Walden

Walden gives outdoor industry professionals access to the data they need to make better decisions. Market trends, consumer sentiment, comprehensive manufacturer lists. The kind of intelligence that was previously fragmented, offline, or unavailble.

The founders have deep roots in the industry. They understood what was missing. My job was to help them articulate what Walden could be and build a brand that would earn trust from day one.

The outdoor industry has a visual language. Sunsets, mountain peaks, action photography. Everyone uses it. Walden needed something else.

The idea we landed on: Walden curates and presents information about the outdoors the way a museum curates artifacts. Authoritative. Considered. Worth your attention.

Color restraint was important.The high contrast type and stark red (poppy technically) anchor everything. Color was brought forth from the photography. The supporting colors come from jewel tones and I created a robust color ramp which can be used to categorize and distinguish data throughout their products.

Typography is meant to feel institutional: a clear hierarchy for dense information. The system handles tables, charts, and long-form analysis in a way which hopefully still feels like a brand, not a spreadsheet.

The website is where most people encounter Walden first. It had to establish credibility fast: something clearly built by people who know the industry but still entirely different. The design is restrained. The red does its work. Heavy reliance on grid. Content structure mirrors the product: defined categories, clear segments, information you can use.

We also worked together on a series of covers for their Accommodation Guides, which created a comprehensive map of every outdoor accommodations manufacturer for the first time.