COSA Communications and Signs Standards and Messaging Manual

Hello COSA community,

Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department is starting to develop a Communications and Signs Standards and Messaging Manual. Our department has identified the need to improve consistency, increase coordination, reduce redundancy and simplify the messaging process throughout our properties, programs and web-based communications. Trail, trailhead and property signs, along with regulations and warning messaging will need to be evaluated and standardized to improve efficiency and incorporate English and Spanish communication. The use of standard international symbols and icons will be the preferred way to communicate many of our messages. A Culturally Responsive Inclusivity Strategic Plan (CRISP) was developed by our department in 2020 to further enhance our outreach to other cultures. One of the primary CRISP goals are to develop an effective communications and outreach strategy for Latinx engagement in Parks & Open Space experiences and opportunities.

Thus, we are in the process of drafting a Request For Proposals (RFP) to hire a professional consultant for development of the Communications and Signs Standards and Messaging Manual and we are reaching out to the COSA community to see if anyone out there has done something similar in the past and would share lessons learned from their process, an RFP used to hire a consultant, or products/manuals that were developed.

If you have any experiences or information to share, please send it my way.

Thanks for your time!

-Obadiah

Obadiah Broughton

Project Coordinator/Planner II

Project Management & Design

Boulder County Parks & Open Space

5201 St. Vrain Road, Longmont, CO 80503

obroughton

303-918-2606 (cell)