Installation of Unitec Graphic Design Educational Signs

Late last year a group of talented Graphic Design students from Unitec visited CUE Haven as part of a course work assignment to identify innovative applications of visual communication to enhance visitors’ experiences.  After their visit the students took some time to develop their ideas and then invited us to their studio at Unitec to see what they had come up with.

We were very impressed by the quality and creativity of the students’ designs and really wanted to have some of their designs converted into actual signs to be installed at CUE Haven.

Unitec provided a grant for a beautiful inspirational sign designed by student Paige Keene, which was produced by Capitol Signs Services Ltd and installed at CUE Haven.

We applied to the Auckland Council’s Rodney Environmental Education Fund and secured a grant to have some additional signs made.

It was a hard decision considering all the fantastic designs that the students had created, but we finally selected nine signs with an educational focus designed by students Louise Thacker and Yan Heere.

Louise’s work focused on the hidden creatures that visitors to CUE Haven might encounter – Puriri moth, Stick Insect, Kokopu, etc.

And Yan’s signs communicated information about birds that visitors are likely to see at CUE Haven – Tui, Fantail, Kereru (NZ Wood pigeon), Waxeye/Silvereye, Morepork (NZ Owl), Grey Warbler, etc.

The nine designs were sent to Capitol Sign Services Ltd to be costed. The designs were quite complex and based on the costs we only had just enough funding to get seven designs made up into actual signs, so we settled on the seven signs.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Capitol Sign Services Ltd to collect the signs and were simply blown away when the staff at Capitol Signs – Matthew, Stephen and Paula presented us with all the nine signs that Louise and Yan had designed. The additional signs were their contribution to the CUE Haven project. WOW!!

Not only did they generously make the two additional signs, but they also provided the posts on which the signs are mounted and devised a very simple and secure system for attaching the signs to the posts.  They even developed a coding system to make sure we got the right sign on the right post ! Thank you so much – what a fantastic surprise!

Over the past two weeks all nine signs have been installed at CUE Haven.

Six of the signs were installed by some of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award gold award participants during their residential during the week of Sept 30th.

And the last three signs were installed by some of the staff from ANZ Bank who were volunteering for the day on October 10th.

The signs are a fantastic addition to the CUE Haven landscape and will be enjoyed and appreciated by visitors for years to come.

We want to thank Unitec for their support of our project.  We were truly impressed by the talent and creativity of the students and we look forward to continuing to work with Unitec staff and students across a variety of disciplines.

A big thank you to Auckland Council for providing the grant to have these wonderful educational signs made.

Our many thanks to Capitol Sign Services Ltd.  It was a pleasure working with you all and we are very grateful for your support and generosity.  We look forward having you visit CUE Haven to see the signs and to work with you again on other projects.

Many thanks to the DoEHA gold award participants – Brigid, Kalym, Lauren and Tyrell  and ANZ professionals  – Andrew, Bion, Katherine and Simon for their hard work carrying bags of cement, water and the heavy signs deep into the bush to install the signs in just the right place.

And most of all, a BIG THANK YOU to Louise and Yan for their wonderful signs.  We really appreciate all the extra work you did to get the signs ready for production.  We are proud to have your work at CUE Haven and we wish you much success in your future endeavours.

This sign project is particularly special to us because it is an example of what we want CUE Haven to be—a place where the community can come together, work together and create something for everyone to enjoy.  This project was a cooperative effort among all of our community groups—education, corporate, government and community volunteers.

Our many thanks again to everyone involved!!