Mandy Mohler, a Montana artist, is the creative force behind Field Guide Designs. She hand-illustrates every "landmark bandana" herself, starting with a sprawling list of the plants and animals native to a place, then curating it down — weighing shape, color, symbolism, and even a species' cultural hype — until only the most compelling contenders remain. Those species are rendered as whimsically stylized portraits, arranged into a pleasing mandala: an abstract, symbolic take on the icons of that landscape.

Mandy is drawn to the quiet beauty of untouched nature — the particular curve of a leaf, the markings on a bird, the way a species is built for exactly the place it lives. Before a single line is drawn, she spends hours studying reference images, learning how each plant and animal actually works, so that what ends up on the bandana is equal parts art and field guide.