Hey Cameron - we really enjoyed this video when you published it 3 months ago. So much so, that when we go into NPS sites we specifically ask for the unigrid (by name). Today, I had a NPS Ranger give me a funny look when I asked for a unigrid. He handed it to me & then asked, "do you work for the park service?" Confused, I said "no, I just collect unigrids." He replied that I was the first visitor he's ever had to call them by their proper name, so he was a little shocked. He said it's a term used internally, but never by the public. 😂😊
Three stories. Between 1989 and 1992, my partner and I took a sabbatical, touring the US in our travel trailer. One of our goals was to visit as many of the National Park sites we could. I think we covered about 340. The first thing I tried to do was to obtain the parks Unigrid and read it. While visiting Mount Rushmore, I was reading through the brochure and found one of the paragraphs quit in the middle of a sentence. I mentioned this to the ranger at the Visitor Center desk and she was amazed. She went into an office behind the desk and showed it to who I believe was the Superintendent. I heard him say "well, at least somebody is reading it". What amazed me was, they must have given out hundreds of thousands of these and no one had ever brought that to their attention, and apparently, no one at the park had thoroughly proofed it before sending to the printer. In 2010, I gave my Unigrid collection to my brother who teaches high school history. During our trip we kept hearing about the Harpers Ferry Interpretive Design Center. When we ended our trip, I volunteered at the Center for about 8 months in their AV department. They had never had a VIP (Volunteer In the Park) and they really didn't know what to do with me. Mostly I was duplicating VHS tapes from masters to send to the various parks. Back then, most of the small parks were showing their films or slide shows using VHS tapes on large TVs, and the tapes tended to ware out rather frequently. I picked up a Unigrid from the center which wasn't for a park but was a layout demo for how the Unigrid format was to be used. I wish I still had that one. In 1994, I began volunteering at Manassas National Battlefield Park. In 1996, I created the Park's first website, which turned out to be the first website for a National Park anywhere in the world. This was in the very early days of the world wide web and back then we didn't have the flexibility in web page formatting we do today. I tried to model the page to imitate the Unigrid layout but was unable to get things to line up properly so I ended up having a green header with white letters. Those pages are no longer available on the Park Services website so I posted them on my personal site but had to remove the arrowhead because it is copyrighted. Over about 6 years, I spent a bit over 6,000 hours at the park. Between my computer work at Manassas, and the website I created for them, my superintendent, with a lot of hard work, got me the Honorary National Park Ranger award. At that time, the award had only been given to 120 people, mostly famous people like J. F. Kennedy and Arthur Fiedler. I think I was the first "non famous" person to be given the award, and you can bet I am proud of that.
Wow, Frank those are unbelievable stories! I want to say thank you for your service to National Parks and your dedication to ensuring these places are around for the future. These places wouldn't exist without people like you. You have every right to be proud of that award - what an achievement! I appreciate you sharing those stories with us and thank you again for what you've done for National Parks!
Thanks for watching! I loved looking through the years of NPS brochures. The evolution of the designs were just striking and really fun to trace a piece of NPS history back through time to see how we ended up where we are today.
I'm curious - do you still use the points and picas system? In researching this video, I read in a few places that graphic design is partly transitioning to the metric system, but I'm wondering if you're experience is different?
@@NationalParkDiaries sorry, just now noticed the notification. I haven't personally really use points and picas all that much since doing yearbook back in high school. At least outside of line width and font sizes. That being said, I wasn't ever in a "standard" design environment. I started off in boxes and displays which mainly used inches and the like, and then I moved on to a print shop for a school district which was more free form. We could do what we wanted, as long as it worked on our machines and got that job done.
I loved this episode. The Unigrids brochure I have collected for many years and have many from the older styles before the current Unigrid style. I once went to Chaco National Historical park and had an old unigrid from years ago and showed it to the rangers who where amazed that the roads on that Unigrid were no longer there. It caused me to now keep all versions of the unigrids that i get because they change and I often look for the changes. Weird, but I am retired now and have the time. lol Keep up the great work.
So glad you liked it! And a very interesting anecdote about changes to the Unigrids! The "Parks" book I mentioned in this episode really helped me appreciate all the changes park brochures have been through over the years and track those changes over time. It's so interesting to look at the history of graphic design through the lens of these park brochures. Thanks for your support!
Have been collecting the Unigrids since beginning our journey to visit all the National Parks (58 then, but 63 now). For each park we track on a spreadsheet our collection of park t-shirts, brochures, sign pictures, and tree ornaments. We are presently 6 parks shy of reaching them all, and plan to display all 63 in a shadow box in our home once done. Loved the video. Thanks for doing it. Our most rare is the Gates of the Arctic.
That's quite the collection! And what an achievement! 63 parks is a goal of mine as well (or however many there are by the time I'm able to achieve it lol. Gates of the Arctic is indeed a rare one, wow!
Question. I collect the unigrids and I think I found the one park that does not have one (I asked the ranger and they said they haven’t had one in years). Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site (it’s small and not much is there but the reading room where they will read Poe’s works is pretty nice). By chance do you know a good place to find them?
I love this video. I too collect them from every park I visit. They are a great reference tool and fun to display. I suppose my rarest is that from Gates of the Arctic from my visit there in 2019. This design as goes beyond the brochures to trail maps, additional info and even the NPS guide books. They heavily influenced my design of maps and brochures for our organization. Thanks for a great video
The first National Park brochure I ever got was one from the Badlands in South Dakota. I thought it would be cool as a cool framed poster, and ever since then, I've kept them.
In rangering days, I was asked to produce a simple unigrid handout or two for various interp uses. Thank God for the unigrid! The handouts never made it to the Louvre, but they were clear, easily read information for the visitors.
Such a beautiful design. And I love that it made it easier for our Rangers to interpret our parks. Just brilliant all the way around. Thanks for watching!
I teach design at a high school in So Cal. I need to get my hands on some Unigrid samples. I'll be showing your video in my Visual Communications class this year. Thanks.
I love all these that I/we have collected. I have never found better park maps which is something I really like and something I think is essential to a good visit. I enjoyed seeing a bit of your collection as well as some of the "old" ones.
It's a really great system. The perfect blend of simplicity, standardization, and information. Branding is iconic. It's my favorite NPS collectible, by far!
