Turning Chicago's backyard into a destination
The Challenge
Chicago's suburbs have 350+ miles of trails, dozens of lakefronts and parks, and one of the country's largest forest preserve systems—more than 10% of all Cook County land. The problem? Most locals had no idea it existed.
Outdoor gems were scattered across five different Convention & Visitors Bureaus with no central hub to explore them. Amazing resources were being under-utilized because people literally didn't know they were there.
Cook County and the regional CVBs saw an opportunity: create a unified brand and digital platform that would put Chicago's outdoor spaces on the map—literally and figuratively.
What I Did
Developed two brand identity concepts during competitive pitch phase
Led web design and UX strategy for the chosen brand direction
Designed 20+ page templates including interactive map, activity pages, and location listings
Created flexible blog layouts for editorial and seasonal content
Collaborated with team on inclusive photo/video shoots featuring diverse families, LGBTQ+ couples, and visitors with disabilities
Three directions, one goal
I created two brand concepts during the identity phase (a third designer's concept was ultimately selected). While mine weren't chosen, I'm still proud of the strategic thinking behind them. Honestly, they're some of my favorite logo work.
Concept 1: Native to the region
Built around plants and flowers native to Chicagoland—both in the color naming (my favorite part of any brand system) and the visual language. Clean, botanical, grounded in place. The logo is retro-leaning and slightly distressed, perfect on a soft summer tee or on an enamel keychain.
Primary logo lockup
Alt logo lockup featuring an embedded tagline
My favorite part of brand exploration is color names. In this case, the names from from plants and flowers native to the Chicagoland area.
Concept 2: The four elements
Air, sun, nature, and Lake Michigan. A modular system where each element could stand alone or combine, giving the brand flexibility across different outdoor experiences. The interlocking rings form an ownable mark, and the four colors nod to the seasonal offerings. There’s never a bad time of year to explore Chicago’s great outside.
Primary logo lockup
Alt logo lockup featuring an embedded tagline
The four elements of Outside Chicago: air, sun, nature, and Lake Michigan
Designing for discovery
Once the brand direction was set, I led the web design—from early UX strategy through high-fidelity mockups and production alongside our dev team.
The site needed to handle a massive amount of content (78+ distinct locations) while staying navigable and inspiring. Key features:
Custom illustrated homepage map to orient visitors and invite exploration
Dynamic activity pages filtered by type (hiking, biking, family-friendly, accessibility features)
Listing templates for trails, parks, farms, and outdoor spaces
Flexible blog layouts for guides and seasonal content
Simple navigation that helps people discover places based on interest and location
We also planned and art-directed multiple photo and video shoots specifically for this project—featuring diverse families, LGBTQ+ couples, and people with disabilities—to show that these outdoor spaces are genuinely for everyone. That inclusive visual approach runs throughout the site and became central to how Outside Chicago presented itself.
Launching with impact
Beyond the website, I partnered with another designer to create paid social ads for the launch campaign. The goal: get Chicagoans scrolling through their feeds to stop and realize there's an elk pasture 30 minutes away.
The ads played with that central tension—all this incredible outdoor space exists, you just didn't know about it. Vibrant photography, punchy copy, and clear CTAs to explore specific activities or locations.
The outcome
The site launched in May 2024 to strong regional response—including a feature on Daytime Chicago highlighting the initiative and its mission to connect locals with outdoor spaces beyond the city.
First-year performance:
60K individual users
100K sessions
45% engagement rate
The platform successfully became a central hub for discovering green spaces beyond downtown Chicago, funneling traffic to regional CVB sites and driving exploration across Cook County.
Unfortunately, the project was sunsetted in 2025 due to federal funding cuts. But while it lasted, it proved that there was real appetite for exploring Chicago's outdoor side—and that a little strategic branding could shift how people see their own backyard.