WONDER: Encounters With Beauty In Nature
Brand & Website
WONDER is an experiential learning program that provides adventures for people in beautiful settings and encounters with flourishing individuals and communities around the world, incorporating a journey of reflection and growth for the participants. WONDER does this by taking high schoolers, college and MBA students, and corporate business employees on immersive outdoor wilderness adventures that facilitate a method for encountering, listening, observing, and sharing. Many programs send students into the wilderness, but few programs focus so acutely on the experience of awe. WONDER creates a flourishing environment for people to be transformed by beauty, connect with a community, and reflect in silence.
As WONDER began its own flourishing in 2022, the goal was to kick off by bringing 150 students/corporate business employees to sites like Rocky Mountain National Park, in collaboration with COR expeditions. In future years, WONDER hoped to expand to independently host expeditions worldwide.
With the new year underway, WONDER needed a place to advertise, promote and sell its mission and trips. For this reason, having a website designed was of the highest priority. That would be the face of WONDER, appealing to youth and allowing them to purchase their tickets directly Online.
Recycled Logo
I don’t believe in cutting corners, but I do believe in finding unique solutions within difficult parameters. That’s why I decided to recycle old logos from past projects that never made the cut, in the slight chance that one of them captures another business’ message. This was the case for WONDER.
WONDER’s logo was originally proposed to a client who provided online yoga and workout classes that were intended to be followed along outside in nature. The concept was a mountain sunrise where the rays also resembled WiFi signal. The pairing first and foremost represented the setting and method of delivery for the brand: online, outdoor workouts. On a deeper level, the mountain had a double meaning: oneness with nature, as well as the challenge required for physical excellence through the brand’s wellness program. The sunrise pointed to the dawn of a new day that participants would experience as they embarked on their fitness journey, the signal light rays also symbolizing connection, to emphasize the company’s charism of community, and represent a call to a greater purpose.
Recycled, this outdoor enthusiast image—reminiscent of adventure brands—made a head nod to the well-known and loved phrase, “The mountains are calling.” I kept the logo in my back pocket for potential use by travel bloggers, personal fitness trainers, social media influencers, adventure products, retreats, and more. When discussing WONDER’s mission with founder Ilaria Schnyder, the stars aligned. They did not have the budget for a full branding package, but by recycling this logo, I was able to offer them the equivalent of one, which lent itself to a much more stunning and memorable website than we otherwise would have been able to create.
Sometimes you just know it when you see it—and when what you see has the added bonus of being immediately downloadable, for a quarter of the price of a custom job, it doesn’t get much better than that. Check out these recycled logos available today.