I have a few copies of Point Reyes National Seashore brochure that were sent to me because they used one of my photographs in the brochure, the only photo in it, everything else is art. It’s been a few years so it may have been updated by now.
I have collected all of these since I was a kid back in the 1980s. I hadn’t been to very many national parks, but when I saw my first one (it might have been Pictured Rocks…could have been Everglades) I was smitten and I’ve collected every last one of them. I keep them all in a stack in the order I visited them. I have no idea how I’d display them all, but I like laying them all out on the floor just to admire their elegant design and pictures, and to reflect on how I got to experience so many of them. I’ve been to 43 of the 51 parks in the Lower 48…40 of which we’ve visited in just the past 10 years. We stared camping, which led us to taking road trips West from Ohio, which led to more road trips everywhere in the country. We’re getting to the point where we have our favorites and have visited them multiple times, and now we’re exploring places that probably should be national parks but aren’t. But I’ve always loved the Unigrid…I search high and low to make sure I get one when we visit an NPS site. Thank you so much for making this video explaining them! As a fellow TH-camr I know how it can be a bummer that one of your favorite topics doesn’t get a lot views, but I wanted to tell you that this was an awesome video and I really appreciate your effort to tell the story behind something that seems so mundane to most people, but is something I very dearly love about the National Park Service.
So glad to see my passion for the Unigrids reciprocated! I visit as many NPS sites as I can, and usually end up planning my travels around them, collecting Unigrids as I go. Appreciate the comment and thanks for watching!
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels on TH-cam. When I'm on trail somewhere, I'm usually there doing research or on a backpacking trip and focusing on that. It's easy for me to maybe overlook some of the smaller things that make these places so special. Your channel has done a really good job at motivating me to visit more interpretive centers to truly learn more about the history of places I hike/backpack/research, take my time in nature more, and overall appreciate the little things at these places a little bit more. Great content, and keep up the phenomenal work!
That means so much, thank you!! That was always my goal with this channel and I'm so glad to know it's having these sorts of impacts out in the world. Thanks for being here and supporting the channel!
You should! I think they're great for home decor and arts and crafts projects lol. I keep all mine on my shelf, organized chronologically - so the last 2 parks I've been to are always at the front!
When unigrid was adopted, it took many years before all parks moved to the new format, I have a bunch of brochures that predate unigrid collected in the 1970s. What is interesting is some states made brochures for state parks that looked identical to the format the NPS used prior to unigrid, California in particular. Some brochures from CA State Parks looked identical to NPS pre-unigrid brochures.
That's a really interesting period of park brochures! The transitional period where you've still got all these mixes of brochure designs is so fascinating to look back on because you can really trace the history of the entire brochure system through that evolution. Super cool stuff!
Didn’t think anyone could make a 22min Park Brochures video and have it be interesting. But this was great and beyond informative! I’ve been to 53 of the 63 National Parks and have held onto all the brochures 😁
Wow, this is an awesome video. I had no idea National Park brochures had such a complex and interesting history. I am also glad I am not the only one who collects them. I would say two of the rarest brochures I got are from Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Navajo National Monument, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Tumacacori National Historical Park and Coronado National Memorial due to not a whole lot of people really knowing about these protected areas. All definitely worth a trip
Haha, I think you commented on the wrong video! No worries, I love hearing the Unigrid stories regardless! You've got some good ones there - the Southwest has some hidden gems!
What a cool topic for a video! For decades I have admired these pamphlets for their density and clarity of information: so much useful stuff, easy to access, in a small robust package. Do you have a history of working for NPS, or are you just a fan like me?
I've always collected these. I live in northern Utah, so I have a bunch from Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Golden Spike, although my wife is from Maine so we also have Acadia, Minute Man, and the Freedom Trail in Boston. I love their simplicity and also how information dense they are. Great video
Great video - love these brochures. I've got some state park ones on my desk right now from Oregon that are also getting pretty legit with a more standardized design and layout. (ex: Saddle Mountain State Natural Area) :) Also shout out to those national park passport stamps!
Thanks for watching! I've never done the park passport stamps, but I do a stamp book for my local state parks here in SC. I just love the memories associated with collecting things like that. And of course, with Unigrids, I just think they're so beautiful and elegant while still providing you with great info. So much fun!!!
I started doing the passport stamps when I first got married (nearly 10 years ago) and they've been a blast! Its been really cool to look back at the different stamps and say "Oh yes, this was that date so it was the time when we..." Good stuff, highly recommended
I've always wanted to know more about the NP brochures. Visting from New Zealand in 2013 I fell in love with the brochures and made sure to grab ones from every park I visted. I have them all still though none would be considered rare since Badlands, SD would be about the least visited of the 13 or so parks I've been to over the years. Thanks for the video this was really fascinating.
I have been collecting these national park brochures for years. I honestly don't know how many I have but I would guess over 160. I don't know what my most rare one would be. But I do have some from parks whose status has changed, such as an old Great Sand Dunes National Monument which is of course National Park now.
That's quite the collection! Very cool to see brochures change as different designations change as well. I was at New River Gorge a few weeks ago, and the Unigrid now says "National Park and Preserve," which wouldn't have been the case even a few years ago. I love those little snapshots into NPS history!
Love the video! Speaking of design can you do one Albert H. Good? I wrote an essay on his guide to the Park Service Rustic style of design he made for the government and its analysis of and its application in the creation of the visual/visitor experience of the parks and their buildings/facilities back in the depression but don't know much about the man himself. His book is why a huge portion of the way the manmade parts of the parks are how they are and how they integrate into the parks. Also would love to see a video on "Parkitecture" someday if you end up finding the time, tho you might be more interested in him rn since you're working on that major figures series atm. I promise I'll become a Patreon supporter if you do!
This was an awesome video combining my favourite subjects; National Parks and Graphic Design. I don't specifically collect the park brochures, but I do hold on to them, at least for the duration of the trip. It's cool to look at them after I get home and remember all the parks I visited.
I have collected these for decades. The brochures for the same park are often updated every few years, so each time I go I always save one so I can compare to the previous one. One disappointment though is since the 90's many national monuments have been created that are run by the Forest Service and BLM, and they don't create brochures, or when they do they are all different sizes and designs. I'd like to see all parks no matter what agency runs them use the same unigrid design.
