Stage 1 · design exploration
Each direction has its own logo, type, palette and a working Explore screen using the same fictional listings. Nothing here changes the live site.
Concept A
A contemporary take on the village noticeboard: warm paper surfaces, pinned cards and a friendly serif. It says 'this belongs to us' without nostalgia or craft-fair clichés.
Fraunces (variable serif) + Atkinson Hyperlegible
Concept B
A calm, efficient everyday tool. One typeface, a cool teal and generous structure put listings first — closer to a good public-service app than enterprise software.
Public Sans (600–700) + Public Sans (400–500)
Concept C
Confident and people-powered: chunky type, bold outlines and a bright, sunny palette. It celebrates what people can do, while keeping navigation plain and predictable.
Bricolage Grotesque (700–800) + Figtree
Concept A, Noticeboard fits the ethos best: it feels local and trustworthy, uses a font built for readability, and makes listings without photos look intentional. It's also the simplest to rebuild in a Drupal theme. If you want something more neutral for towns and cities, B is the safe choice. C is the most memorable, but it's the hardest to keep calm in busy screens like lists and messages.
Mixing is possible too, for example A's identity with B's denser list view.