bladder, stomach, etc. Text should be short and evocative, based on the maxim that he more you write the less the visitor will read.

We can learn about good panel design by going to the newsagent or supermarket newspaper stand where we can see the art of the daily newspaper front page. Whether tabloid or broadsheet, each title throws its message at you in an alluring, large print headline and a single, captivating, large image. This art, or technique, is, of course, borne from the knowledge that each title jostles with the competition for attention. In the second or two you pass by on your way to buy your chocolate, drink, lottery ticket or milk, good design can tip the balance from indifference to impulse purchase.

We should be creating panels which do this too, panels which are so attractive they make visitors stop in their tracks and learn something new - on impulse. This doesn't mean they have to be garish, crass or appeal to a lowest common denominator. They shouldn't distract from the place they are set in but neither should they hide themselves away. Just that they borrow from the front page the craft of captivating communication through a short and easily visible title, a strong lead image and brief text broke into easily navigable paragraphs with a hook at the start and a written style enticing the visitor to read on. This will motivate the visitor to stop, to browse and to be drawn through the panel to construct meaning and discover what the panel aims to say. its a case of making sure the visitor can process the story quickly enough to want to stay longer and discover more.

The creation of panels which will be read is a creative and imaginative process. Each sentence, image and element of layout should be made to work hard to make the visitor's experience of panels engaging, rewarding and thought-changing.

Substitute dog walk for chocolate, habitats for political blunders, historical event for sporting contest, and you can take inspiration from the newspaper to create a series of front pages across a property without descending into the obvious or banal. That way the effort and resources spent on creating panels will be worthwhile because they will reach out, capture the visitor's attention and open their minds.

Interpreting our Outdoor Heritage

Bill has written an article for CJS Focus on behalf of the Association for Heritage Interpretation. Published today, it is an introduction to outdoor interpretation for countryside property managers.

Its currently online at http://www.countryside-jobs.com/Focus/Current.htm.

Grenoside Reading Room

The Grenoside Reading Room Trustees have installed a panel about the history of the reading room linked to local industrialists. inHeritage produced the panel, developing the concept, liaising with the local history group, writing the text, design and managing production.

The panel also signposts local industrial sites people can visit in and around Grenoside. The panel is on the exterior wall of the newly refurbished reading room. A QR code links to the reading room website where you can find out more about the building and its history.

The panel has been funded by the East Peak Innovation Partnership Industrial Heritage Support Programme.

World Heritage Cities for the Future

Opening session in Lyon's Hotel de Ville

Bill attended the Cities and Heritage Meeting held in Lyon on the 22nd - 24th May. The meeting was organised by the Lyon municipality, in partnership with the Organisation of World Heritage Cities, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the designation of Lyon as a world heritage site by UNESCO. The meeting's theme was a sustainable future for world heritage cities.

Lyon's historic St Jean quarter with Fourvière Basilica and
the Tour métallique above

Lyon is a wonderful historic city which developed at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, first as the Roman capital of Gaul then in Renaissance and later guises. During the 16th century it was the home of the French court while they wade wars in Italy. A major silk-making industry developed at the north of the peninsula between the two rivers. Despite being the fourth largest city in France, the well-preserved historic quarter has an intimate atmosphere that belies the sheer size of Lyon and deserves to be better known as a heritage tourist destination in the UK. Here are covered alleyways which connect one street to another by way of hidden Renaissance courtyards, graceful grids of 18h century buildings, a grandiose Neoclassical Palace of Justice and an imposing riverside hospital which would not disappoint any capital city as a country's parliament building. Graceful bridges span the two rivers, while river bank esplanades open up vistas to appreciate the richness of the city's architecture. Above all of these stand the ornate edifice of the Fourvière Basilica and the Tour métallique.

The meeting was part-workshop, part-celebration of world heritage cities and the work municipal officers and politicians are putting in to grapple with heritage preservation and economic development. Can both be mutually compatible, where heritage opens up opportunities for financial improvement, or are they in such conflict that heritage is an obstacle that urban planners need to overcome to ensure the economic well-being of the city? The meeting met this question head on through case studies followed by sessions about sustainable development, citizen participation and adaptive reuse. The audience was a mixture of municipal officers and elected politicians.

