360 Outdoors: A Case Study

360 Outdoors is a new local business which offers guided hunting trips across Colorado.
In one of my college courses I was tasked with creating a full branding kit for the company.

Design Brief

The owners provided a design brief for the project which outlined their business and its services.
We were also shown a 24 minute video where they discussed the company and its journey.

Key points included:
• 360 Outdoors offers full service, guided hunting trips for Elk, Mule Deer, and Turkey.
• They have also considered offering guided fishing and camping trips in the future.
• All trips include camping and hunting gear, campsite setup and maintenance, all meals including preparation and clean up, access to private hunting lands, coaching during hunts, and field dressing kills.
• Their deep appreciation for nature and its rejuvenating effect on the human mind and body.
• Many of their clients have since become lifelong friends.

Research

With the owners' brief in hand I began researching
the hunting and outdoor activities industry.

My research focused on three primary questions:
• Who are 360 Outdoors' customers?
• Who is their primary competition?
• What is their Unique Value Statement?
I also wanted to learn about the general
cultural attitude towards hunting.

View my full 12 page research document here.

To summarize my conclusions:
• Hunting is in decline but fishing, camping, and hiking are growing in popularity.
• Baby boomers are the largest group of hunters but are aging out of the physically demanding activity.
• Millennials, urban residents, and women have a desire to hunt but lack an easy entry point.
• 360 Outdoors occupies a unique place in the industry and are able to offer life changing
nature experiences to individuals who would not otherwise have access to them.

Persona

With this knowledge in mind I prepared two sets of customer personas to help guide my design choices.

David and Mary
Who represent the current population of hunters who are aging out and are looking for a less demanding alternative.

Lisa and Gray
Who represent the young and active outdoor oriented urban population who are looking for an easy entry point into other types of outdoor activities.

Brand Guidelines

Once I knew who we wanted to speak to, I began to establish some guidelines to help me in developing the look and feel of the 360 Outdoors brand. I knew that I wanted to target customers who were engaged in other types of outdoor activities.
I looked to popular outdoor brands such as REI, Patagonia, and The North Face for inspiration and came to the conclusion that a clean modern look was prudent.

With the knowledge of the controversy around hunting and its general decline in popularity I wanted to refocus the brand to include guided fishing and camping
trips from its onset. This would better position the company to tap into these growing markets.

With these goals in mind I was ready to begin the design process.