01 / ORGANIZE
A story in chapters.
Focused panel themes break a layered historical narrative into approachable entry points.
Case study / Interpretive panel series
St. Francis
Dam Disaster
National Memorial & National Monument
Angeles National Forest
- FORMAT
- Eight interpretive panels
- SUBJECTS
- History · Engineering · Geology · Remembrance
- DESIGN
- Interpretive graphics & visual storytelling
The project
A landscape.
A disaster.
A lasting memory.
This eight-panel series presents the St. Francis Dam Disaster within a wider story of people, water, engineering, and place. The artwork moves from the area’s history and the development of Los Angeles’s water infrastructure to the dam’s construction, the canyon’s geology, the night of the disaster, and its aftermath.
Archival photographs, maps, diagrams, timelines, and personal stories give visitors several ways into a complex subject. Panels addressing the lives lost and the aftermath keep remembrance central to the narrative.
One coordinated interpretive system.
Forest-green framing, warm cream backgrounds, earthy brown typography, and gold accents connect the series. A consistent header, footer, and timeline treatment help each panel stand alone while belonging to the same visual story.
02 / REVEAL
Make complexity visible.
Maps, geological references, engineering diagrams, and timelines connect information with visual context.
03 / REMEMBER
Keep people at the center.
Historical portraits and personal accounts bring the human dimension into the interpretive experience.
Original project artwork
Eight panels.
One connected story.
Explore the complete supplied designs. Select any panel to view the artwork at a larger size.
Artwork in context
Designed to be encountered
in the landscape.
These environmental mockups explore how the supplied panel designs could read along a canyon trail. The settings and installations are visualizations, not documentation of an existing installation.
Your place has a story
Let’s help people connect with it.
Interpretive graphics for the histories, landscapes, and stories worth understanding.