I'm kind of torn on this idea, if I'm being honest. I like the idea of standardization, just for ease of use and how much better the Unigrid design is than pretty much anything else. But I also love that the NPS has its own visual identity. I think I'd prefer standardization, but with variations for each of the main land management agencies (NPS, USFS, BLM, USFWS, etc).
I got done with my vacation about a week ago. I swung by and visited Fredricksburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and the Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson death site; all of which are under the NPS. Also managed to revisit the eastern division of the Petersburg National Battlefield Park chain, which is quite a massive chain as National Battlefield Parks go. You have City Point, which has Grant’s headquarters and some of the original docks. There’s the the Eastern Division, which preserves the eastern portions of the Dimmock Line as well as the Crater Battlefield. Then, there’s the western division, which is jointly protected by the NPS, American Battlefield Trust, and Pamplin Historical Park and includes sections of the Five Forks Battlefield.
Sounds like a nice trip! I love hitting several smaller historical parks like that on a single trip. Really great way to see an area and contextualize the history you learn about in each one.
@@NationalParkDiaries, yeah. It’s also worth visiting them as a means of keeping those areas preserved. If you ever get the chance to come back to the east coast, I’d definitely recommend visiting the Richmond National Battlefield Park chain. They have a solid amount of resources available while having a good mix of hiking and driving trails. However, their size can be a bit… wonky.
Thanks for the great story! My least common unigrid is probably from Hovenweep National Monument. You should do a video on the formation of Grand Teton National Park. An act so controversial Wyoming would be removed from the Antiquities Act!
Thanks for watching! You're totally right about the Grand Teton story though, I've got that one on my list and need to cover it at some point. That's a really important park story.
Our favorite thing to do is become junior rangers. Our Christmas tree is decorated with the pins they give you. They make great ornaments and you get to learn a little about the park!
Ditto! Ohio had some standardization a while back…but their designs have gone full color and I don’t even know if there’s standardization or not now. I think Pennsylvania has standardized theirs though…I think I can remember several other states have too. One thing I think makes the Unigrid so recognizable is that it has been the standard for many decades now-it seems like state designs change every 10 years and so they aren’t as cemented in anyone’s mind. A stable brand is every bit as important as a beautiful and functional brand.
I'm a Canadian and i collect all the brochures from the park units we have visited. A freind of mine gave me her Yellowstone 125th anniversary brochure. I cancelled my fully booked Yellowstone trip in 2020. Its still the only brochure i have of a park i haven't visited. To me thats rare!
No. Definately not. I just grabbed my Pelee Point NP, HMCS Haida and Ruthven NHS brochures and they are all different. I actually found my Roger Williams NM brochure before I found the Canadian ones as I have all these near my bedside. Have gone to them all within the last year and keep them to look at til my next big sort and put away. Love the vids. Keep them coming. I felt a little lonely thinking I was a big brochure nerd. Now I want that Parks book you have!
That's interesting, thanks for looking into that! You're definitely not the only brochure nerd and I'm glad we can geek out over this lol. I left a link to the "Parks" book in the video description of you're interested! Thanks for watching!
I looooooove the NP brochures!!! I always get 2 at each park. One, to use the map incessantly while visiting the park all day and to read the in depth info at night. By the end of my visits this one is usually destroyed. And the second pristine brochure goes up on my garage wall as a trophy.
Nice, love it! Unigrids are the one thing I HAVE to get at each park I visit. I was late to the game on other collectors items, and it's too late to start now, but my Unigrid collection is my pride and joy!
@@NationalParkDiaries Exactly the same here. I'm not interested in all the pins but get me my brochures (Unigrids). Should be getting 6 new ones this July.
I first learned about unigrids last summer while on the way to Isle Royale (ISRO) onboard the Ranger III. Having long had an interest in printing and document layout and standards, etc., I became rather hooked, and looked up NPS unigrid design documents. Last week, I asked for a unigrid brochure at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site (LIHO) and the gentleman at the desk looked very confused. As his co-worker was handing a unigrid to the person next to me, I said, "I'd like one of those, please." Then I got two more for my grandsons who were waiting outside.
I started collecting them accidentally because I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them out after visiting the park! I consider myself a minimalist and don’t really want to collect anything besides “experiences”, but I just couldn’t throw them out. Is there a specific photo album type book where you can put your unigrids in? Love your channel! I’m learning so much!
Haha, I'm the same way! I really don't "collect" much and am constantly trying to reduce the amount of "stuff" I own, but Unigrids are an exception! And yes, they have photo albums and containers for them. I keep mine in one of these, for display on my shelf (I couldn't find the exact one, but it's this general style: www.displays2go.com/P-637/Brochure-Magazine-Display-Acrylic-Pocket-Notched-Front?gclid=CjwKCAjwkeqkBhAnEiwA5U-uM91LpjcVnbdqfqzz5qhF6imHTaVpAdnl1XuvRiNgEJw6nm_k51ZAJBoCu9UQAvD_BwE) I also have one of these, which are designed for Unigrids, but I don't use it for that lol: www.etsy.com/listing/1149991942/national-parks-brochure-and-map-album?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=brochure+holder&ref=sr_gallery-1-18&frs=1&organic_search_click=1 Thanks for watching and supporting the channel!
That was an absurdly informative video. I instantly recognized that the brochures at National parks were special I just didn't know why. I have been collecting them and actually started thinking about a way to display them. Since there is always two sides of information I was thinking about putting them in between two sheets of plexiglass. But the varied sizes was going to be a problem particularly in the cost department so I shelved that idea. Now that I know there is a standardization I might be able to buy the plexiglass in bulk and cut it to the different sizes more efficiently and not waste material. If I do, I'm sending you a bill because its your fault you re-ignited the idea!
Hahahaha, I take full responsibility! The Unigrids are such a cool piece of NPS memorabilia - it's the thing I collect at every park rather than stickers or passport stamps or magnets. They're so beautifully simple, and yet flexible enough to allow each park to tell its own story. So glad you have the same obsession I do lol, and best of luck on your project!
One of the rarest has to be great smokies. I know it’s the most visited national park. I live close to it and have gone far more times than any other park and have never seen one before.
The Smokies are my favorite park! Funnily enough though, I don't have it's Unigrid because I've never really stopped at the Visitor Centers to get one! I'm always off doing other things lol. I need to stop next time I go just so I can fill in that gap in my collection.
