Uncharted Worlds

Thanksgiving Point • Summer 2024

Thanksgiving Point’s summer event had run as Dinosaur Island for two years. The spectacle still worked, but the brief for year three was to keep guests from walking in thinking “dinosaurs again.”

We split the gardens into five worlds, each with its own creatures, palette, and badge. Working with the Signature Events team, I helped develop the Explorer’s Guild: a compass and guidebook that turned the walk into a treasure hunt and gave guests a reason to go deeper into the event instead of straight through it.

I built the visual system end to end. Campaign logo and five world badges, entry monuments, interpretive and wayfinding signage, guidebook and treasure hunt collateral, and digital freeway billboards. Holding it together from a three-inch peel sticker to a highway board was the actual exercise.

ROLE: Concept, identity, and art direction across all deliverables

COLLABORATORS: Copywriter (interpretive copy), illustrator (spot illustrations, select signs), print and fabrication vendors

TOOLS: Photoshop, InDesign, Fresco, Procreate

RELATED: Dinosaur Island, 2022 to 2023

IDENTITY & BADGES

FIG. 01 World badge system

One shield structure, five color stories. Each badge anchors its world’s entry monument and doubles as a peel-and-stick collectible in the Explorer’s Guild compass package.

ENVIRONMENTAL & WAYFINDING

FIG. 02 shipwreck bay entry monument

Custom-cut dibond, double-sided, designed to mimic the entry signs national parks use

FIG. 03 Colossal valley entry monument

Custom-cut dibond, double-sided, UV sealed to hold up to the elements

FIG. 04 Interpretive Manta ray creature sign

FIG. 05 Interpretive dung beetle creature sign

FIG. 06 Compass treasure hunt wayfinding sign

print & guest materials

FIG. 07 flat lay of trifold compass treasure hunt booklet Exterior

FIG. 08 flat lay of trifold compass treasure hunt booklet Interior

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