As the largest system of privately held campgrounds in the world, Kampgrounds of America (KOA) continues to be a powerful way for the general public to connect to nature. My rebrand is driven by the intersection of technology, society, and the environment with the goal of providing tools that enable a deep understanding of the natural world, foster community, and invest in the next generation.
DISCLAIMER: Rebrand concept not affiliated with Kampgrounds of America
KOA is all about connection. They enable their customers to disconnect from their day-to-day lives in order to connect with nature and with each other. Because KOA ties people and nature together, they should be at the forefront of conservation and philanthropy; to be an organization that the emerging generations would be proud to back. In order to throw itself into this position, I gave the brand a face-lift to fit modern sensibilities yet remain recognizable to previous generations that have decades of affinity to the brand, and amplified the brand's existing core values.
A trend I have noticed lately is the prevalence of statement-wear: clothing with typographically driven messages designed to raise awareness for social causes. Like the extreme sports lifestyle brands of the 90s, if they are designed well, have a clear message, and the brand encourages the culture that emerges, it can have a lot of influence. My rebrand aims to sow the seeds of such a culture, something that responds to the furvor of Millenials and Gen Z towards humanitarian and environmental causes.
The resurgence of film photography is a return to the appreciation of the intangible. Modern digital photography does a great job of realistically depicting a scene, but what it often lacks is character. Consequently, I chose film as the medium for all photographic messaging to capture that elusive feeling of a moment. Just as film provides a kind of sincerity and authenticity due to its raw nature, all printed materials are to be printed on fibrous paper stocks, allowing the grain to add visual character and provide a warm texture when handled.
Phones are often seen as major distractions, pulling us away from appreciating our surroundings. To flip the script, I began pondering how phones in an outdoor context could become great discovery tools by augmenting our visual senses with the power of information; and even more controversial, how phones could be great for kids as tools to learn and explore.
My musings culminated in KOA Connekt, a new proposed service of KOA. Connekt is a portal for discovery and a digital ally for trail safety. Adapting the existing infrastructure of trail signage, the service introduces a new way of interacting with nature.
QR codes along the trail act as an entryway to an interactive experience in the KOA Kids App. The app turns the outdoors into a giant game of search and find, transforming phones into a window to the natural world. Using a token economy of collectible buttons and stamps, KOA Kids reinforces the behavior of discovery in a tangible and memorable way.
Select trail signage in the KOA Connekt network are equipped with temperature and humidity sensors powered by solar panels atop each sign. The service provides both rangers and the public with detailed data to track the weather both historically and in real-time, providing transparency on the changing climate in some of the world’s most delicate ecosystems.
The network can be used as an early warning system for fires, automatically contacting the fire department and sending push-notifications to all rangers and hikers in the area. Recognizing that people are at their best when they work together with a common goal, the KOA Connekt App serves as a hyper-local social network, enabling individual hikers to warn others about trail conditions or issue distress calls, using the numbered signage as landmarks.
The KOA Connekt network also plays an important role in search and rescue. When a distress signal is given, authorities are automatically notified with the coordinates of the marker nearest the signal. Not only can they easily find the location of the signal on the map, but as secondary wayfinding at night, the tops of each marker lights up in a blinking pattern with a speed related to their proximity to the signal. So as to not disturb the wildlife, the light is a 590nm amber light.
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KOA Connekt provides a powerful tool that addresses many issues while using systems that are inexpensive and easy to implement. Through it, KOA can lead the way in adapting to technological, societal, and environmental pressures. KOA Connekt empowers kids to explore their environment, provides public access to scientific data to improve our understanding of climate change on sensitive ecosystems, provides a high level of trail safety through its automatic and user generated warning systems.
I’m an avid hiker. I’ve been hiking ever since I was small. I’m fortunate to live in an area surrounded by trails. Living here was amazing until a couple years ago when the Woolsey fire burned through my area. I could see the massive flames from my window. It’s a memory seared into my mind. From that moment, I knew I had to do something. This project was part of that something. More than ever humanity has been forced to face the reality of our impact, and decide what kind of future we want for ourselves and future generations. The rebrand of KOA responds to the dilemmas we face like the uncharted territories of climate change, social networks, and child development in the digital age. Facing the issues head on, the rebrand aims to chart a path forward.
As the largest system of privately held campgrounds in the world, Kampgrounds of America (KOA) continues to be a powerful way for the general public to connect to nature. My rebrand is driven by the intersection of technology, society, and the environment with the goal of providing tools that enable a deep understanding of the natural world, foster community, and invest in the next generation.
Full Case Study viewable on Desktop.
DISCLAIMER: Rebrand concept not affiliated with Kampgrounds of America
