When brainstorming how I wanted to redesign Ijam’s logo and identity, I started looking at what plants and animals are native to Tennessee. I wanted to see if there was a way to incorporate this, or some of the history of Ijams. I sketched many ideas surrounding this and dug into the story of HP Ijams and his family and how they started what is now Ijams Nature center. Eventually I started looking at box turtles and the interesting patterns that form on their shells which brought me to the initial drawing that became my mark. I traced over some of the shapes that I found on pictures of the turtles and filled in the holes. Some of the shapes looked like plants and animals to me, I started refining them and finding ways to incorporate many different native plants and animals in the mark. And that is how the logo was born.