CHALLENGE
The Trails Society of BC, or Trails BC, is a registered charity with the goal of building and maintaining recreation trails in British Columbia. Becoming a registered charity in 1996, they are the organization that has been designated for the development and maintenance of the Trans Canada Trail in BC. Trails BC is continuously working to protect BC’s outdoor trails for all recreational users. Trails BC does not currently have a strong or cohesive brand identity. Their communications across all their platforms do not feel like they are from the same organization. Trails BC will receive a full rebrand to present a cohesive brand identity, with the goal of increasing both donations and volunteers.
STRATEGY
Trails BC will receive a full rebrand to better differentiate themselves from similar organizations, as well as an awareness campaign to deliver their message to their target audience. The Trails BC rebrand will focus on two target audiences. These will be “action” and “education.”
Action involves having people join Trails BC as members, volunteers, or trail stewards. These people contribute with money and work on the trails themselves. Action also includes donating funds directly. Education is about instructing trail users on the proper uses of natural spaces. This includes “leave no trace,” not going off trail, and how to interact with wildlife, etc. The target audience for action will be heavy users. This audience is between the ages of 25 and 45 years old. They will be invested in the wellbeing of trails as they use them fairly frequently. They live all over BC and are quite active.
Communications targeting this group will appeal to their love of the outdoors to get them to volunteer either their time or money to help the charity. The target audience for education will be casual users. Between the ages of 18 and 45, this audience is less invested in hiking as a pastime. They live in the Lower Mainland and will typically go on a handful of hikes in a year, usually all in spring and summer when the weather is nice. Since they hike less, they will be less knowledgeable of the proper use of trails, how to be safe and not damage the environment. Trails BC will run an ad campaign aimed at this group with the purpose of making them aware of proper trail procedure.
SOLUTION
To increase brand awareness, Trails BC will use a primarily illustrative approach to their visuals. These chunky, blocky illustration will help differentiate themselves from similar organizations, who use mostly photographic approaches. The visuals are meant to be both eye-catching and informative, taking inspiration from navigational signs, but with exaggerated proportions and roughened edges. The colour palette of blue and green represents the province of British Columbia, with our beautiful forests, coasts, and sky. Trails BC will also use photography where appropriate, with the subjects being nature and the people who use BC’s trails. The bold type will draw the audience’s eye, where they will be presented with simple instructions on how to properly use our trails, or a call to action, to join or donate to Trails BC. The brand identity will be applied across all channels. A new website, Instagram, and other social media accounts. Ads will be placed outside in high-traffic areas to get the most impressions.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
I chose this project because I love hiking. The recreation trails we have in British Columbia are both beautiful and very popular. I wanted something that could potentially include myself as of the target audience. This project gave me the opportunity to apply my design skills to something that would make a positive impact on the world, as well as focus on illustration, which I don’t tend to do too much.