Leslie Stone – Connecting People and Nature Through Design
The shape of a leaf, the bend of a river, the feather of a bird—many are delighted by nature and its dazzling myriad of colors and forms, but not all are led to a career inspired by nature’s beauty and the need to protect it. Leslie Stone, a graphic designer and creator of interpretive trail signs, draws from a lifelong love of art, design, education and nature to collaborate with organizations seeking to inspire and instruct visitors at parks and other natural areas. Stone recently worked with The Big Sur Land Trust to create ten signs for Palo Corona Regional Park, the new South Bank Trail, and De Dampierre River Trails Park. Each sign is a compelling mosaic of photography, storytelling, imagery, information, and artistic design. Stone’s interpretive signs, which are themselves works of art, deepen the visitor’s cultural and scientific understanding and enhance the experience of being out on the land, empowering people to make choices that contribute to the health and well-being of communities and landscapes.
Raised in Los Altos, California, Stone loved nature as a girl—and she loved to draw. She studied design and education at UCLA, specializing in the field of interpretation and educational graphics and exhibits. In 1993, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has since worked for such clients as Yosemite National Park, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the Santa Cruz Harbor.
“Education is key to changing people’s minds and influencing their behavior,” Stone says. “When education is done well in a natural environment it can be quite inspiring.”
Stone says that people are more open to learning about stewardship when they are out in nature. “Nature makes a powerful impression,” she says. “It’s kinetic. You’re in a place where you can relax, connect, and feel inspired. People’s senses and emotions are more open.”
Stone also recognizes that interpretive trail signage can be controversial. “When placing signs in a natural environment there should be no upstaging,” she says. “The desire is for signs that are visually subtle and that reflect the subject matter.”
For the signs at Palo Corona, the South Bank Trail, and De Dampierre, Stone worked with a team comprising staff from the Land Trust and the Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks District. “We held a series of workshops,” Stone says. “We wrote and edited stories and collected images. The goal was to compose a story that is compelling, accurate, and fitting to the site.”
At Palo Corona, three vertical panels next to the historic barn orient the visitor at the start of the “outdoor museum experience.” Information about the landscape, including its agricultural heritage and the early peoples who found sustenance there, give rich context to the meadows and mountains just past the barn. Other signs at Palo Corona include one at Inspiration Point providing bird’s-eye-view information about the Carmel River watershed, and another closer to the river, in the park’s riparian corridor. Four signs at De Dampierre emphasize the natural habitats and cycles of the river.
The signs are made of porcelain enamel, a durable material that allows for the vivid reproduction of photographs which help make Stone’s signs so distinctive. Stone chose colors inspired by the palette of the surrounding grassy oak woodlands. The signs are mounted on handsome posts made of western cedar, with metal strappings that reflect Carmel Valley’s rustic spirit.
With over twenty years experience working with a diversity of environmental organizations on interpretive signage, Stone has noticed some important changes. “Rather than just focusing on beauty, there’s a greater emphasis today on showing nature’s connections and the web of life,” she says. “It’s more about how different ecosystems and processes are all connected, and how we are all connected to them.” Stone says her work is designed to give people more tools to understand these connections, and to help them make choices that don’t disrupt the natural processes that sustain us all.
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