Author: V Brightman
Date: 9 October 2014
Plants of high interest in areas of high visitor flow at Kew Gardens
Brief for interpretation
Date
13 October 2014
Owner of brief and contact details
Vicky Brightman
v.brightman@kew.org
02083323617
Project name
Plants of high interest in areas of high visitor
flow at Kew Gardens
Decision maker (if different)
Vicky Brightman
Justine Quinn, Interpretation Manager,
j.quinn@kew.org
Start date and completion date
Project start: 1 November 2014
Completion of first 100: 23 December 2014
Completion of final 100/150: 6 February 2015
Budget
£175 per day with a maximum budget of £5250
1. Context
The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew houses the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the
world. Unlike horticultural plants or food crops that have been modified by selective breeding, most plants found at
Kew and are true to those found in the wild; they are of exceptional scientific importance.
In addition, RBG Kew has played a major role in the development of modern day botany, which can be highlighted
through particular collections and features within the landscape and shared with our visitors.
We require a significant increase and enhancement to the interpretation at Kew Gardens through this project, which
forms part of a wider initiative to create a step change in the interpretative aspects of the visitor experience at Kew
Gardens and Wakehurst Place.
Through revitalising the interpretation across both sites, Kew will maximise the potential of its plant collections and the
expertise of over 200 scientists and 100 horticulturalists to significantly raise public awareness and galvanise people
to re-evaluate their own behaviours in relation to plant and fungi use and conservation. First class interpretation will
stimulate their curiosity beyond a visit, encouraging repeat visits and membership. We want to increase opportunities
for the public to engage and not just ‘see’, to communicate the gravitas and beauty of Kew’s heritage and collections
and to introduce an element of fun and entertainment.
Kew has recently invested in audience and brand research to better understand our audiences, what will attract them
to Kew and what our potential is for market growth. We now have a bespoke audience segmentation model to guide
our interpretive offer.
Our interpretation related objectives:
1. Ensure that RBG Kew is the quality and innovation benchmark for interpretation in botanic gardens
internationally by 2018.
2. To deliver site-wide, high-quality and cost-effective interpretation that presents a clear picture of our value to
visitors by maximising the strengths of different areas (zones), and having a clear understanding of how
visitors make sense of their visit – to increase their perception of the benefits they receive.
3. To deliver measurable visitor learning outcomes that relate to biodiversity, climate change, food security, plant
health, nature on our doorstep and Kew heritage.
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2. Audiences
Our main audience group: Nature connectors
This segment wants to connect - to nature and to others. They seek a shared experience, are open-minded, fun-loving
and do look for learning and personal development. They like learning about plants in our everyday lives,
conservation, history, heritage and architecture. They also have high levels of knowledge about art and art history;
perhaps we can tap into this with our historical botanical illustrations? They appreciate a balance between cultivation
and nature and would be keen meet with gardeners and curators, to understand how Kew Gardens is developed and
maintained. Interpretation for this segment should help them gain a contextual understanding; connecting to the life
stories behind plants and exploring the relevance of Kew’s research to our everyday lives.
Families in this segment want shared fun family experiences, they want to stimulate their children’s’ imagination
through interactivity and physical play and explore together. They want their family days out to provide intellectual
stimulation and development for the whole party.
There are other key audience segments that need to be accommodated and more information will be provided on their
motivations and demographics.
Our approach, in most cases, is not to design separate family or children’s interpretation; rather to use strong images,
accessible language, symbols - and a recognisable ‘call to action’ activity for any visitor to take part in, but that will
consider families as the primary target audience.
3. Brief
We are seeking someone with experience researching and writing copy for exhibitions and other visitor experiences
(preferably science based content). You will also need experience of image and archival research and an awareness
of visitor behaviour and motivations and how that impacts engagement with interpretation, in order to deliver a major
enhancement to plant-related interpretation across the site.
You will also need to liaise with the Kew interpretation team, horticulturists, scientists and Kew image and archive
team. You will need to establish broad visitor learning outcomes, write new copy, source new images and archival
materials and then sign-off the content by circulating to experts and relevant staff in Kew’s public engagement and
learning team.
You will also need to oversee the graphic design process and sign off of the graphic design with the Interpretation
Manager.
RBG Kew is developing a graphic design and 3D design approach on which this project will draw and has
Interpretation Principles and other key guiding documents to support the development of this project.
In addition, Kew’s Interpretation Team can provide access to content that already exists that can be repurposed and
used for this interpretation such as the website species pages and recent activities such as our Traditional Chinese
Medicines Trail, Medicinal Tree Trail and Deadly Plant Trail.
4. Deliverables
We require you to identify and interpret circa 200 to 250 key plants in areas of high footfall in the gardens. Criteria will
be applied to aid the selection process and the Head of Content and Interpretation will sign off on the final selection.
Criteria will focus on areas of high visitor footfall, interest level and visual appeal of the plant and whether it already
has interpretation of some form. We do not require plants within the glasshouses to form a part of this list.
Plants will require a relatively small interpretive graphic panel, so content will need to be very focused and the Kew
interpretation team can provide guidance on the overarching content hierarchy applied to these plant feature labels.
In development of these final products we would require:

A list of 200 to 250 key plants with rationale for selection and locations and recommendation of scale of panel
(according to size of plant)
 Overarching Visitor Learning outcomes
 Draft copy submitted to the interpretation team and stakeholders for comment
 Final copy submitted to Head of Content and Interpretation for sign-off
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 Sourcing images for the design
Date: 9 October 2014
5. Budget
The suggested daily rate of £175 for this work with a maximum fee of £5250 (exclusive of VAT). The final number of
days will be negotiated on further discussion around the detail of the project.
The design, production and installation costs will be agreed and administered by Kew and outlined at project kick-off.
6. Timeline
Final completion deadline for this is the 6 February 2015, by which time all content and graphic design work should be
complete. At project kick-off we’d like to agree a more detailed timetable with you. A proportion of this work can be
carried out remotely (approximately 75%) but will require several meetings onsite and image research is more
effective carried out onsite due to direct access to the images and archives.
7. Selection Criteria
All of the work will be carried out in collaboration with our interpretation team and managed by Vicky Brightman, Head
of Content and Justine Quinn, Interpretation Manager
Please respond with a brief CV of your experience in this area with two relevant examples of your previous
interpretation work. Also, please provide evidence of your availability to work according to the deadlines.
Deadline for submission to v.brightman@kew.org is Noon Friday 24 October 2014.
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