Giving 6150 acres a voiceCreating and implementing the interpretive design experience for Alabama’s Gulf State Park brought out the best in our project management skills. It also allowed H+W to utilize everything we’ve learned in our careers–design, research, writing, illustration, and photography–on a huge scale.After we launched the award-winning website for the Park enhancement project, we got busy telling the story of this unique destination. Our role as the interpretive design experience lead included managing, creating, and implementing a park-wide interpretive story package.Over the course of two and a half years on the project, we wrote thousands of words and designed more than 500 moments of discovery throughout Gulf State Park.  Gulf State Park is an exceptional place. The park is nestled in between two popular tourist destinations, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. Not only is it one of the last natural places left along the Gulf Coast, but it’s also one of the most environmentally diverse. These 6,100+ acres begin in the warm Gulf waters and stretch northward to include white sandy beaches, ancient dunes, wetlands, lakes, sand scrub, pine savannas, and the majestic maritime forest.2016, 2018 American Graphic Design AwardsServices provided:Brand StrategyExhibit DesignGraphic DesignCopywritingPhotographyIllustrationProject ManagementWebsite Design + Development

Helping a small but mighty CVB in a fast-growing region find its voice, and empowering them with the tools needed to celebrate and share its story.Located an hour west of Washington DC at the top of the Shenandoah Valley, Berkeley County WV sits at the heart of the tri-state area. Today they are at the crossroads of a long history and large population growth. As such their brand voice and their tools needed an update to help align and enable their staff and partners to better connect with residents and tourists. Getting to the heart of the matter.We began by auditing their existing brand messaging and building an understanding of how the current outreach tools challenged staff and volunteers. Refreshed copy and image tone brought new energy to the CVB’s story-telling approach. We brought these updates to life through a new travel guide, updated social media channels, and a website overhaul. We were also right there beside the CVB as they began to implement the new brand during the pandemic. Overseeing this rebrand launch in 2020 required additional support to ensure that we were meeting visitors where they were and that our messages aligned with broader state tourism efforts.

Helping communities throughout the state celebrate their wins and take ownership of a vibrant future.West Virginia’s communities do not get enough respect for the hard work happening on the ground. Despite the state’s reputation for poor health outcomes, many of West Virginia’s communities have quietly created places where citizens can thrive through impactful policies, programs, and partnerships.Recognizing positive progress is the first step in writing a new story. Imagine West Virginia as a national leader and role model for building healthier communities. That’s the ambitious goal of the West Virginia Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease and its partners.H+W has:Built a comprehensive brand (naming, visuals, and messaging)Facilitated strategic program development and evolution of evaluation benchmarks.Conducted an economic impact study to grow collaboration and create tools to measure the collective impact of Public Health, Tourism, and Economic Development efforts.And we’ve provided ongoing communications, graphic, and web design support.