Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria: Integrated Wayfinding System

Developed with Deakin Design, the brief for a new wayfinding system for Melbourne Gardens responded to a critical need to replace ageing and inadequate wayfinding signage with a contemporary, world-class system. The brief required integration of First Peoples-led design translation, reflecting the Gardens’ deep commitment to reconciliation. It called for wayfinding to be an experience in its own right, anchoring visitors in Country and enabling diverse visitors to successfully navigate and discover Melbourne Gardens. Best practice principles in user-led design, interpretation, accessibility, sustainability and safety were mandatory – bringing legibility to a complex site while responding empathetically to its heritage landscape.

The design connects 60,000+ years of history to a contemporary, digitally-connected wayfinding and interpretation system. Not only designed to help people get from A to B, but to also tell the rich Gardens story along the way, it integrates practical wayfinding information with placemaking and digital interpretation, to bring the Gardens experience to life for a new generation of visitors. New physical signage across the gardens – including a 6-fold increase in mapped panels – aids navigation while also telling the story of the land pre-colonisation. QR codes connect users to a fully integrated digital system, including mapping, directions and interpretation.

Winner of the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Design Award for Communication Design, this project sets a new bar for communication design for one of Australia’s most visited and most loved cultural institutions. The project could have progressed with a white/western view of the world, but RBGV insisted on grasping a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the colonised nature of both their organisation and its land. It has enabled RBGV to develop much stronger relationships with Traditional Owners and developed the literacy of a number of design professionals in working with First Peoples-led design and the International Indigenous Design Charter.

This landmark project leverages best-practice design, new technology and First-People’s storytelling to create a more legible, engaged and meaningful experience of one of Australia’s most visited and most loved cultural institutions. It brings the stories of the landscape into our handheld devices, and helps a whole new generation of visitors explore and discover the impact of plants in our contemporary world. The creative team – appointed through an EOI process – included Studio Binocular and Aspect Studios, working with architect, Jefa Greenaway (Wailwan|Kamilaroi + D’harawal) as cultural design translator. Greenshoot Consulting led the Traditional Owner consultation, which also informed the concurrent development of RBGV’s Interpretation and Storytelling Framework with Freeman Ryan Design. Responding to extensive audits and user research provided by RBGV and Deakin Design, the design team undertook numerous site visits, consultation and design workshops to help inform the three creative concepts. These were presented to a selection panel, with one selected concept refined through collaboration between the Gardens team, wayfinding and digital design specialists, First Nations design translation, digital developers and Traditional Owners.