Green Bay NERR Brand Identity

Creating the brand identity for the Green Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve began with an exploratory brainstorming session using a mind map. This process helped me organize ideas around key themes such as water, wetlands, wildlife, and community connection. From there, I moved into the sketching phase, producing 50 initial sketches that explored a wide range of visual possibilities. These included abstract shapes inspired by water currents and more literal depictions of local wildlife and natural elements. After reviewing the sketches, I identified several promising concepts and refined them to create a design that captured the Reserve's mission and identity.

The final logo is a cohesive, place-based design that combines several meaningful elements: a heron to represent local wildlife, cattails to symbolize the wetlands, the iconic Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge to ground the identity in Green Bay, and flowing water to tie everything together. These elements work in harmony to reflect the interconnectedness of land, water, and community while celebrating the Reserve's dedication to preserving the estuarine environment. The result is a versatile and impactful logo that visually communicates the essence of the Green Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.