Project Summary
After being involved with several different off roading clubs, I realized that I still wanted my own organization. Most of the clubs I joined were very limiting in their scope (ie – we only allow Jeeps, we only go places in our vehicles, we only hike) and I realized none of the fully realized my desire for exploration. While I enjoy group events, I’m also an independent adventurer that loves to take excursions with just my wife and our dogs and see where each trip leads us. Additionally I knew that I would enjoy documenting my various adventures and could use them as an excuse to keep my design and editing skills sharp.
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Additional Info
The biggest challenge of this project was the actual conceptualization of the organization. I really struggled to come up with a name that I felt represented what I hoped to accomplish – and I actually spent nearly a month just working through what I wanted to call my new endeavor. Eventually, I landed on the name Vanguard Expeditions because I felt it accurately embodied the idea of striking out and discovering new things both in the wilderness and within yourself. Once the overall concept was in place, the branding was fairly straightforward. I decided to go with a logo that was bold but simple – centered around the image of a spear as a nod to the true meaning of the word vanguard. I balanced this more militaristic imagery against the texture of a topographical map to soften it a bit and bring in the theme of exploration.
To complete the brand identity, I designed an apparel concept that was flexible enough to work across several different apparel types (ie-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, polo shirts) and could be customized to visually represent a wide variety of excursions that might be planned in the future as well as a lanyard that would be worn by any volunteer trail guides/trip leaders to help participants identify them. I decided against any sort of web presence for now and instead am planning to utilize social media platforms to help control my time commitment.
Eventually I would love to transform Vanguard into a fully fledged, non-profit that organizes high-adventure trips with the goal of getting people back out in nature. I would love to work with companies who are planning retreats or perhaps schools who are planning field trips and utilize my knowledge of and experience with a variety of outdoor activities as well as my organizational and design abilities to offer people unforgettable experiences that hopefully ignites their inner-explorer.