@@NationalParkDiaries I often stop at Oconaluftee visitor center but it’s been some time since I’ve been to the others. I’m going next weekend maybe I’ll be able to get one then
Is this video different from the usual? Yes Was it a good video? Yes Do I want more? Also yes And do I collect them? What a dumb question..... tho I admit most of them go in a box, and never leave and I also dont know where that (those?) box(s?) is(are?)
I picked up the latest Denali brochure (we are in Alaska.) The front side content was all stories about conservation, not natural history as in the original. Do you think this is editorializing or appropriate parks promotion?
For me, I think it's probably appropriate parks promotion. With some of these Parks, especially one like Denali, they're just so large and have so many stories to tell that it's got to be really difficult to choose which ones to go on these small park brochures. Basically, I think it just comes down to what types of stories the NPS wants to emphasize on any given version of the Unigrid, conservation having been the theme for this one. However, I only have the current Unigrid version (latest update was in 2019 I think), so I can't speak to how the old one was.
They're a really cool system! I think their simplicity kind of hides the complexity of the system/significance behind them, but unigrids are honestly one of my favorite pieces of NPS memorabilia. I look forward to getting one with each new park I visit, and keep them in my collection (which are displayed in my videos!)
Last year we were in a park and there are signs telling us to download the NPS app for the park information. Have you heard of that replacing the paper pamphlets.
I've used the NPS app many times and do find it useful for certain aspects of park visitation, but I have not heard of it replacing paper pamphlets entirely, no. I think it will serve mainly as a complementary tool for park info, rather than an all-out replacement.
I've saved everyone from every park visit. So, at this point, I have dozens of them. One thing I started doing and wish I had done from the beginning is use the passport stamp in the visitor center to stamp the date of my visit to the park. There's usually a small amount of space where the stamp will fit and not block any information or pictures.
13:22 You dont have to spell out DIN, you can say it as a word, and also. not just printing people can use this info. At least Wurope runs on the DIN A Format. Our most basic format is A4, so a quarter of A2. I would assume the folded format is the same as a letter folded to fit our most common our most basic envelope format DIN C6/5. So to all Europeans, the Unigrid A3 is probably the same as an A4 piece of paper. I didnt check this, but at least thats my assumption.
There are a number of the NPS sites in Alaska that get combined into a Alaska National Parklands title, Kobuk Valley included. So that National Park is the one without a unigrid.
Yes - all the national monuments and preserves that are run by the BLM and the USDA National Forest have random brochures (if there even is a brochure). That is actually quite a lot of monuments now.
you're really cranking these videos out all of a sudden, huh? last august I went to 10 nation parks. I collected 3 things: patches, parks passport stamps,... and brochures I was surprised by the lack of standardization. Some were printed on glossy almost magazine paper, other's newspaper. I think the trend was less visited parks = better brochures? I dont remember the trend I noticed but the grand canyon was the worse. Straight up newspaper with low image fidelty(you can see the print dots, like pixels)
Haha, yep! I've been trying to get on a weekly schedule lately. It's tough, but I love making these videos so I don't mind. I appreciate you taking the time to watch! That's an interesting observation about the park brochures. I noticed myself, with the Natchez Trace Pkwy brochure I got last year, that it has a matte finish, rather than the glossy finish on all of my other ones.
Hey Cameron - we really enjoyed this video when you published it 3 months ago. So much so, that when we go into NPS sites we specifically ask for the unigrid (by name). Today, I had a NPS Ranger give me a funny look when I asked for a unigrid. He handed it to me & then asked, "do you work for the park service?" Confused, I said "no, I just collect unigrids." He replied that I was the first visitor he's ever had to call them by their proper name, so he was a little shocked. He said it's a term used internally, but never by the public. 😂😊
Hahahaha, that's wonderful! I've gotten some strange looks when I ask for Unigrids too. That's how they know you're the real park nerds lol!
Three stories.
Between 1989 and 1992, my partner and I took a sabbatical, touring the US in our travel trailer. One of our goals was to visit as many of the National Park sites we could. I think we covered about 340. The first thing I tried to do was to obtain the parks Unigrid and read it. While visiting Mount Rushmore, I was reading through the brochure and found one of the paragraphs quit in the middle of a sentence. I mentioned this to the ranger at the Visitor Center desk and she was amazed. She went into an office behind the desk and showed it to who I believe was the Superintendent. I heard him say "well, at least somebody is reading it". What amazed me was, they must have given out hundreds of thousands of these and no one had ever brought that to their attention, and apparently, no one at the park had thoroughly proofed it before sending to the printer. In 2010, I gave my Unigrid collection to my brother who teaches high school history.
During our trip we kept hearing about the Harpers Ferry Interpretive Design Center. When we ended our trip, I volunteered at the Center for about 8 months in their AV department. They had never had a VIP (Volunteer In the Park) and they really didn't know what to do with me. Mostly I was duplicating VHS tapes from masters to send to the various parks. Back then, most of the small parks were showing their films or slide shows using VHS tapes on large TVs, and the tapes tended to ware out rather frequently. I picked up a Unigrid from the center which wasn't for a park but was a layout demo for how the Unigrid format was to be used. I wish I still had that one.
In 1994, I began volunteering at Manassas National Battlefield Park. In 1996, I created the Park's first website, which turned out to be the first website for a National Park anywhere in the world. This was in the very early days of the world wide web and back then we didn't have the flexibility in web page formatting we do today. I tried to model the page to imitate the Unigrid layout but was unable to get things to line up properly so I ended up having a green header with white letters. Those pages are no longer available on the Park Services website so I posted them on my personal site but had to remove the arrowhead because it is copyrighted. Over about 6 years, I spent a bit over 6,000 hours at the park. Between my computer work at Manassas, and the website I created for them, my superintendent, with a lot of hard work, got me the Honorary National Park Ranger award. At that time, the award had only been given to 120 people, mostly famous people like J. F. Kennedy and Arthur Fiedler. I think I was the first "non famous" person to be given the award, and you can bet I am proud of that.
Wow, Frank those are unbelievable stories! I want to say thank you for your service to National Parks and your dedication to ensuring these places are around for the future. These places wouldn't exist without people like you. You have every right to be proud of that award - what an achievement! I appreciate you sharing those stories with us and thank you again for what you've done for National Parks!
