Community Forests International

Community Forests International enables communities and forests to thrive together. A recent initiative involved engaging landowners in the Wabanaki Forest to build a relationship with their woodlands. They sought to do this through thoughtful community education.

Their team came to Briteweb to request our help in designing a guidebook about how to care for the Wabanaki Forest–inspiring curiosity and connection among a variety of audiences. The opportunity was to design an accessible “forest care guide” that equipped the community with information needed to make eco-conscious decisions.

When partnering with Community Forest International writers, we adopted the concept of “big things, little things”–an ambition to represent both the macro and micro details of Wabanaki’s ecological makeup.

Content would cover topics as big as the Indigenous history of the region, to the littlest details of identifying tree species. We needed to format this information in such a way that was catering to a diverse population of people, all from different demographics and forestry education. Knowing that some users may take their time reading through each page while others will quickly flip through, functionality was at the center of our approach.

The guidebook represents a balance of the Wabanaki Forest’s beauty and teachings. We leaned on immersive photography to help educate on everything from flora, fauna, and wildlife. Coloured edges supported the content structure of following the forest through every season, each colour inspired by the hues of nature. Iconography also played a part in guiding users, each unique icon instructing where to dive deeper and learn more.

The complete “Into the Wabanaki Forest” guidebook invites anyone, from all backgrounds, to build a connection with the land.

The team put together a variety of tools that Community Forests International could use to engage the community and connect with like-minded organizations. Into the Wabanaki: A Forest Care Guide is available to order a physical copy or download an accessible pdf on the Community Forests International website. The digital version is available in French translation. 

With ongoing support in mind, we provided additional engagement tools like activity sheets for families, social media assets, and postcards that will support their mission to deepen the community’s care for the forest.

Since its launch at the end of 2023, the Forest Care Guide has been downloaded over 500 times, and CFI has sold nearly 170 copies of the printed versions, and distributed many to their partners and community members. These numbers will undoubtedly keep growing, but reflect the first half-year of the book being available to the public.