Shirley Heinze Land Trust
Shirley Heinze Land Trust is a land trust established to protect natural habitats in Northwest Indiana. Their mission is to protect habitats and ecosystems of northwestern Indiana through acquiring, restoring, and protecting environmentally significant landscapes for present and future generations, and to inspire and educate people of all ages about the value of land conservation to protect our natural world and enrich our lives.
My responsibilities as an Educational Assistant included implementing the Field Museum of Chicago’s Mighty Acorns curriculum, inspiring youth from varied backgrounds, and crafting printed and digital materials to drive interest of the organization.
Materials like an Access Amenities Plan, help land trust organizations present information to the public and to others. I gathered information from a variety of data and placed it into a fifteen-page document that could be shared digitally or as a printed piece.
I included stimulating visuals and organizational color blocks to ease the amount of written content presented throughout the document. The color blocks match up with the table of contents to make the information easily discoverable.
Nature Preserve Informational Signage
Shirley Heinze Land Trust protects over 19 nature preserves that are open to the general public. Each preserve requires informational signage to direct visitors.
I designed this trail sign to notify visitors of their location on a nature preserve in Hobart, Indiana called Cressmoor Nature Preserve.
Website Icons
Shirley Heinze Land Trust is in the process of updating the layout of their website. They were in need of navigation icons for their new website.
I created a series of simple, colorful and nature-themed icons that would serve as navigational tools throughout their website.
Educational Pieces
As an Educational Assistant, there were multiple events and field trips throughout the year that required additional educational materials.
The Monarch Festival in East Chicago, Indiana is an annual event that brings the community together. Organizations and community members come together to talk about the migration of the monarch butterfly and how it culturally and environmentally connects the region.
I created illustrations of the monarch life cycle with a description of Spanish and English on the back of each circle. These illustrations will be cut out and kids will be able to string them onto a necklace as they learn about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly.
Promotional Pieces
Every organization needs items to hand out to individuals engaging with them. I’ve created designs for a variety of items including a takeaway button for kids.
Shirley Heinze Land Trust has a fern incorporated into their logo. Fiddleheads are the start of a fern. Full of life and ready to burst into the world.
This take-away button would remind the kids of what they learned and promote the organization at the same time.
Barker Woods Nature Preserve, Self-Guided Nature Trail project is a restoration project on a historical piece of land protected by Shirley Heinze Land Trust and Save the Dunes.
Many visitors to the Shirley Heinze Land Trust nature preserves enjoy guided hikes put on by experts in different fields. However, visitors are not always able to have an expert with them. I was asked to create a self-guided brochure that would ensure they could learn on any visit.
Along the trail at Barker Woods Nature Preserve, volunteers and I placed twenty different stakes next to interesting and important areas along the trail. I then gathered information about each area and placed it into the self-guided brochure.
In addition to the brochure, I created directional signage and wayfinding stickers that would pair along with the brochure along the trail.