This is incredible! Thanks for sharing ❤️
@NationalParkDiaries sounds like you should give Frank and interview! Sounds like he has lots of stories!
I collect them, great free souvenir of each park
Absolutely, they're a great collector's item!
This is always my favorite thing to display in my house from my National Park trips. The design is just so timeless and uniform and beautiful
Couldn't agree more!
This is what I'm taking about!!! Let's keep nerding out, content game strong as ever
Unigrids are my #1 nerdy National Park subject lol. So glad I got to tell this one on the channel finally. Thanks for watching!
Great vid! I worked for the NPS last year and loved seeing all the changes our own Unigrid had gone through
Thanks for watching! I loved looking through the years of NPS brochures. The evolution of the designs were just striking and really fun to trace a piece of NPS history back through time to see how we ended up where we are today.
Yes, I love them, ive been collecting them for a few years now. Im using them to wallpaper one of my walls!
Heck yeah, that's a great use for them! First time I've heard of that.
As a graphic designer, I absolutely love these kind of discussions. Brand guidelines are just infinitely fascinating to me.
I'm curious - do you still use the points and picas system? In researching this video, I read in a few places that graphic design is partly transitioning to the metric system, but I'm wondering if you're experience is different?
@@NationalParkDiaries sorry, just now noticed the notification.
I haven't personally really use points and picas all that much since doing yearbook back in high school. At least outside of line width and font sizes.
That being said, I wasn't ever in a "standard" design environment. I started off in boxes and displays which mainly used inches and the like, and then I moved on to a print shop for a school district which was more free form. We could do what we wanted, as long as it worked on our machines and got that job done.
Very cool, thanks for the reply!
How hard you nerded out on this made me cry lol. Thank you for doing your videos. You'd be an amazing guide.
That means a lot, truly. Thanks so much for watching and supporting the channel ❤
@@NationalParkDiaries you could do meet and greets at a national park for donations to a park.
I'd love to do meetups at some point! Stay tuned!
I loved this episode. The Unigrids brochure I have collected for many years and have many from the older styles before the current Unigrid style. I once went to Chaco National Historical park and had an old unigrid from years ago and showed it to the rangers who where amazed that the roads on that Unigrid were no longer there. It caused me to now keep all versions of the unigrids that i get because they change and I often look for the changes. Weird, but I am retired now and have the time. lol Keep up the great work.
So glad you liked it! And a very interesting anecdote about changes to the Unigrids! The "Parks" book I mentioned in this episode really helped me appreciate all the changes park brochures have been through over the years and track those changes over time. It's so interesting to look at the history of graphic design through the lens of these park brochures. Thanks for your support!
. M
Have been collecting the Unigrids since beginning our journey to visit all the National Parks (58 then, but 63 now). For each park we track on a spreadsheet our collection of park t-shirts, brochures, sign pictures, and tree ornaments. We are presently 6 parks shy of reaching them all, and plan to display all 63 in a shadow box in our home once done. Loved the video. Thanks for doing it. Our most rare is the Gates of the Arctic.
That's quite the collection! And what an achievement! 63 parks is a goal of mine as well (or however many there are by the time I'm able to achieve it lol. Gates of the Arctic is indeed a rare one, wow!
Question. I collect the unigrids and I think I found the one park that does not have one (I asked the ranger and they said they haven’t had one in years). Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site (it’s small and not much is there but the reading room where they will read Poe’s works is pretty nice). By chance do you know a good place to find them?
Exactly what I was looking for. You’re a great storyteller 👍. Got to start collecting those brochures.
Thanks so much! Happy collecting!
I love this video. I too collect them from every park I visit. They are a great reference tool and fun to display. I suppose my rarest is that from Gates of the Arctic from my visit there in 2019.
This design as goes beyond the brochures to trail maps, additional info and even the NPS guide books.
They heavily influenced my design of maps and brochures for our organization. Thanks for a great video
Oh wow, Gates of the Arctic is a rare one - very nice!! Thanks for watching!
The first National Park brochure I ever got was one from the Badlands in South Dakota. I thought it would be cool as a cool framed poster, and ever since then, I've kept them.
Very nice!
My first career was in printing so I really appreciate this. Who knew? Brilliant thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Love collecting the brochures! Learning they had the same designer as the NYC subway is so cool but also makes sense. Great video!
It's the one thing I make sure to do at every park I visit lol! Thanks for watching!!
In rangering days, I was asked to produce a simple unigrid handout or two for various interp uses. Thank God for the unigrid! The handouts never made it to the Louvre, but they were clear, easily read information for the visitors.
Such a beautiful design. And I love that it made it easier for our Rangers to interpret our parks. Just brilliant all the way around. Thanks for watching!
I teach design at a high school in So Cal. I need to get my hands on some Unigrid samples. I'll be showing your video in my Visual Communications class this year. Thanks.
Oh man, that's so awesome! I hope the students enjoy and thanks for watching!
I love all these that I/we have collected. I have never found better park maps which is something I really like and something I think is essential to a good visit. I enjoyed seeing a bit of your collection as well as some of the "old" ones.
It's a really great system. The perfect blend of simplicity, standardization, and information. Branding is iconic. It's my favorite NPS collectible, by far!
I have a few copies of Point Reyes National Seashore brochure that were sent to me because they used one of my photographs in the brochure, the only photo in it, everything else is art. It’s been a few years so it may have been updated by now.
I have collected all of these since I was a kid back in the 1980s. I hadn’t been to very many national parks, but when I saw my first one (it might have been Pictured Rocks…could have been Everglades) I was smitten and I’ve collected every last one of them. I keep them all in a stack in the order I visited them. I have no idea how I’d display them all, but I like laying them all out on the floor just to admire their elegant design and pictures, and to reflect on how I got to experience so many of them. I’ve been to 43 of the 51 parks in the Lower 48…40 of which we’ve visited in just the past 10 years. We stared camping, which led us to taking road trips West from Ohio, which led to more road trips everywhere in the country. We’re getting to the point where we have our favorites and have visited them multiple times, and now we’re exploring places that probably should be national parks but aren’t.
