Introduction

Sierra Club is an environmental and conservationist organization with chapters all around the United States. The non-profit advocates for sustainable energy practices and ecological conservation. In the past few years Sierra Club has concentrated on creating on promotional campaigns about how technological development can help us lead healthier and more sustainable lives.

My Role

In 2017 I’ve taken on a few freelance projects for the Sierra Club Rocky Mountain chapter. For this project I designed a printed flyer and created a microsite with relevant resources.

Project Strategy

I began working on a promotional project for my local chapter of Sierra Club in January 2017. One of the organization's main strategic goals for this year is raising awareness about how alternative forms of energy can be cost-effective as well as environmentally friendly. Over the next few months I researched local attitudes towards renewable energy, the changing demographics of the state and resources available to Colorado residents who want to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. 

A few interesting findings:

• The buildings that we live and work in are responsible for up to one-third of the carbon emissions that drive global climate change. Reducing our use of fossil fuels, restoring forests that were cleared for agricultural use and making changes to our personal travel habits all have potential to help contain harmful emissions. But those activities alone will not be sufficient for the world to meet the goal of the The Paris Agreement unless substantial changes are made to change the way we use energy within our own homes.
• Colorado is an increasingly environmentally conscious state. A 2016 poll found that environmental issues impact the voting choices of up to 77% of Colorado residents. 
• Reviews of past Sierra Club meeting notes and surveys found that interested individuals were most likely to pledge membership after an event that demonstrated how the Sierra Club could provide value for them in their daily lives. 

User Research

I met with leaders of the Sierra Club chapter to discuss the findings from my research on demographics and attitudes in the state. After discussing these findings and the organization's goals for the year, we decided to target our outreach to three main groups. 

Prospective Member

Notes from recent Sierra Club meetings indicate that non-members will often attend hikes, lectures and informational meetings that the group organizes. A recent survey found that a substantial proportion of potential members are hesitant to commit to membership because they are worried about the expenses and time commitment involved in choosing a renewable lifestyle. 

Cost-conscious energy consumer

As the state becomes increasingly environmentally conscious, many early adopters choose to invest in solar panels or plant their own low-impact gardens. Other households are interested in making more environmentally conscious choices but want to make sure that the decision is affordable before they make substantial changes. This project hopes to convince these prospective green energy customers that making renewable choices in their homes can help them save money. 

New Arrival

Denver is consistently ranked as one of the most desirable cities in the United States. The city has experienced rapid population growth in the past few years. One of the most consistently cited draws to the city is its proximity to outdoor recreation opportunities and the natural beauty of the area. New residents are some of the most frequent attendants at Sierra Club's free outdoor events and are likely to be interested in joining the organization. This promotion aims to introduce new arrivals to energy initiatives available to Colorado residents.
 

Planning Outreach

We decided that the best way to reach prospective members would be to provide information about how alternative sources of energy can benefit them personally. All material from this print campaign is intended to be sent by mail and to be distributed at Sierra Club events. 

When I began to work on this flyer we had a clear idea in mind for how the front side of the page needed to look. The flyer needed to make an appealing first impression that highlighted Colorado's natural beauty. We wanted the front side of the page to be bold, simple and visually uncluttered. A design for the front side of the flyer was agreed on very early in the project. The back side of the flyer, however, proved to be quite a bit more challenging. 

Originally, the Sierra Club organizers envisioned the back side of the flyer laid out in a grid pattern. Early drafts of the flyer presented in a grid with three columns and two rows. Each square on the grid contained a short description of a clean energy initiative and a QR code that linked to more information on the topic. 

This approach created several difficulties for our intended audience. Scanning multiple QR codes on a single flyer was a confusing experience for the small group of testers that we presented with the first draft of the flyer. The QR codes needed to be a certain size in order to be scannable by mobile devices and so the codes themselves took up a sizable amount of space on our small printed flyers.

The Solution

I proposed an alternative approach to presenting information on the flyer: instead of showing individual QR codes for each clean energy solution, the flyer would display a single QR code that took readers to a mobile-friendly list of links. The flyer itself would offer a short list of suggestions to help get readers started with alternative energy sources.