14/05/2026
Time for another Throwback Thursday – my weekly dive into the ADA archives.
Action for Biodiversity, Ireland, interpretation panels.
This cross-border project promotes wildlife sites in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. Working across the border was an interesting experience, but made total sense – wildlife doesn't recognise the lines we humans draw on maps!
We were keen to avoid the traditional approach of dull signs listing every species that might (or, more often, might not) be seen. Instead we created high-impact panels with simple, but powerful messages about why each place is important for wildlife. The apparently simple designs are based around a carefully considered information hierarchy, fitting the sites and the wildlife that lives there into a much bigger picture of the importance of biodiversity and how we can all help.
Each panel focuses on just two species – of which at least one will be common enough to guarantee that most people see it. The panels also encourage further engagement, promoting other sites to visit nearby, giving ideas for wildlife enhancements you can make at home and giving details of further sources of information.
I've just picked 3 panels to show here – two from different sites in the North and a bi-lingual panel in the Republic (off the top of my head I think there were about 18 panels in total).