But I’ve always loved the Unigrid…I search high and low to make sure I get one when we visit an NPS site. Thank you so much for making this video explaining them! As a fellow TH-camr I know how it can be a bummer that one of your favorite topics doesn’t get a lot views, but I wanted to tell you that this was an awesome video and I really appreciate your effort to tell the story behind something that seems so mundane to most people, but is something I very dearly love about the National Park Service.
So glad to see my passion for the Unigrids reciprocated! I visit as many NPS sites as I can, and usually end up planning my travels around them, collecting Unigrids as I go. Appreciate the comment and thanks for watching!
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels on TH-cam. When I'm on trail somewhere, I'm usually there doing research or on a backpacking trip and focusing on that. It's easy for me to maybe overlook some of the smaller things that make these places so special. Your channel has done a really good job at motivating me to visit more interpretive centers to truly learn more about the history of places I hike/backpack/research, take my time in nature more, and overall appreciate the little things at these places a little bit more.
Great content, and keep up the phenomenal work!
That means so much, thank you!! That was always my goal with this channel and I'm so glad to know it's having these sorts of impacts out in the world. Thanks for being here and supporting the channel!
Fantastic ! The vintage national park posters also look pretty sweet I think, the artstyle and vibrant colours that suit the particular park 🏞
Some of those old park brochures are 👌. Particularly in the 60s. There were some WILD designs, but they were actually pretty cool!
I have a bunch of them scattered around my house that I think I’m gonna go collect into one place now.
You should! I think they're great for home decor and arts and crafts projects lol. I keep all mine on my shelf, organized chronologically - so the last 2 parks I've been to are always at the front!
When unigrid was adopted, it took many years before all parks moved to the new format, I have a bunch of brochures that predate unigrid collected in the 1970s. What is interesting is some states made brochures for state parks that looked identical to the format the NPS used prior to unigrid, California in particular. Some brochures from CA State Parks looked identical to NPS pre-unigrid brochures.
That's a really interesting period of park brochures! The transitional period where you've still got all these mixes of brochure designs is so fascinating to look back on because you can really trace the history of the entire brochure system through that evolution. Super cool stuff!
Didn’t think anyone could make a 22min Park Brochures video and have it be interesting. But this was great and beyond informative! I’ve been to 53 of the 63 National Parks and have held onto all the brochures 😁
Haha, I was worried about the length myself, but decided I (and all of you) needed to geek out on this topic lol. Thanks for watching!
Wow, this is an awesome video. I had no idea National Park brochures had such a complex and interesting history. I am also glad I am not the only one who collects them. I would say two of the rarest brochures I got are from Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Navajo National Monument, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Tumacacori National Historical Park and Coronado National Memorial due to not a whole lot of people really knowing about these protected areas. All definitely worth a trip
Haha, I think you commented on the wrong video! No worries, I love hearing the Unigrid stories regardless! You've got some good ones there - the Southwest has some hidden gems!
What a cool topic for a video! For decades I have admired these pamphlets for their density and clarity of information: so much useful stuff, easy to access, in a small robust package. Do you have a history of working for NPS, or are you just a fan like me?
They're so cool, glad you enjoyed the video! I've never worked for the NPS lol - just a guy who loves parks and reads a lot 😅
I've always collected these. I live in northern Utah, so I have a bunch from Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Golden Spike, although my wife is from Maine so we also have Acadia, Minute Man, and the Freedom Trail in Boston. I love their simplicity and also how information dense they are. Great video
Great collection! Golden Spike sounds really interesting - would love to visit that someday. Thanks for watching!
Whenever I would go to a national or state park, I would load up on these bad boys, collecting brochures of all the parks
Same!!
Such an informative and well detailed video. Always wondered what the story was behind the brochures! Thanks for posting and producing!
So glad you liked it, thanks for watching!
Great video - love these brochures. I've got some state park ones on my desk right now from Oregon that are also getting pretty legit with a more standardized design and layout. (ex: Saddle Mountain State Natural Area) :) Also shout out to those national park passport stamps!
Thanks for watching! I've never done the park passport stamps, but I do a stamp book for my local state parks here in SC. I just love the memories associated with collecting things like that. And of course, with Unigrids, I just think they're so beautiful and elegant while still providing you with great info. So much fun!!!
I started doing the passport stamps when I first got married (nearly 10 years ago) and they've been a blast! Its been really cool to look back at the different stamps and say "Oh yes, this was that date so it was the time when we..." Good stuff, highly recommended
I've always wanted to know more about the NP brochures. Visting from New Zealand in 2013 I fell in love with the brochures and made sure to grab ones from every park I visted. I have them all still though none would be considered rare since Badlands, SD would be about the least visited of the 13 or so parks I've been to over the years. Thanks for the video this was really fascinating.
Wow, you've come a long way! I hope you can come back and visit again to collect some more brochures lol! Thanks for watching!
I have been collecting these national park brochures for years. I honestly don't know how many I have but I would guess over 160. I don't know what my most rare one would be. But I do have some from parks whose status has changed, such as an old Great Sand Dunes National Monument which is of course National Park now.
That's quite the collection! Very cool to see brochures change as different designations change as well. I was at New River Gorge a few weeks ago, and the Unigrid now says "National Park and Preserve," which wouldn't have been the case even a few years ago. I love those little snapshots into NPS history!
Love the video! Speaking of design can you do one Albert H. Good? I wrote an essay on his guide to the Park Service Rustic style of design he made for the government and its analysis of and its application in the creation of the visual/visitor experience of the parks and their buildings/facilities back in the depression but don't know much about the man himself. His book is why a huge portion of the way the manmade parts of the parks are how they are and how they integrate into the parks. Also would love to see a video on "Parkitecture" someday if you end up finding the time, tho you might be more interested in him rn since you're working on that major figures series atm.
I promise I'll become a Patreon supporter if you do!
Ooooh, that sounds like a good topic. I've never actually heard of him, but I'll put him on the list for Park Profiles. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@NationalParkDiaries You're very welcome! Let me know if you'd like a copy of the essay, the bibliography may have something useful!
@@CostasEristoff I certainly will, thank you!
This was an awesome video combining my favourite subjects; National Parks and Graphic Design.
I don't specifically collect the park brochures, but I do hold on to them, at least for the duration of the trip. It's cool to look at them after I get home and remember all the parks I visited.
Thanks for watching!
