GreenInfo Network

Monterey Pine Forest Watch (MPFW) was a local California group focused on the last remaining pine forests of the Monterey Peninsula on the Central California coast.  The group had worked with consultants on a landscape assessment of their area, but they maps produced were difficult to read, and lacked a clear message. 

When they asked GreenInfo for help, we started with the question, “what’s your one-liner?”  After a number of map studies and discussion, it came down to this:  there are only a few remaining pine forests in the area, and there are three immediate opportunities to protect them.

The resulting map that GreenInfo prepared used soft colors to drop lots of other information into the map but place it in the background, with color-keyed circles to draw attention to opportunities, one of which was given special emphasis, as it became a short term focus.  GreenInfo's Louis Jaffe worked extensively on the map design and on defining the careful color and cartography used in the map.

This base map was then used to support brochures and other products, where titling and ancillary text could be added., work done by designer Karen Parry of BlackGraphics.  The same map styling was applied to other areas nearby, giving all the products an organizational look.

While MPFW no longer exists, its core members helped publish a handsome book on the Monterey Pine Forests in 2011, which also used the original maps developed by GreenInfo.  You can learn more about this book here.