Brave New Day

Founded in 1958, the Montana Wilderness Association is the oldest nonprofit, grassroots wilderness advocacy organization in the country. Since its founding, MWA has played a pivotal role in the designation of all 15 federally designated wilderness areas in Montana. At the close of 2020, the Association was poised to embark on a new era with a new name and a whole new brand: Wild Montana.

Along with the new name, the new brand needed to be more approachable and welcoming, engaging a broad and diverse audience so that all could enjoy—and be compelled to protect—Montana’s wild lands.

Our goals were centered around creating a brand that appeals to a much more diverse and younger audience while remaining respectful to the Association’s 62-year history.

As with any brand, it was important to own a memorable and distinctive mark that would serve as a point of pride moving forward. The brand needed to suggest a quiet stewardship of the land—not being all things to all people, but offering a foundational background to let Big Sky Country speak for itself.

In showcasing typography becoming geography, we embodied the spirit of Montana in a unique mirror of M and W letterforms—like peaks reflected in a lake—to craft a memorable visual expression of mountains and the land.