Major parks such as Yosemite have landscape architects whose job responsibilities include that of designated signage officer. About a week ago, Galvin met in Yosemite strictly to discuss the sign issue with Western park officials. Though park highways signs have long been standardized, other signs have long varied from park to park. The park service now wants to find some uniform system for designing, building and installing signs. Each is getting special attention in the Yosemite experiment.
Informational signs advise visitors of things such as campground pet rules and bear warnings.
To give these signs a little more eye appeal, officials are seeing how they look with pre-rusted steel frames. They are also trying out replaceable panels, so that information can be updated without replacing the entire sign. The directional signs point visitors toward trailheads, stables and other park facilities. The test signs are gussied up with a darker shade of brown, a vivid font that makes the print more readable and easily recognizable international symbols.