Anchorage, AK – On February 26th, Denali National Park & Preserve celebrated its 100-year anniversary (1917–2017) and in honor of this historic milestone, the park unveiled a special centennial logo to highlight a century of preservation, protection, and public use.
The mark pays homage to Denali’s early gold rush history, when naturalist Charles Sheldon first recognized the importance of protecting the area’s Dall sheep and pushed for the creation of a park. Working with Harry Karstens, the man who would later become Denali’s first park superintendent, Sheldon visited the area in 1906 and realized it would make an ideal park and game preserve because of its beauty and diversity of wildlife.
Kris Ryan-Clarke created the new centennial logo for Denali National Park. The mark will be used to brand special park events and merchandise throughout 2017.
Mad Dog Graphx incorporated that iconic Dall sheep atop the well-known Denali Mountain Range in the new logo. The park service sometimes uses the sheep as the symbolic public “face” of Denali National Park due to its perpetual presence on the mountain and its non-threatening nature. Using it in the logo allows the mark to create a warm, personal, and welcoming character to contrast the image of the park as a vast, rugged, and unpredictable setting.
[L] The centennial logo captured as an ice sculpture, outside the Murie Science and Learning Center at the Park. [R] The new centennial badge, for folks (young and old) who complete the Junior Ranger program.
One goal was to create a logo that would appeal to a younger demographic, so the new mark needed to appear energetic, fresh, and playful. And having the sheep summit the peak was intended to represent achieving a “great accomplishment” – perfect for commemorating 100 years as one of the world’s premier parks.
Denali will be branding events and merchandise with the logo throughout 2017. With this in mind, Mad Dog created an adaptable color palette to allow for seasonal changes, program identification, and more.
The extended color palette allows for flexibility and seasonal updates.
For more about the special events planned to celebrate the park’s centennial, visit www.nps.gov/dena/getinvolved/denali-centennial.htm.