Why You Need Interpretation

Welcome to Shelley Signs. We are a leading supplier of external signs and panels with particular expertise in Interpretive Signs. For a chat about the options phone Robert Shelley on 01743 460996 or to request more details complete this Enquiry Form

Shelley Signs offer a full service for Interpretive Signs – please follow these links for more information about our in-house design,  submitting your own artwork, Framing Options, materials and general guidance about Interpretive Boards.   Guidance on maps and popular styles can be found at the Maps link.

Interpretation may be letting your business down. There are many warning signs that your heritage site has a dyer need for you to either improve on your existing interpretation or acquire a new interpretation befitting your site.

The writing on the wall is there for you to read but you have to know where to look. There are several key areas that you need to explore and take into consideration. The first and most important area that you need to explore is visitors to your heritage site and attendance levels.

You should ask yourself several questions relating to the flow of visitors. Has the number of visitors fallen in any way over a period of time, or do those visitors that attend your heritage site stay for a shorter amount of time than would be expected from a visitor that is experiencing the full potential your heritage site has to offer?

Interpretation could be a major factor in this, your visitors may not be fully aware of exactly what your site has to offer them. Look at the duration of time that visitors spend at your site, their stay may be shorter than usual if they cannot find pieces of interest due to lack of interpretation or incorrect interpretation.

A lack of visitors to your heritage site will have severe implications on not just your annual turnover but on staff morale. There are several reasons why your staff could be unhappy, receiving numerous complaints will wear an employee down and your heritage site will become a very stressful environment to work in. This may cause your staff to not take pride in their work and standards will slip.

You may have had to reduce employees working hours because attendances are low and the amount of staff required at any given time has decreased. Having your hours cut at work may make your employees doubt their job security, and also cause them to suffer out of work with money-related problems. Whatever problems your heritage site is having will have a knock-on effect on your employees, this is where staff morale will suffer.

The lack of income due to reduced admissions or memberships will have further implications on the way your heritage site is managed. Not only does this affect the amount of staff that you will be able to employ, but general maintenance or any planned or wanted improvements will not be able to take place due to a lack of available funds.

Interpretive presentation could be the main cause for any of these problems that you are facing, even though it may appear indirectly related. For a heritage site that holds so much interesting information, it is important to have the correct interpretation that will convey this.