USA · NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC · GLOBAL · 2020

EARTH DAY

5OTH ANNIVERSARY

One of the most important projects we have been working on lately is Earth Day 2020. Especially this year, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, a year in which the meaning of “Earth Day” is magnified and expanded to become a philosophical issue.

Today, it is easy to forget that we are in the midst of a climate emergency and that it is in our hands to reboot the world with a different approach in mind. A different notion of progress and growth that takes into account that we humans are not the sole owners of the planet, but just one of the many wonderful species that inhabit it.

For this campaign, we focused on highlighting the extraordinary – yet simple – beauty of all the living forms that surround us. A small tribute to the fellow travelers with whom we share our journey on Earth.

The power of photography

At the heart of the project is the natural beauty of all of Earth’s animals and ecosystems, but it also emphasizes the power of photography to reveal beauty and share knowledge, something that has been inherent in the National Geographic project since its inception in 1888.

The photos used in this project are from Photo Ark, an outstanding project founded by Joel Sartore, who is making a tremendous effort to document species before they disappear and, as he says, “to get people to care while there’s still time”. A match made in heaven.

Colour composition

With such eloquent photography, the challenge for us was to create a balanced system that was subtle enough not to detract from the image, yet clear and strong enough to create a strong identity.

We decided to complement the Earth Day 2020 logo’s palette with white, black and very subtle degradations, using the existing colors in each photograph to create a series of natural patterns.

Patterns

The patterns created resemble small, colorful ecosystems that add a notion of diversity that complements the otherwise close-up approach.

On Air

Given that 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, making 2020 a historic moment, all Nat Geo channels around the globe prepared a very special programming for what they called Earth Week.

If you have the channel, you can see the elements we created for them in action throughout the week.

Off Air

The Earth Day 2020 toolkit created by Flopicco Studio was delivered to the different regional chapters of National Geographic and proved to be very functional and versatile, with many elements to be used in social media, from avatars to cover photos to wallpapers for Instagram stories.