Towards the end of the meeting a representative from Mali spoke about recent damage to Timbuktu and the work to restore structures and salvage burnt documents. The presentation put much into perspective regarding managing world heritage cities against risk.

City politicians and officers discuss heritage and development

Sustainable Development

In many cities developers, planners and politicians view heritage as a brake on economic growth. Historic buildings are often viewed as an impediment to successful development and, at worse, torn down to make way for construction to ensure the city's economy can continue to prosper.

The meeting presented examples where making the most of heritage and improving the historic environment can be drivers for development. All successfully put heritage at the heart of redevelopment, using heritage as an economic stimulant in very different ways. They brought to mind recent successes and failures in my own city of Sheffield where 19th century educational buildings central to the origins of the University have become a hotel and bars, and where new open spaces blend traditional city materials with modern designs, but also where the University has dropped a plan to convert part of the listed Jessops Hospital in preference for demolition to increase the size while reducing the cost of the new Faculty of Engineering, an inappropriate modern intervention into a square surrounded by listed buildings.

Lyon is creating a new riverside esplanade along the Saone which will build on the economic success world heritage designation has brought to the city through increased tourism.  

Porto is regenerating the Morro da Sé district as a mixed-use, inter-generational area where new residents and tourists will both contribute to the city's economy. Ruined buildings will be brought back into use with modern materials that echo the historic fabric.

Beemster, Netherlands, has a quality team who advise on new planning applications through identifying whether they contribute to what it is to be 'Beemster like'. The team have worked with a cheese company to build a nee factory which is the largest structure in the world heritage area but relates to the divine proportion of Fibonacci's Sequence of 1.618 that the Beemster landscape was originally laid out along. 

Strasbourg has a green transport infrastructure policy which encourages greater spend in its city centre by ensure that lower numbers of cars make it a much more pleasant place to visit, shop, eat and drink. 

Hôtel-Dieu

Adaptive Reuse

The two key examples here were from Lyon and La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The former's Hôtel-Dieu has been a hospital since the medieval period, its grand 18^th century facade and cupola dominating the west bank of the Rhone. It was enlarged up to the 20th century but became unsuitable for modern hospital health care. The scale of the building is staggering, perhaps best illustrated by two statistics - it has 2,000 rooms and 2 hectares of roofs. The city is now grappling with the challenge of revitalising the building for modern use while incorporating the different phases of construction. The plan is for a mixed use development including a hotel, convention centre, museum, apartments, offices and shops, while creating public access by opening inner courtyards and making thoroughfares.

In La Chaux-de-Fonds, which originated ss a 19th century watchmaking town, a strip of industrial wasteland alongside railway tracks at the bottom of the slope of watchmaking buildings will be redeveloped. New buildings will follow the same dimensions and axis of earlier buildings to fit with the 19th century urban rationale. 

Hôtel-Dieu offers an exciting opportunity to reuse an historic building which is also a major city landmark. It is not without its controversy, as one Lyon resident told me many residents do not like a public building supported with public funds going into private for-profit use. The amount of public access being created does appear to counter this and I wonder how much these plans have been communicated to the wider city population.

Historic and modern together

Both plans involve new buildings and the architect's drawings show very generic modern steel and grass structures which have been constructed in many European cities over the last 15 years. While the scale and form may relate to the historic architecture, the materials suggest 'everytown' buildings that do not relate to the older structures. If these designs on paper make it to concrete and steel they will be a lost opportunity by the architects to creatively and deeply engage with the original buildings in creating dynamic, modern and harmonious new structures.

Citizen Participation

This session highlighted the involvement of Lyon in the Heritage Open Days and in the guidance of managing the Albi world heritage designation. In Regensburg, Germany, came an excellent presentation on concrete methods to develop ground-up participation based on the understanding that cities are created from the continuous interaction between inhabitants and places. Municipalities need to mobilise their citizens, find ways to open up two-way communication between the people leading projects and residents. The question was posed - are citizens really at the core of public action and governance? The answers lie in designing urban objects to meet local realities, respecting citizens' traditions and skills, and integrating citizens participation into planning and development. This is necessary to encourage representative democracy. It improves quality of life and strengthens social cohesion within community. But, to do so requires a new urban mind set – that heritage is not an obstacle but the resource for the whole community – and so change perceptions so that conservationists and developers are not on opposite sides.

