Work
To develop a visual identity along with supporting print and digital assets for the Northville-Placid Trail 100th Anniversary Campaign.
Website traffic, impressions, awareness, social media engagement, event participation, donations
For 100 years, the Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) has offered people the opportunity to connect to nature, each other, and the Adirondack Park’s communities. Since its completion, the 138-mile trail has given hikers—whether through segments or a thru-hike—the chance to immerse themselves in the outdoors: an adventure and an experience that celebrates our public lands.
Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) works to protect the New York State wild lands and waters by promoting responsible outdoor recreation and building statewide constituency of land stewardship advocates. The ADK was responsible for the completion of the Northville-Placid Trail in 1924, a trail originally built to increase access to the recently formed Adirondack Park. Since then, the ADK continues to maintain the trail, and educate hikers. ADK has the opportunity to leverage the 100th anniversary of the Northville-Placid Trail as a way to celebrate our public lands, promote sustainable recreation, and encourage people to donate to ADK’s continuing efforts.
The absence of an official website for the Northville-Placid Trail posed a significant challenge in accessing reliable information online. Existing data about the trail was fragmented across multiple sources, leading to difficulties in obtaining accurate details. The initial research phase for this project encountered limited valuable insights, thereby hindering the creation of a comprehensive visual identity for the campaign. We relied heavily on the stakeholders from Adirondack Mountain Club to provide us with all of the information that they could gather.
The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism developed a campaign around the 100th anniversary of the Northville-Placid Trail.
1. Creating a strong visual identity. I created an identifiable campaign mark incorporating the trail’s existing logo, and developed a design system and visual identity guidelines for the campaign. The visual identity balances the original forms of the mark with a modern look and feel inspired by the company's vision.
2. Design and develop a website specifically for this campaign. The website will serve as the central location for information regarding celebratory events, trail information, hiking resources, donations, lead generation content and more. This site was designed in Figma and developed in Webflow.
3. Design print and digital assets that include: iconography, print and web ads, banners, pole banners, patches, and more.
I was largely responsible for seeing this visual identity through from concept to completion. The following outlines the design process I established for this project:
Visual Identity
Brand Roll out
Campaign roll out across various brand touch points including digital platforms as well as print materials including:
UI/UX
1. The Northville-Placid Trail lacks an official website, making it challenging to find reliable information online. Information about the trail appears scattered across various sources, making it difficult to gather accurate details. Initial research for this project yielded limited valuable insights, complicating the development of a robust visual identity for the campaign.
2. Developing the campaign mark involved thorough clarification of the design brief with both internal and external stakeholders. Initially, I sketched various designs emphasizing abstract marks or the number 100, as requested, excluding their Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) logo. However, during the feedback stage, I was surprised to learn that they intended to incorporate the original NPT logo as the primary mark, expanded to highlight the 100-year anniversary. This prompted a complete rethink of my approach.
3. Typically, I collaborate with a team of developers for handing off designs. However, due to time constraints, the development team wasn't available. I took on the task myself, leveraging my understanding of web development to create the website using Webflow, a website building and hosting platform. While I had previously created websites as side projects, this was my first time taking full responsibility for the coding. Despite feeling the weight of the task, I was humbled by the opportunity and learned valuable lessons throughout the process.
The visual identity for the 100th anniversary campaign feels like a logical evolution of the trails identity. The website serves as a hub and allows people to easily find relevant information regarding not only the trail, but ways that they can get involved and celebrate our public lands.
