Welcoming visitors with a new perspective on national monuments

Exhibit Design
Experiential Design

Interpretive design agency Leslie Stone Associates has worked with national parks across California for decades. In 2017, I supported the LSA team with signage and orientation concepts welcoming visitors to the Yosemite Valley Welcome Center.

Challenge

Curate a welcome experience that helps first-time and returning visitors orient themselves to the valley and plan their adventure.

Strategy

Transform the 2-dimensional lot into an immersive experience – providing visitors with tactile displays that create a sense of scale and proportion.

A view from above and below

Yosemite’s monumental landscape draws visitors from around the globe, yet for many, the first point of arrival was an unremarkable asphalt parking lot in Yosemite Village.

When the park set out to redesign its welcome center, LSA proposed exhibits aimed at transforming the arrival experience — helping visitors orient themselves to the valley, even during hours that the center was closed.

My concepts focused on providing a tactile experience of the valley’s terrain — conveying a sense of scale and providing multiple perspectives on its iconic landmarks for those unable to explore them up close.

Outcome

Shifting priorities

Ultimately, the park decided to shift focus towards opening a new welcome center in lieu of renovating the existing space, so this project remained in the conceptual phase.