This was one of the most inspiring presentations of the conference. It requires a different way of thinking from politicians and municipal officers, a letting go of control so that the municipality works more for sand with its residents rather than doing things to them. It should work well on the neighbourhood scale. In Sheffield the community assemblies went part-way to doing this, before being scaled back, and now it is left once again to the motivated individuals of residents’ associations and local forums to  take this form of participation to the council – on the outside calling in.

Summary

I left the conference inspired by what many cities are striving for in their desire to not just balance heritage and development, but in trying to use heritage as a positive driver of development which is brings out local distinctiveness as a force for economic growth rather than reducing city after city to a generic look-a-like. While world heritage designation is the motivation for the politicians and officers gathered here, the ideas and lessons can be applied to any town or city – but it does require a change of mind set and a broader, longer vision amongst the elected and the appointed than perhaps many urban areas are perhaps currently blessed with. At least for now. Some examples for this meeting can show some of the ways forward.

  

Castleton - Hope Exhibition Launches

Project steering group - Alan, Angela, Di, Bill, Kay and Ann
after installing the exhibition

Yesterday Hope and Castleton Historical Societies launched the Lives of the Common People exhibition at Castleton Visitor Centre.

inHeritage has worked with the societies to produce the exhibition as part of our involvement throughout the project. The exhibition is one result from over a year of work by 65 volunteers who have researched hundreds of documents, excavated 55 test pits and surveyed three old routeways as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund supported Lives of the Medieval Common People.

Visitors browse exhibition panels and pottery display

The societies developed the themes, in a session with the project steering group led by Bill at Castleton Visitor Centre in March. These are the search for the common people, farmers, lead miners, routes, churches, houses and everyday objects. Bill drafted nine panels of text based on this session, selected photographs taken by participants and directed society members to take photographs specially for the exhibition. Once the steering group were happy with the text and images, inHeritage offered 8 different design styles with varying types of layout and fonts to the group to choose. The final style was a combination of two of these sample layouts. We then managed production, choosing a drop-down banner style as the best solution to hang in the visitor centre and for later use by the societies.

Project participants Jill, Dave and Leah at the launch

The steering group also chose finds from the test pits to display in two exhibition cabinets. These include parts of a human skeleton, a cat skeleton, clay tobacco pipes, pottery and medieval window glass.

Ken Smith opens the exhibition

Forty people attended the launch of the exhibition yesterday, all of them either participating in project research or providing their gardens for test pits.  The exhibition was opened by Ken Smith, Cultural Heritage Team Manager for the Peak District National Park Authority, with Chris Pennell and Geoff Nickolds from the HLF's East Midlands committee also present.

HLF East Midlands Committee Chair Chris Pennell says a
few words

Di Curtis, project steering group member, thanks everyone
involved

The exhibition is open until Thursday 30th May. Entry is free during the visitor centre's opening times. You can find times and other centre details on the Authority's website.

The exhibition will then be displayed by Hope Historical Society at Hope Wakes Week between Saturday 22nd and Sunday 30th June.

The Societies are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Peak District National Park Authority and the University of Sheffield for their support.

Walkley Memories Day

Thank you to everyone who came to and helped make the Walkley Memories Day such a resounding success on Friday afternoon.

Walkley Community Centre was abuzz with residents and ex-residents sharing their memories, photos and documents of Walkley's rich history. Ruskin Hall looked splendid with tables, each with plates of biscuits, scattered around the room.

Over 65 people came along between 2pm and 5pm, while 21 volunteers welcomed and talked to visitors, scanned photos and documents, and helped serve tea and coffee. There was also a slideshow of old images collected by the project so far and an exhibition. Some visitors went upstairs to look at the Reform Club World War 1 memorials in the snooker room.

We found out about all aspects of Walkley's history, from World War 1 to the 1970s, and saw an original letter written home from the First World War trenches by one brother to another.

Volunteers worked tirelessly to record recollections, with two people kept very busy on the photo scanner that luckily bounces. One lucky person now has the task of putting the names and details on a list so we can begin contacting those people who have asked to be recorded.

Calver Weir Oral History

The Calver Weir oral history project is coming towards the end of the interview phase this month. Volunteers have completed over 14 interviews. Five of these are now online, which cover the early history of the mill, Sissons and the restoration of the weir. Future podcasts will include the river and Colditz.

http://www.calverweir.org.uk/page1/page1.php