Borealis Brand Design
Borealis Wildlife Park is a contemporary zoo brand targeted towards a newer generation of environmentally-minded young visitors. At the end of a 2-quarter sprint, our design team put on a show to market and launch our brand.
Time Frame
2025 | 20 Weeks
Objective
Develop a reimagined zoo brand that could connect to an environmentally-minded audience by conveying thoughtfulness, care, and conscienciousness.
My Roles
Branding Lead, Graphic Design
Designed/printed posters, signage, illustrations, stamps, show passports, systems, brand books, and logos to create a new and targeted style of zoo branding.
Designed systems for multiple designers with scalability in mind.
Led and communicated with a team of 9 visual designers and 3 IDUS designers to ensure brand consistency across physical, mobile, and web touch points.
Deliverables
Invitations
Ad Campaign
Web Touchpoints
Brand Book
Research
Problem Statement
Traditional zoos suffer from perceptions and misconceptions which reduce their potential audience.
Opportunity Statement
There's an opportunity for a new zoo brand targeted towards Gen Z that emphasizes animal welfare.
Gen Z Interest
2x
In a study, Gen Z was more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to have visited a zoo or aquarium in the previous year.
Ethical Concerns
64.2%
Of adults in a survey hadn't visited a zoo in the past 12 months, commonly citing ethical concerns.
Negative Stigma
114
Studies showed that negative perceptions reduced visitors' intentions to visit zoos, recommend them, and support their efforts.
Zoo Perception Vs Reality
214
Surveyed zoo visitors reported more positive views of animal welfare and environmental enrichment than the 200 surveyed general public.
Sources Used
Past documented case studies
Online conversations
Articles
Videos/podcasts
Visits to zoos
Interviewed zoo staff
Investigated current industry solutions used in zoos
Branding
Logo - Flying Freedom
A bird was chosen to represent freedom and provide a good contrast to the perception of zoos as claustrophobic tight spaces that contain captive animals.
A small selection of the dozens of logo iterations explored.
Color Styles - Naturalistic, Not Sterile
The colors for the zoo brand were chosen to echo various elements of nature. We didn't want the zoo to appear sterile. However, we also wanted to move away from overused green color schemes, which most traditional zoos tend to overutilize.
Neutral colors
Highlight colors
Typography - Thoughtful and Elegant
The display face conveys a sense of consideration and elegance, without seeming too utilitarian or sterile. It calls back to the kind of typographic branding seen in literature or wellness brands.
Conclusion
Feedback
"I saw your signage from far away and they inspired a lot of curiosity. Your branding was easily the highlight of the show."
"The show wouldn't have been as great without Nathan's branding."
"Props. It looks great. The brand you designed feels elevated."
Taking on the role of branding lead was a big responsibility! There were several other designers with their small splinter-off designs they were iterating on, but the brand I designed had to accommodate all of their designs. I was responsible for ensuring brand consistency and double-checking compliance across the entire team. But with the responsibility came opportunities to grow and learn new things.
Let's work together!
Need graphic branding solutions? Let's get in touch, and brew up some amazing ideas.