Research Direction + Concept Development + Visual Design
Living Forests: Climate-adapted forestry for the future
Research Director | Kelly Skye
Principle Designers | Kelly Skye & Andres Pacheco
Other team members | Josh Harrison, Matthew Jamison
Forests are in a crisis throughout the Western United States. Decades of fire suppression and clear-cutting have left our forests vulnerable to catastrophic fire, drought, and disease. We urgently need to scale our efforts to thin overcrowded uniform forests and return natural fire regimes to these landscapes. This cannot happen without sufficient economic support for the massive work required to achieve this urgent goal. Living Forest is a research group focused on identifying ecologically sound, climate-adapted forestry practices and the economic markets that can support them.
I was a leading member of a multi-stakeholder research team focused on identifying possibilities for the Central Eastern Sierra Nevada and Western Nevada bioregions. Our work resulted in a large grant from the U.S. Forest Service Wood Innovation program and the initiation of the Living Forest research group. I then led a small team to analyze and map the study area and create specific treatment recommendations. I also led the creation of a professional brand identity, outreach materials, and infographics to communicate the core findings in a comprehensive research study and report.
"Decades of fire suppression and clear cutting in the western United States have produced forests overgrown with small diameter trees creating thickets that choke out biodiversity and act like a tinderboxes. “
— Ken Robinson, Biologist, US Forest Service
Comprehensive Wood Utilization Research Report
Along with my team, I led the research, design, and data visualization for a 100+ page report used to inform fire resilience policy in the Central Eastern Sierra Nevada and Western Nevada bioregions. See the full report here.
Developing visual metaphors
We used visual metaphors based on the core findings of the research study and created sets of graphics that were specifically designed to help make complex information accessible to diverse audiences.
3D visualization of forest treatments
I co-created several 3D visualizations of the forest treatments required to reduce catastrophic fires in this region using 3D design software (Cinema 4-D).
Brand system & application
After creating a robust and versatile brand system, we created various digital assets, print media, and infographics.
