One Park: Building a Holistic Visitor Experience at Washington Park
As one of Portland Oregon’s first public parks, Washington Park has grown to include several of the region’s most beloved and unique gardens, memorials and cultural institutions. “One Park” became the project motto for the mental and operational shift from neighboring institutions into one holistic park serving the region. The subsequent workshops and plans were then approached through this lens.
Agency
sparks+sullivan
Practice Area
Client
Explore Washington Park
Industry
The Challenge
From the beginning, access to the Park was a challenge and continues to be so because of its location in Portland’s hills, adjacent to downtown. Further, many Portlanders are more familiar with specific institutions within the Park than the overall Park itself and lack a clear understanding of what the Park offers and where it is located.
Project Vision
Human-centered research set the stage for the project. Methods included interviews with Park visitors (and non-visitors), studying the history and development of the Park, analyzing visitor data, surveying stakeholders, field observations, creating a detailed analysis of visitor journeys, interviewing peer Park leaders, and examining case studies and analogous places including universities, theme parks and food cart pods. Insights from the research set the stage for next steps.
Human-centered research set the stage for the project. Methods ranged from interviewing Park visitors (and non-visitors) to examining case studies and analogous places.
One Park became the project motto and was the mental and operational shift from neighboring institutions to one holistic park serving the Portland region.
Working during COVID, the team designed shared experiences for the many internal team members to safely participate in the process.
Micah Fischer
Design + Execution
“One Park” became the project motto and was the mental and operational shift from neighboring institutions to one holistic park serving the Portland region. The subsequent workshops and plans approached all the work through this lens. The key components of the action plan include identity, marketing and communications, access and circulation, visitor services and internal organization. Together, the team tied them back to a user journey diagram that we created during the research phase—so that the project stakeholders could see how action relates to needs. Within each action area, we identified specific projects and next steps for the Park to undertake.
The team designed a workshop-exhibit placed inside the Park. The immersive workshop used QR codes for participants to listen to interviews and read research articles.
Micah Fischer
Participants voted, commented, drew ideas and engaged in written discussions over the course of a day.
Micah Fischer
Collaboratively as One Team, they articulated the Park’s purpose, five core principles and role as a signature park serving the Portland region.
Through the research, we identified insights and opportunities. These opportunities turned to action in an operations plan prioritizing projects for the next decade.
Project Details
This strategy plan stood out for its holistic, creative approach for soliciting and responding to feedback from the community, staff, and stakeholders. The feedback combined with comprehensive research resulted in a clarified mission and lens that guided all subsequent planning.
Excellent example of a challenging stakeholder process. The design of the report engaged readers in the content and made the information accessible and enjoyable to read.
From the modular wall system to the engaging graphics, this is a refreshing and thoughtfully considered community engagement project.
Design Team
Gwen Sparks Sullivan (strategy, facilitation and design)
Ryan Sullivan (design and strategy)
Collaborators
PVS Graphics, Premier Press (printing)
Will Reese
ETHNO
Photo Credits
Micah Fischer (photography)
Sheepscot Creative (videography)
Open Date
June 2021