J&H Outdoors

J&H Outdoors is an outdoor store based in Lexington, Kentucky that sells outdoor equipment, apparel, accessories, and more to help all people get outdoors with the right gear for any adventure. Founded in 1972 as an army surplus store by two brothers, Danny Johnson and John Hall (J&H coming from the first initials of their last names), they have been offering outdoor apparel, equipment, and supplies to backpackers and outdoor enthusiasts in the Lexington, Kentucky area. With the founders passing off their leadership to new ownership, they needed a chance to rebrand their identity and ecommerce platform to help in their mission to help all people get outdoors with the right gear for any adventure. 

I was tasked with leading the identity rebrand and website design while working at RedTag. The main idea behind the rebrand was to bring out the cultural roots of eastern Kentucky in a visual way. Having the identity of the region from vast landmarks like Red River Gorge to the Appalachian Mountains to various lakes and rivers and national parks in between and connecting it back to J&H. They provide outdoor apparel equipment, and supplies to outfit backpacks and outdoor enthusiasts so that they can get to see these amazing landmarks on their next adventure.  Everything from the vintage typography layouts to the muted, army-inspired color palette to the large emphasis on nature photography plays into this story. 

The logo design went through several revisions but ultimately we decided on a mark that plays into the shape of the state of Kentucky and combining that with nature iconography like the Appalachian Mountains and map pointers to get a final result that shows the integration between J&H and the state of Kentucky. This is further emphasized in the vertical lockups where the J&H and the state of Kentucky interlock in a puzzle-like configuration.