Here is another of my zoo animal ID redesign concepts, this one of my favorite birds: the majestic Rhinoceros Hornbill. The original zoo sign has a few issues, but foremost is that the globe is facing the wrong part of the world! The globe here is rotated and centered on Europe, not Southeast Asia where it should be. In my redesign, I made the map large and clearly focused on the species’ range. The globe serving as the locator map orients the viewer to the correct part of the world. Where a species lives is second only to it’s name in terms of importance in educating the zoo goer. “This is a hornbill and lives in Borneo.” If that’s all the visitor remembers, it’s better than nothing. Of course, a well-designed graphic with multiple points of entry & interest hopefully encourages more reading and learning. A really nice map has a way of delighting and surprising the viewer.
