A row of colorful KU Design student prints about Rocky Mountain National Park—featuring illustrations of wildlife, trees, rivers, and camping themes—hang clipped to a rope between stone posts, set against a forested outdoor landscape during the Design Outside program.

Design Outside

Studio Website

The Design Outside Studio is a teaching and research project led by Jeremy Shellhorn bringing design students out of the classroom and into nature. The studio challenges students to design, think and make in new ways. Students in the Design Outside Studio collaborate with government agencies, community organizations, and others on real-world design projects that promote and enhance visitor experiences in parks and public lands.  

Past projects

Creating new signage for Alpine Ridge Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park 

Creating an open-source typeface inspired by the iconic, wooden wayfinding signs of the Park Service 

Designing and testing Leave No Trace signage using research-based visual communication and outdoor recreation messaging principles 

See More DO Projects

Small KU Design camper trailer parked at a mountain campsite in Rocky Mountain National Park, with tents, camp chairs, and a picnic table set among pine trees and rocky terrain, and forested peaks silhouetted against a soft evening sky.
Group of KU Design students hike along a narrow dirt trail through a grassy meadow filled with wildflowers, led by an instructor in a wide-brim hat, with dense pine forest and Rocky Mountain peaks under a bright blue sky in the background.
Group of KU Design students and instructors stand behind two tables outdoors at Rocky Mountain National Park, displaying illustrated prints, postcards, and small rocks on patterned cloths in front of a rustic cabin and pine forest backdrop.
Large tent set up at a Rocky Mountain National Park campsite beneath a wide blue sky with scattered clouds, surrounded by rocks and alpine grasses, with forested mountains in the background and a small KU flag tied to a wooden post in the foreground.