The story of this park begins in the 1850s, during the Gold Rush era, when San Francisco’s population exploded. The growing city needed infrastructure; this was the site of its first water reservoir. It served the city from 1860 until being decommissioned in 1940. During the following decades, the 4.5-acre site remained vacant.
In 2014, the Francisco Park Conservancy was formed to develop the site into a city park. In 2021, I was commissioned to create the interpretive signage that tells the story of the site.
For the project, I developed a visual language with a nod to history: the typography has 19th-century roots, and was paired with vintage photos, illustrations, and maps. The color palette references the Golden Gate Bridge, which is visible from the park.
Francisco Park opened to the public on April 27, 2022.
Francisco Park
Bringing history to life.
The centerpiece of the signage program is an 8-by-5-foot panel that explains the history of the reservoir and the ingenious engineering behind it.
Creating this sign involved organizing large amounts of information, crafting and editing text, and telling multiple stories in a cohesive way.
Each of the five “View” signs throughout the park features a historical photo from the site. One of my contributions was an interactive feature: the “Still in View” detail points out landmarks that remain visible in the landscape today.
Credits: Collaborators included writer/editor Jennifer M. Raiser and the entire Francisco Park Conservancy team. Park photographs by Stephen Schäfer.