In 2015 I proposed that Fort Wilderness Ministries begin publishing a yearly catalog to summarize its whole program offerings and simplify information for potential customers. The roughly 60-page catalog was a huge success among existing customers and an effective recruiting tool.

The 2017 Catalog represented a shift in design and personality for the Fort Wilderness brand. The desire was to make Fort a personal and essential tool in the development of families, individuals and community groups. The catalog focused on emphasizing the experience first with the use of large photographs.

The catalog was able to showcase every seasonal program in the greater context of the Fort Wilderness mission and vision: “To Impact Lives For Eternity.” The catalog took an estimated 80 hrs (or two weeks) of design and review. The catalog was also designed as a self mailer, only requiring two sticker tabs to keep it closed. Hahn Printing in Eagle River printed and mailed about 7,000 copies. The full catalog can be viewed below:

The 2016 catalog can be viewed in completion below for comparison:

One of the more notable improvements that came from the Catalog project was the registration forms. The old forms had been in use for over 5 years and reused in the catalogs. Their style did not match the new personality of the catalogs and were hard to update and fill out for customers. The new forms made better use of space and provided more accommodation for large handwriting. The black and white forms were in use until 2017, the multi-colored form began use in 2018.