Oh, I need to get this, and make a few of my own. Definitely beautiful, but also my parents hoard brochures 😂 seems like a good way to cut down
I have collected these for decades. The brochures for the same park are often updated every few years, so each time I go I always save one so I can compare to the previous one. One disappointment though is since the 90's many national monuments have been created that are run by the Forest Service and BLM, and they don't create brochures, or when they do they are all different sizes and designs. I'd like to see all parks no matter what agency runs them use the same unigrid design.
I'm kind of torn on this idea, if I'm being honest. I like the idea of standardization, just for ease of use and how much better the Unigrid design is than pretty much anything else. But I also love that the NPS has its own visual identity. I think I'd prefer standardization, but with variations for each of the main land management agencies (NPS, USFS, BLM, USFWS, etc).
I got done with my vacation about a week ago. I swung by and visited Fredricksburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and the Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson death site; all of which are under the NPS.
Also managed to revisit the eastern division of the Petersburg National Battlefield Park chain, which is quite a massive chain as National Battlefield Parks go. You have City Point, which has Grant’s headquarters and some of the original docks. There’s the the Eastern Division, which preserves the eastern portions of the Dimmock Line as well as the Crater Battlefield. Then, there’s the western division, which is jointly protected by the NPS, American Battlefield Trust, and Pamplin Historical Park and includes sections of the Five Forks Battlefield.
Sounds like a nice trip! I love hitting several smaller historical parks like that on a single trip. Really great way to see an area and contextualize the history you learn about in each one.
@@NationalParkDiaries, yeah. It’s also worth visiting them as a means of keeping those areas preserved.
If you ever get the chance to come back to the east coast, I’d definitely recommend visiting the Richmond National Battlefield Park chain. They have a solid amount of resources available while having a good mix of hiking and driving trails. However, their size can be a bit… wonky.
I’ve been saving all mine for years now.
They're such a great collectible!
Thanks for the great story! My least common unigrid is probably from Hovenweep National Monument. You should do a video on the formation of Grand Teton National Park. An act so controversial Wyoming would be removed from the Antiquities Act!
Thanks for watching! You're totally right about the Grand Teton story though, I've got that one on my list and need to cover it at some point. That's a really important park story.
Our favorite thing to do is become junior rangers. Our Christmas tree is decorated with the pins they give you. They make great ornaments and you get to learn a little about the park!
That's wonderful! I never thought about those as Christmas tree ornaments, but what a great idea!
These are what I collect when I go to National Parks 😁 I've got 35 of them 😁
Very nice! They're such a good collector's item!
I have often wished for state and local park brochures to look as good and be as useful as those.
If only 😩
Ditto! Ohio had some standardization a while back…but their designs have gone full color and I don’t even know if there’s standardization or not now. I think Pennsylvania has standardized theirs though…I think I can remember several other states have too.
One thing I think makes the Unigrid so recognizable is that it has been the standard for many decades now-it seems like state designs change every 10 years and so they aren’t as cemented in anyone’s mind. A stable brand is every bit as important as a beautiful and functional brand.
I'm a Canadian and i collect all the brochures from the park units we have visited. A freind of mine gave me her Yellowstone 125th anniversary brochure. I cancelled my fully booked Yellowstone trip in 2020. Its still the only brochure i have of a park i haven't visited. To me thats rare!
Very cool! Do Canadian Parks have a standardized brochure layout as well?
No. Definately not. I just grabbed my Pelee Point NP, HMCS Haida and Ruthven NHS brochures and they are all different. I actually found my Roger Williams NM brochure before I found the Canadian ones as I have all these near my bedside. Have gone to them all within the last year and keep them to look at til my next big sort and put away.
Love the vids. Keep them coming. I felt a little lonely thinking I was a big brochure nerd. Now I want that Parks book you have!
That's interesting, thanks for looking into that! You're definitely not the only brochure nerd and I'm glad we can geek out over this lol. I left a link to the "Parks" book in the video description of you're interested! Thanks for watching!
I looooooove the NP brochures!!!
I always get 2 at each park. One, to use the map incessantly while visiting the park all day and to read the in depth info at night. By the end of my visits this one is usually destroyed. And the second pristine brochure goes up on my garage wall as a trophy.
Nice, love it! Unigrids are the one thing I HAVE to get at each park I visit. I was late to the game on other collectors items, and it's too late to start now, but my Unigrid collection is my pride and joy!
@@NationalParkDiaries Exactly the same here. I'm not interested in all the pins but get me my brochures (Unigrids). Should be getting 6 new ones this July.
I first learned about unigrids last summer while on the way to Isle Royale (ISRO) onboard the Ranger III. Having long had an interest in printing and document layout and standards, etc., I became rather hooked, and looked up NPS unigrid design documents. Last week, I asked for a unigrid brochure at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site (LIHO) and the gentleman at the desk looked very confused. As his co-worker was handing a unigrid to the person next to me, I said, "I'd like one of those, please." Then I got two more for my grandsons who were waiting outside.
Ha, I've had rangers not know what I'm talking about when I ask for Unigrids too! Then I have to say "the brochure" and they understand 😂
I started collecting them accidentally because I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them out after visiting the park! I consider myself a minimalist and don’t really want to collect anything besides “experiences”, but I just couldn’t throw them out.
Is there a specific photo album type book where you can put your unigrids in?
Love your channel! I’m learning so much!
Haha, I'm the same way! I really don't "collect" much and am constantly trying to reduce the amount of "stuff" I own, but Unigrids are an exception!
And yes, they have photo albums and containers for them. I keep mine in one of these, for display on my shelf (I couldn't find the exact one, but it's this general style: www.displays2go.com/P-637/Brochure-Magazine-Display-Acrylic-Pocket-Notched-Front?gclid=CjwKCAjwkeqkBhAnEiwA5U-uM91LpjcVnbdqfqzz5qhF6imHTaVpAdnl1XuvRiNgEJw6nm_k51ZAJBoCu9UQAvD_BwE)
I also have one of these, which are designed for Unigrids, but I don't use it for that lol: www.etsy.com/listing/1149991942/national-parks-brochure-and-map-album?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=brochure+holder&ref=sr_gallery-1-18&frs=1&organic_search_click=1
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel!
