California Dinosaur Garden

Accessible exhibit experience for families

Project Overview

The California Dinosaur Garden is an immersive experience of California's Cretaceous period at Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo. Life-size dinosaurs accompany prehistoric plants, realistic animal sculptures, and interactive exhibits to create a uniquely engaging snapshot of life during this period.
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I led visual and spatial design for the new exhibit that combined education, environmental storytelling, and physical interactivity.
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My Goals

Developing the scope of work to complete the exhibit within the allotted time to meet the grand opening. Create an engaging exhibit experience that communicated complex ecological content to children and families. Collaborate with educators and other creatives to create messaging and blend illustration with accessible content across physical and digital touchpoints.
Bilingual entry panel reading "Dinosaurs once lived here" and "Los dinosaurios alguna vez vivieron aquí," beside a fossil table where a visitor examines specimens.
California Dinosaur Garden

Role and Contributions:

Exhibit Branding
Wayfinding & Panel Design
Interactive Display UI
Logistics
This beautiful outdoor space is fully accessible, multi-lingual, includes wheelchair access to a fossil dig, braille labels, and tactile, sensory-rich elements for children of all abilities. Guests experience engaging nature play and hands-on exploration of the natural world. Stepping into the California Dinosaur Garden truly feels like stepping into the Cretaceous period, and is sure to bring history to life for kids and adults alike.
Production spec for the 26 in × 150 in main panel: 1-inch frame with 1.5-inch tolerance, 110 pt Gotham titles, 42 pt Atkinson Hyperlegible subheads and labels.The finished size-comparison panel: layered dimensional cutouts of redwoods, cycads, and ferns above a row of illustrated species labels with push buttons.
Close-up of the bilingual panel "These plants grow here today / Estas plantas crecen aquí hoy en día" with a dimensional cutout tree.
Detail of a layered redwood cutout mounted against the painted mountain backdrop.

A size graphic children can hear

This interactive information graphic showcases the relative sizes of various plants and animals during this prehistoric period. Panel buttons audibly inform of pronunciation of animals.
Life-size dinosaur sculpture in the planted garden, with its bilingual description panel in the foreground.
Description panel designs for Dromaeosaur, Avian dinosaur, and Hadrosaur — bilingual text, pronunciation guides, comparison illustrations, and braille and audio indicators.
Angled view of the illustrated species labels running along the panel's lower rail.

Tactile animal description panels

Animal description panels provide a tactile experience that also aligns with the visual experience of seeing life size sculptures throughout the exhibit.
Tactile map of Cretaceous California in raised colour and texture, with a yellow locator button and bilingual text describing how much of the state was once underwater.Detail of the Tactile map of Cretaceous California, highlighting the yellow locator button and tactile patterns to denote land vs water and other boundaries.

The Tactile Map

The tactile map includes braille and texture to allow for ease of use and understanding for a wider audience.
The exhibit's graphic system in one view: donor panel, bilingual entry panel, logo lockup, fourteen numbered species ID cards, fossil-dig and plant panels, and a visitor promotion panel.Marketing artwork built from the same illustration and logo system: two colourways of the key art plus bilingual "Now open" announcements cropped for square, vertical, and banner placements.

One system across exhibit and marketing

Both exhibit and marketing material utilize the same branding elements of imagery, color, typography, and other design elements in order to create a cohesive look throughout.

Outcome

The exhibit saw record attendance during its opening and featured new interactive panels developed with a range of accessibility components, setting a new standard for educational storytelling.

What I learned

This project reinforced how effective communication across age groups requires layered, multisensory design. I also gained insight into designing for physical space, where typography, placement, and interaction all influence comprehension and delight.

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