National Park Service Giving Space
★ Best in Show · Academy of Art University 2020 Spring Show
Conceptual Campaign Design • Photography • Advertising • OOH • Social • Web • Print
Grand Teton National Park
Context + roleThe National Park Service faces a growing imbalance. Visitor numbers are at record highs. Budgets are at record lows. And a growing share of incidents. The conventional response is enforcement messaging: rules, fines, warnings. I wanted to explore a different approach.
The idea reframes national parks not as destinations but as living systems in need of recovery. The big idea: give the parks space. Proposed to close all U.S. national parks every third week of July. A symbolic reset built around a familiar truth: even the places we love need time to breathe. The counterintuitive ask — stay away — was designed to generate the kind of emotional response that "please be responsible" messaging never could.
I developed the project end-to-end. Deliverables included print, microsite, video, OOH, and social media.
Print advertising: the parks-and-visitors relationship framed as something worth saving.
Social: the parks expressing gratitude through their own original photography, extending the campaign's reach.
The first 50 people to share the campaign using #GivingSpace would receive a poster featuring photography of their favorite park.
Outdoor: the campaign extended to highway approaches where drivers are already thinking about the parks.
Microsite: the campaign hub with detailed information about the closure concept, seeded through every other touchpoint.
Creative decisions