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ARTS
MERCANTILE
Arts Mercantile
Creating a neighborhood destination where independent business, food, and culture meet.
Midtown. Yourtown.
Client
Madrone Ventures
Industry
Retail Real Estate & Placemaking
Services
Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Messaging, Storytelling, Creative Direction
Launch
Coming Soon
Challenge
Madrone Ventures had a vision for Arts Mercantile: a curated marketplace in San Jose’s Midtown where independent retailers, food concepts, makers, and artists could build something together. The brand needed to make that vision compelling to prospective tenants and meaningful to the neighborhood. My challenge was to connect the commercial opportunity with a sense of belonging—to help businesses see their future there and give people a reason to make it part of their everyday lives.
Approach
I built the brand around a clear idea: a marketplace for makers, founders, food, and culture. “Midtown Yourtown” became the rallying cry, expressing local pride and inviting people to help shape the place.
Working directly with Madrone Ventures, I connected brand strategy, visual identity, and storytelling to give the project a distinctive character and a clear invitation. The same thinking informed concepts for the physical experience, exploring how signage, materials, and shared spaces could carry the brand into the neighborhood.
From the business proposition to the creative details, I gave Arts Mercantile a shared story for the people developing it, the businesses considering it, and the community around it.
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