CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 
Paper 4 Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets 

CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 


Title: 
Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets 

Prepared by: 
Pete Crane, Senior Visitor Services Officer 

Purpose: 
To update the Forum on development of a consistent approach 
to the design of community path leaflets that help us deliver 
the National Park Plan outcome, “a wider range of people will 
have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.” 

Advice sought: 
The Forum is invited to give its advice on the following:


• 
Will the Draft Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets in Annex 1 
produce leaflets that encourage ‘ a wider range of people to have the 
opportunity to enjoy the outdoors’, 
• 
Are the LOAF happy to endorse the guidance? 
Background 

1. 
Scottish Government Guidance on promoting core paths states; ‘Core paths will only be 
successful if people are using them….Clear signposting and way marking will be required as well as 
information on core paths through appropriate media such as leaflets, map boards and websites. 
People need to: 
• 
Be aware of the benefits of paths; 
• 
Know where they are; and 
• 
Be encouraged to use them. 
Partnerships should be developed to maximise the use of core paths.’ 
2. 
We also know that walking and specifically short walks are the most popular activity 
undertaken by visitors: ‘48% of respondents who said they will undertake some form of walking,’ 
2003/4 visitor survey. 
3. 
The LOAF has previously endorsed the use of consistent path sign posting and way marking 
in the National Park so the next area of path promotion we are aiming to improve is leaflets. 
4. 
There are many community path leaflets produced within the National Park to meet the 
demand from visitors and promote core paths but:• 
many are old and do not meet current best practice in making the information 
accessible to all; 
• 
many of the maps used are complex and difficult to understand; 
• 
few leaflets reflect core path planning; 
• 
few leaflets reflect changes in access legislation; 
• 
there is no consistent approach to presenting information; and 
• 
few of the leaflets make the most of their location in the National Park or 
promote neighbouring communities. 
5. 
Community path leaflets tend to be produced locally and focus on the routes in and around 
a settlement. They are non-commercial productions mainly funded by grants. They are 
either free or for sale at a nominal cost (usually no more than £1.00) with funds used to 
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Paper 4 Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets 

cover the cost of reprints. These leaflets do not appear to conflict with commercial 
productions which tend to cover larger areas and ‘cherry pick’ one or two routes in or 
close to a settlement. 

6. 
We believe that community path leaflets produced using consistent design guidance will 
allow us to more effectively promote paths and also help us deliver the National Park Plan 
outcome, “a wider range of people will have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.” 
7. 
Bowles Green, a consultancy working in the tourism and conservation sector, has recently 
completed a ‘Countryside Mapping Scoping Study’ which looks at practitioners’ views and 
research data. The research indicates that people use a variety of strategies to find their 
way and suggests that it is good practice is to supply information in a variety of forms:• 
maps (simple flat maps linked to way marks); 
• way marks on the ground; and 
• written route descriptions. 
Work to Date 

8. 
We have been working with David Warnock and Stirling Surveys (experienced 
cartographers and leaflet designers) in developing design guidance. 
9. 
The initial work undertaken was:• 
Two workshops with community path groups across the National Park on the 
attributes of a ‘good’ path leaflet; 
• 
Consultation with Inclusive Cairngorms; 
• 
Discussion with RNIB over specific legibility issues; and 
• 
Review of existing leaflets and research data. 
10. This work lead to the development of a set of guiding principles:a. 
Community Path Leaflets are principally designed to encourage people to use way 
marked routes in and around a settlements – such routes are usually no more 
than 5 miles long and the most common users are ‘walkers’ for recreation. 
b. 
Path leaflets should meet best practice guidance in terms of font size, legibility and 
contrast. They should be in plain English and easy to read. Paper should not be 
reflective high gloss. 
c. 
Path leaflets should use large, simplified plan maps with the minimum amount of 
information for a user to safely and enjoyably find their way round a route. Colour 
and symbols should be used in a standard way e.g. 
• 
Blue for water 
• 
Green for woodland 
• 
Car Park P 
d. 
Wherever possible the coloured way marks or symbols used on the ground to show 
a path should match coloured routes or symbols on the map. 
e. 
Contours should only be used where they are absolutely necessary to show relief. 
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Paper 4 Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets 

f. 
Maps should also show core paths and other paths that are not way marked where 
these can easily be used by people confident enough to stray from way marked 
routes. 
g. 
Route distances should be described in miles to be consistent with path sign 
guidance. Adding a range of approximate times may be useful for some users. 
h. 
Route descriptions should be clear, concise and provide an accurate ‘picture’ of the 
path condition, e.g.’ low level forest paths, some parts can be muddy after wet 
weather, two kissing gates’. 
i. 
Leaflets should contain clear messages on responsible access. 
11. Following this, a second stage of work started developing three demonstration leaflets:• 
Paths around Nethy Bridge in partnership with Explore Abernethy 
• 
Paths around Ballater in partnership with COAT 
• 
Paths around Kingussie in partnership with Kingussie Path Group and COAT 
12. These leaflets are now nearing completion and the lessons learnt during this process have 
shaped the draft guidance in Annex1. This guidance follows national best practice in 
presentation of text, images and maps. It also aims to produce a consistent template that 
will allow the development of a recognisable family of ‘Cairngorms Community Path Leaflets’ 
while still allowing each community to promote its identity within the National Park. 
13. If the Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets is endorsed by the LOAF and signed off 
by the CNPA Management Team we will make its use a condition of funding support for 
new leaflets. 
Further Work 

14. During the 
early work on developing an Implementation Plan for Core Paths we have 
identified that there is potential for some 14 -15 community path leaflets to be re-designed 
or produced from new. We anticipate, with willing partners, that most of these could be 
produced to the new guidelines within the next three years. 
15. The maps produced for the leaflets can easily be reproduced as map boards for display in 
communities or at trail heads. The maps can also be down loaded from the web. We will 
encourage both these uses as part of the ongoing work. 
16. Inclusive Cairngorms identified a need to produce information on ‘barrier free routes’ over 
a wider area than just a community and COAT are currently producing such a leaflet for 
Deeside. A similar leaflet for Badenoch and Strathspey is planned for 2010/11. 
17. A number of land managers produce commercial/semi-commercial path leaflets covering 
their area e.g. Forestry Commission Scotland, Crown Estate and Rothiemurchus Estate. If 
endorsed we will promote the use of the principles (particularly simplicity, consistency and 
clarity) contained in the guidance with these organisations, and make this a condition where 
grant aid is provided. 
18. We consider that a suite of Community Path Leaflets alongside path leaflets produced by 
land managers, and commercial publications will provide excellent coverage of low ground 
paths throughout the National Park. However, these publications will not meet the needs of 
cyclists, horse riders and long distance walkers where the distance travelled each day is 
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Paper 4 Design Guidance for Community Path Leaflets 

much larger. Before embarking on work to meet the needs of these user groups’ further 
discussions is required with both users and the business community. We will return to the 
LOAF for advise on this matter at a later date. 

Pete Crane 

Senior Visitor Services Officer 

petecrane@cairngorms.co.uk 

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