Search & Rescue Design
Logo Design, Branding, Fundraising Design | 2019-2023
Search & Rescue Volunteer Work
In order to increase community awareness and recognition of the Yavapai Search & Rescue Team (YCSRT) Search Dog Unit, the unit asked me to create designs for a series of projects for them.
What started off as redesigning their annual fundraising calendar became a series of projects.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Research & Prototyping
Logo & Branding Design
Fundraising Design
Print Design
Event Design
Photography
PROGRAMS UTILIZED
InDesign
Illustrator
Photoshop
COLLABORATORS
Janelle Hinesley – Sr. Graphic Designer
ABOUT
YCSRT SEARCH DOG UNIT
The Yavapai County Search & Rescue Team (YCSRT) Search Dog Unit (SDU) is an organization that trains both humans and dogs to perform wilderness search and rescues mainly in Yapapai County, Arizona. In addition to training their dogs, the Team members themselves learn land navigation, wilderness survival, first aid/cpr, tracking, locating evidence, radio communications and helicopter safety to list a few of the trainings they go through.
MY ROLE
I had originally joined the Search Dog Unit to give my energetic new dog something to do. During my training I discovered that one of their main fundraisers was the annual calendar. I volunteered to be the designer of it that year, and then as time went on I took on more design projects for the team: creating business cards, designing a logo, to creating banners and flyers.
FUNDRAISING CALENDAR
The main fundraiser of the unit is it’s annual calendar sale with the proceeds used to buy new uniforms, safety gear, and equipment for both dogs and humans.
The person who originally designed the SDU calendar was unable to do so the year I joined the unit, so I volunteered my graphic design services.
RESEARCH
This was my first time designing a calendar and anything for a volunteer fundraiser, so I began by researching both calendar designs and what other Search Dog units did for their calendars.
DESIGN
Since I did not have access to the original calendar file, I started completely from scratch and made sure to build the design in a way that would make future updates as easy as possible.
Special SDU or dog related events in the area were marked with a paw print on the day they were going to be held. Because most people who buy the calendars are dog lovers & owners, we wanted to let them know of upcoming dog related events they could attend with their dogs.
The calendar features photos taken by the SDU group of both the dogs and the volunteers. In addition to my graphic design services I offered my photography services so many of the photos featured were taken by me.
BUSINESS CARDS
When the team initially requested me to design the cards, they were mainly interested in a set of plain, one sided cards with just names and contact information on it. Having done a set of thank you inserts at my work featuring one of our work dogs which our customers loved, I suggested instead that we take advantage of the Unit’s greatest assets – the search dogs.
Because print shops now offer variations of prints and we didn’t want to just feature one dog over another for the cards, I came up with the idea to turn the business card into a K9 search and rescue version of baseball trading cards based on the dogs in the unit. Each dog’s business card has their own color theme and personal details so people can learn more about the search dogs and their personalities.
RESEARCH
To figure out the best way to implement my idea for the trading card design, I began researching both playing cards for DnD type games as well as trading cards for things like baseball.
DESIGN
The design needed to work with photos of all types to on the front and varying types of info on the back. Instead of using just one color, each dog’s business card has their own color theme and personal details so people can learn more about the search dogs and their personalities. This way the cards feel more personalized and more special when collected by the community.
Business card concepts
LOGO DESIGN
After a couple of years of design work and increased fundraising efforts with the Search Dog Unit, they decided it was time to incorporate a unique logo that they could use across the board.
The only requests for the logo were for it to include a paw print and to have an area that could accommodate words. As I was coming up with ideas, I knew I needed to also incorporate something local and something represent the search and rescue aspect as a whole.
The final design combines the silhouette of Thumb Butte (a local landmark), a compass, and paw print to represent the unit.
SIGNAGE
GOLF TOURNAMENT FLYERS
In 2023 the Search Dog Unit decided to team up with a local golf course in order to put on a fundraising golf tournament. I was asked to design a flyer that could be used to advertise both for potential sponsors as well as participants.
EVENT BANNER
PHOTOGRAPHY
In addition to my graphic design services, I also provided my photography abilities to the Search Dog Unit. The unit was able to use the photos on social media, in articles, and for fundraising activities.
RESULTS
The trading cards were a great success – kids and adults alike visit the SDU’s fundraising booths over multiple events in an effort to collect the different cards and inquiries into joining or donating to the unit have increased.
Enthusiasm and knowledge of not only the Search Dog Unit but Search & Rescue as an overall process has also increased in the community. People stay longer to talk more about the dogs and the processes. Kids would also show more enthusiasm when learning about the life-saving Hug-a-Tree program that the unit teaches to kids at these events.
