Red Oak Rain Garden

During my internship with Illinois Sea Grant and Illinois Extension, I designed a visitor brochure for the Red Oak Rain Garden at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The goal was to create an engaging, educational print piece that aligned with university branding and helped visitors better understand the garden’s purpose, layout, and native plant species.

Year

2025

Industry

Environmental Design / Education

Role

Design Intern

Challenge

The existing visitor materials were text-heavy and lacked a cohesive visual identity.
Information about plant types and garden zones wasn’t easily accessible to visitors.
Needed to design within strict University of Illinois brand guidelines while maintaining visual appeal.
The brochure had to balance education, navigation, and storytelling for diverse audiences.

Solution

Visual Hierarchy: Used photography, icons, and color coding to organize plant species by their garden zone (bank, slope, and basin).
University Branding: Applied official Illinois brand fonts, colors, and layout systems to ensure consistency across all outreach materials.
Print Accessibility: Designed for legibility and print optimization, using high contrast and balanced spacing.

Impact

The brochure is now distributed to visitors and used in educational programming at the Red Oak Rain Garden.
Improved clarity and engagement helped make the garden more approachable and informative.
Received positive feedback from staff and visitors for its professional look and readability.
Strengthened the visual connection between the garden and the University’s sustainability initiatives.