Visualising and digitalising the Nationale Visie Kust (National Coastal Vision)

Helping Rijkswaterstaat (the Ministry of Waterways and Public Works) conceive a new future vision and guidelines for the coast

Safe and beautiful

You can stand firm, but rising sea levels are a watertight fact. And because we Dutch live below the sea level, behind a dike, the safety of the North Sea coast is important to all of us. This same coast is not only there to protect us. It is also a beautiful landscape that we want to enjoy: the Netherlands’ golden border. But how do we keep it that way?

Vision required

You must have a vision. Coastal municipalities, water-board districts, coastal provinces and the national government worked together towards this administrative direction. Social organisations, knowledge institutions and the business community contributed know-how. Under the guidance of the Deltaprogramma Kust (Delta Programme, Coast) and in cooperation with our editor and designers, a vision document was crafted that provides direction for safety and developments in the coastal zone: a set of guidelines for administrative choices that affect the coast.

‘The starting point is that we increasingly combine water safety with spatial development; we want to make our country not only safer but also more beautiful’:

Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment

No printed material

With so many parties and a sounding board of 200 experts, a design team has to be resilient. Together with author Peter Heerema, we took all the consultation rounds and the entire written content, recommendations, sketches and graphics and managed to turn them into a single publication which fitted on a single USB stick! That saves on printed material.

Immediate insight through infographics

We also provided form to content that had never before been visualised. During brainstorming sessions, scenarios were sketched which we subsequently translated into infographics. We were able to give insight into data and forecasts, such as rising sea levels and gradual coastal change. After all, visuals appeal to the imagination, which helps people grasp complex data quickly.