Sitting in on board and town meetings, we understood the overall strategic direction Plainfield was heading in and how this new park fit into that overall puzzle. This new nature park not only had the potential to bring in more people to explore its diverse landscapes and ecological features, but as an outdoor recreation destination, it was going to be a critical economic engine for the community at large.

Armed with our creative objectives, we developed our key attributes and reasons to believe that would help guide us on our brand journey. Along the way, we continued to take inspiration from the landscape. We benchmarked other nature parks. We read about the importance of preserving wild spaces through the writings of scientists and naturalists. We interviewed former land owners, and studied the native American populations who once lived here. We researched the park’s geological history, and discovered how the area’s rivers and creeks made this such a vital agricultural and wildlife resource for the region. We also learned about the endangered bats who come home to roost here, and the university students who come to study them. For months, we dug deep into the stories of this special place and aimed to develop an honest and authentic experience.

We even crafted a North Star statement to help guide us on our branding journey and serve as a reminder of the potential for the new Nature Park to change lives far into the future. After all, this new park represented a giant leap in the preservation of wild spaces and natural habitat. And with that, we got to work generating names and logos based on specific themes from our research. It’s worth noting, our job wasn’t to just “come up” with a new name for this park, but rather uncover a name that reflected what was authentic to this place, and the experiences people would walk away with. Our new name and logo needed to honor the impact of this land’s heritage — from its cultural significance to its natural features that give it a sense of place.