Thanks 🙏
That was an absurdly informative video. I instantly recognized that the brochures at National parks were special I just didn't know why. I have been collecting them and actually started thinking about a way to display them. Since there is always two sides of information I was thinking about putting them in between two sheets of plexiglass. But the varied sizes was going to be a problem particularly in the cost department so I shelved that idea. Now that I know there is a standardization I might be able to buy the plexiglass in bulk and cut it to the different sizes more efficiently and not waste material. If I do, I'm sending you a bill because its your fault you re-ignited the idea!
Hahahaha, I take full responsibility! The Unigrids are such a cool piece of NPS memorabilia - it's the thing I collect at every park rather than stickers or passport stamps or magnets. They're so beautifully simple, and yet flexible enough to allow each park to tell its own story. So glad you have the same obsession I do lol, and best of luck on your project!
Pretty obscure but i would love a video about Lost Nations in Pittsford, Michigan
One of the rarest has to be great smokies. I know it’s the most visited national park. I live close to it and have gone far more times than any other park and have never seen one before.
The Smokies are my favorite park! Funnily enough though, I don't have it's Unigrid because I've never really stopped at the Visitor Centers to get one! I'm always off doing other things lol. I need to stop next time I go just so I can fill in that gap in my collection.
@@NationalParkDiaries I often stop at Oconaluftee visitor center but it’s been some time since I’ve been to the others. I’m going next weekend maybe I’ll be able to get one then
People love these. Me too, but I earn and collect Junior Ranger badges. Another good topic.
Ah, that's a good thing to collect too! And a good topic to cover, thanks for the suggestion!
Just checked a few that I've come into possession of recently and have hanging on my fridge-- Muir Woods National Monument seems to be an A5
It seems to be more common than I was expecting. My guess is the official documentation/online info just hasn't been updated to include it as a size.
The official document on the nps website is from 1985
Is this video different from the usual? Yes
Was it a good video? Yes
Do I want more? Also yes
And do I collect them? What a dumb question..... tho I admit most of them go in a box, and never leave and I also dont know where that (those?) box(s?) is(are?)
Hahahaha, glad you liked it! This is such a fun topic and I'm glad we all get to geek out over it lol.
I collect them. I thought I might be the only one.
Definitely not!
I wonder what some of the rarest brochures are? 🤔
Perhaps Aniakchak National Monument given it is the least visited of the units
It's got to be up there, I'm sure.
They send them to you for free. Just request them from each park you are interested in.
We tape ours into the journals we keep when we travel.
Nice! That's a great way to do it!
I picked up the latest Denali brochure (we are in Alaska.) The front side content was all stories about conservation, not natural history as in the original. Do you think this is editorializing or appropriate parks promotion?
For me, I think it's probably appropriate parks promotion. With some of these Parks, especially one like Denali, they're just so large and have so many stories to tell that it's got to be really difficult to choose which ones to go on these small park brochures. Basically, I think it just comes down to what types of stories the NPS wants to emphasize on any given version of the Unigrid, conservation having been the theme for this one. However, I only have the current Unigrid version (latest update was in 2019 I think), so I can't speak to how the old one was.
I had no idea there was such a centralized system. I need to pay more attention to brochures…
They're a really cool system! I think their simplicity kind of hides the complexity of the system/significance behind them, but unigrids are honestly one of my favorite pieces of NPS memorabilia. I look forward to getting one with each new park I visit, and keep them in my collection (which are displayed in my videos!)
Last year we were in a park and there are signs telling us to download the NPS app for the park information. Have you heard of that replacing the paper pamphlets.
I've used the NPS app many times and do find it useful for certain aspects of park visitation, but I have not heard of it replacing paper pamphlets entirely, no. I think it will serve mainly as a complementary tool for park info, rather than an all-out replacement.
I do really like the old ones too, but I get why they needed to make it more uniform
Some of those old one are 👌
I do collect maps ... lived long enough to recognise changes
I've saved everyone from every park visit. So, at this point, I have dozens of them.
One thing I started doing and wish I had done from the beginning is use the passport stamp in the visitor center to stamp the date of my visit to the park. There's usually a small amount of space where the stamp will fit and not block any information or pictures.
I started way too late to do passport stamps lol, which is why I just do Unigrids at this point. I wish I'd done it in time, but oh well 😂
13:22 You dont have to spell out DIN, you can say it as a word, and also. not just printing people can use this info. At least Wurope runs on the DIN A Format. Our most basic format is A4, so a quarter of A2. I would assume the folded format is the same as a letter folded to fit our most common our most basic envelope format DIN C6/5.
So to all Europeans, the Unigrid A3 is probably the same as an A4 piece of paper.
I didnt check this, but at least thats my assumption.
lol you said Helvetica :p
..how about bit on Milo MiKiver State Park..vortex 1 1970
Are there any parks that don't have a unigrid?
Not as far as I know! Every official unit of the National Park Service has one.
There are a number of the NPS sites in Alaska that get combined into a Alaska National Parklands title, Kobuk Valley included. So that National Park is the one without a unigrid.
@@PurpleandGeauxld I was just curious since I want my Yuca House unigrid and the people at Meas Verde looked at me like I was crazy asking about it
Yes - all the national monuments and preserves that are run by the BLM and the USDA National Forest have random brochures (if there even is a brochure). That is actually quite a lot of monuments now.
I have white sands when it’s a Monument, and as a national park
That's such a cool one! That would be neat to have to trace park changes back through time. Same with the ones that were pre-Unigrid.
you're really cranking these videos out all of a sudden, huh?
last august I went to 10 nation parks. I collected 3 things: patches, parks passport stamps,... and brochures
I was surprised by the lack of standardization. Some were printed on glossy almost magazine paper, other's newspaper. I think the trend was less visited parks = better brochures? I dont remember the trend I noticed but the grand canyon was the worse. Straight up newspaper with low image fidelty(you can see the print dots, like pixels)
Haha, yep! I've been trying to get on a weekly schedule lately. It's tough, but I love making these videos so I don't mind. I appreciate you taking the time to watch!
That's an interesting observation about the park brochures. I noticed myself, with the Natchez Trace Pkwy brochure I got last year, that it has a matte finish, rather than the glossy finish on all of my other ones.
Circa 2003, they were all glossy. They would also send them to you for free if you requested through a postcard to each park.
Promo`SM 🙌