The audience came from as far as Eugene and Springfield, Corvallis and Kaiser. They represented professions as diverse as community forest educators and engineers from the U.S. Army. But when they all filed into the council chambers at the Metro Regional Center, it was to learn the same thing – how to use words and images in a way that captures a reader's interest in the first three seconds of viewing an interpretive sign.
More than 70 communication, public affairs, landscaping, planning, marketing and engineering professionals took direction from Jean P. Harrison, a graphic designer with more than 20 years experience creating and teaching about interpretive signs, who led the crowd through Freeman Tilden's six principals of interpretation. Tilden, a pioneer in the field of natural and cultural interpretation, developed the six principals in 1957 but they remain the starting point for anyone responsible for creating interpretive signs.
Key to Tilden's principals, Harrison pointed out, is the concept that interpretive signs shouldn't instruct as much as provoke the audience, and research has shown you have about three seconds to do so. The 3-30-3 theory, applicable to many forms of communication, proposes that if you grab the reader's interest in the first three seconds, they'll typically be willing to give you another 30 seconds to learn more. If the message is compelling, the reader might continue reading your communication piece for another three minutes. Harrison made the case by sharing both successful examples of the 3-30-3 principal as well as signs that provoked the reader to do nothing more than keep walking.
An overview workshop on interpretive signs was offered at the end of October followed a week later by a hands-on workshop where attendees were invited to bring in current sign projects for guidance. Both workshops were sponsored by Metro's Nature in Neighborhoods program and the City of Gresham.
Nature in Neighborhoods is a voluntary program that encourages the use of low impact development practices to protect water quality and fish and wildlife habitat through education, technical assistance, grants and private and public partnerships.
Low impact development supports the region's six desired outcomes by helping ensure the region enjoys clean air, clean water and healthy ecosystems.