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“Experiencing the magic of Maguffin’s Well”
An interpreter's top tips for evaluating self-guided walks
Someone asked me recently “what makes a good self-guided walk?” I answered that it is easier to say what makes a bad one. And that’s the truth. You know you’ve got it wrong because people get lost and come back tired, irritable and write and tell you all about it. your audience needs to feel safe and confident
The misery of the “Missing”
Apparently for every one person who complains there are another
27 who would’ve. Ever thought of the poor souls who are still out there?
What if some of those 27 never got the chance to complain because they never
made it back?
A psychologist called Maslow once came up with a hierarchy of human needs. In a nutshell he said (and I paraphrase here) that your audience needs to feel safe and confident before they can have their minds opened to the wonders of your guided trail. They want to know that they won’t become one of the lost. They’ll never experience the magic of Maguffin’s Well if they can’t find it.
OK, so what do we do about that? Here are a few top tips that follow the rule that “you must evaluate right from the start”.
Tip 1: Do your homework
Plan a route that suits what your audience wants. Don’t
assume you know who they are, what they are interested in or how far they’ll
walk. Go and ask them! Four years ago I was asked to put together four walks
for a soon-to-be-finished visitor centre. I thought I knew who the audience
were, but I only got it half right. Lovely leaflet, nice well managed walks
- but too long. As a result my walkers actually use the short cuts and only
rarely walk the full routes. So do a bit of on-site fieldwork before you start,
you’ll meet some nice people and get out of the office for a couple of
days.
Tip 2: Print that fits
Brief your designer to come up with a piece of print that
will work where you want it picked up. I know a wonderful walk that remains
un-trodden because the leaflet was printed A4 folding out to a tent-like A2.
Think about where your guide will be displayed. This will help you make decisions
about its format – will it fit in the rack?
The last thing you want is to have your leaflet stacked – a stack of leaflets
is a great place to leave a coffee cup.
Tip 3: Print for demand
Do you need to print at all? What’s the demand? Can
you maintain a distribution? If you have no suitable distribution points or
a small audience, you could try downloadable print. Most libraries now offer
free Internet access and only charge a small fee for printing. Consider putting
your print money into raising awareness of your walk. Take an ad in the local
tourism paper or maybe print a flier. You could even start a website –
it’s a great place to include all the fascinating stuff you had to leave
out of the leaflet (see Tip 5).
Oh – and Tip 3 ½: Rremember some people like to walk on Sundays and on long summer evenings. Can they get a copy of your guide at these times?
Tip 4: Maps ain’t all that
How many people do you know who can read a map? I pass on
this tip to you to relieve my guilt. I once spent time sorting-out 16 Ordnance
Survey maps for 16 separate leaflets covering the sections of a (not to be named
here) National Trail. I had the text artfully pasted around the maps’
softened edges – they looked lovely.
There are probably people still wandering the hills calling vengeance on my cringing soul. Maps are less important than your directions. The majority of your walkers will follow the written directions to the letter. They will only look to the map if what you have described is not exactly what they can see. Write your directions and test them. Then get someone else to test them. Finally, before you print, take copies of your final artwork, give them to a bunch of new people and test them yet again.
Tip 5: Ooohs not aarghs
My penultimate tip is a personal bugbear. Make sure you can easily see (and
read) the difference between your descriptive and directional text and keep
them both brief. Remember we live in a sound-bite society. Brief is best. Stand
and watch people using your guide. If they move easily from point to point with
an “ooh” and an “ahh”, you’ve got it right.
Tip 6: Live and learn
You’ve gone to print, they’re walking in droves. Collect their comments.
Put your contact details on your guide; an email address is good. Put a comments
book in the TIC or visitor centre. Be brave, ask your walkers what they thought
– are they grinning or groaning?
Remember Maguffin’s final warning…
“Ignore these lessons at your
leisure
…the souls of the lost will haunt you forever”
(Author's note: Maguffin is a fictional character and bears only passing resemblance to persons living, dead or in a state in between!)
Nigel McDonald
Interpretation Manager
Shropshire County Council