826 Montpelier: In Plain Sight
826 is a nonprofit tutoring organization with several locations that aims to promote children’s education while selling uniquely themed products and merchandise.
In Plain Sight is a conceptual store that allowed me to dive head-first into branding and identity design. I created a storefront, series of products, and social media pages for the city of Montpelier, Vermont that follows the 826 tutoring and retail store values.
Citizens of Montpelier, Vermont that love all things unique.
After choosing the city of Montpelier, I worked closely with Madeline Beattie as we conducted in-depth research of the city’s values and essence. We dove into the culture and values of Vermont as a whole, then compared our findings to the city of Montpelier. We learned that Montpelier has predominantly white collar workers, but also is extremely rich in diverse cuisine, culture, and geography. To highlight our findings, we created a detailed presentation about the city and shared it with our peers.
Since Montpelier is hidden naturally by mountains and the Winooski River, I began creating concepts centered around hidden values. This natural phenomenon is also how the store got its name, “In Plain Sight.” I decided on a hide and seek theme to emphasize the hidden uniqueness that Montpelier has to offer.I then created a visual moodboard to depict the playful and mischievous childhood game of hide and seek. My first visual direction helped me create initial iterations of potential products that felt bold and mysterious.
Through several explorations, I looked to vintage toy advertisements as inspiration. This led me to a more bold and primary color palette with simplified iconography. These design choices allowed my store to feel more friendly and welcoming towards all audiences, especially children.
I also experimented with simple, bold, sans serif typefaces that felt more friendly and playful. Additionally, the In Plain Sight wordmark uses a custom typeface I created to enhance the subtle angular design of its original. These subtly unique changes emphasize the idea of looking through the cracks to see something beautiful.
My final identity consists of an interactive, hide and seek-themed store with unique products that emulate mischief, nostalgia, and hidden gems. Montpelier’s culture embodies a sense of duality, from white collar jobs to wildly diverse arts and culture.The chosen colors, patterns, typography, and language are derived from the natural foliage and level of cultural uniqueness the Montpelier experience has to offer.