Several years ago, Garber Park Stewards and Golden Hour Restoration Institute first tossed around the idea of creating an interpretative brochure that would enrich the experience of visiting Garber Park. We wanted to create a document that was engaging and informative for all park users—first timers as well as regular visitors.
With a bit of luck, we met Lauren Fong on one of our regular volunteer work days. She had served as the Sustainability Director of the Claremont Club and Spa and informed us of a competitive grant that we could apply for to allow our brochure idea to blossom. We applied and were fortunate to be selected for a grant, which would not only cover the brochure design and printing but also a year of workshops and new hand-routed trail signs to be crafted by Ricardo Mannequin.
We kicked off our project with a community workshop on “how to design a great brochure.” We brainstormed our content and spent a good deal of time reviewing layout and design strategies of similar brochures. We really wanted to include all the wonders of Garber Park but found we had to trim back quite a bit so not to inundate park goers with too much information.
An early version of the brochure at our May 2016 workshop.
Fortunately, we were able to team up with Bob Birkeland and Hope McManus of Restoration Design Group. They walked us through a rigorous process of creating an elegant hand-drawn map of the park, which is central to the brochure. Hand drawn icon elements adorn the brochure, as well, including our personal favorite—the colorful orange lichens of the Garber’s ancient buckeyes.
The brochure is now available (here), and also the Claremont Club and Spa, and at kiosks at Garber Park entrances. We can’t thank everyone enough for all their work, feedback and commitment to Garber Park.
