Paint Rock Forest Research Center has rolled out a fresh brand identity designed in collaboration with Jacksonville State University’s Department of Art + Design, giving the North Alabama nonprofit a visual look that reflects the varied landscapes and deep history of the Paint Rock Valley.
The new logo and branding, created by Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Patrice Anderson, now appears across the center’s website at paintrock.org. Communications Director Kelsey Barnett-Fischels built the updated site to carry the identity through.
Barnett-Fischels said the center sought a design that captured the area’s distinctive features.
“We wanted a logo that captured the unique and varied landscapes of Paint Rock—our vital river and streams, our caves and karst, our plateaus and the layers of forests in-between,” she said. “That, plus we wanted a sense of the deep time that has greatly shaped this place and influences the biodiversity we now have. We were blown away with the three branding options Patrice presented and had the hardest time choosing just one to go forward with. We truly appreciate her time, thoughtfulness, and talent on this project.”
Anderson, who has taught at Jax State for several years, described the project as some of her strongest work. She credited input from founding Executive Director Bill Finch, conservation photographer Beth Maynor Finch, her students and the place itself.
“If I didn’t feel such a connection to PRRC, I don’t think the work would have been as easy to express,” Anderson said.
Students in her ART 434 Graphic Design Workshop produced earlier concepts that helped shape the final identity. The collaboration builds on an existing relationship between the department and the research center that has included joint art exhibitions and fieldwork exploring the intersection of science, art and conservation.
Located on The Nature Conservancy’s Sharp Bingham Preserve in Jackson County, the Paint Rock Research Center operates one of the largest and most diverse long-term forest dynamics research plots in North America. Researchers from universities across Alabama and beyond study forests, aquatic systems, caves, soils and other ecosystems in a landscape recognized for its unusually high biodiversity. The valley escaped the full impact of past ice ages and serves as a refuge that has helped repopulate much of eastern North America as climates shifted.
The rebrand arrives as the center continues expanding outreach that weaves science with the arts and humanities. Officials say the partnership with Jax State will support additional educational opportunities, including a planned Artist-in-Residence program set for 2027.
The center’s work focuses on understanding how forests and related systems respond to change, training the next generation of scientists and supporting conservation across a broader region of the southern Appalachians and Cumberland Plateau.
Zachary Austin is a writer for 256 Today. You can contact him at [email protected].
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