Prince George’s County Civil Rights Trail

Connecting Stories Online and Offline

Client: The Civil Rights Trail in Prince George’s County, MD

• Brand identity
• Physical trail marker design
• Website design & WordPress development
• Interactive map with GPS wayfinding
• Physical trail brochure

Results: A unified brand system connecting a website with physical historic markers installed at 10 locations across Prince George’s County.

The Challenge: Making History Today

Prince George’s County is home to the most affluent Afircan-American county in the United States and has a rich but under recognized history of Civil Rights activism that directly shaped the movement in the neighboring nation’s capital and our country.

The challenge was to accurately tell these stories while making them feel present and relevant to a modern audience encountering them at a physical historic trail. Our work connected the archival record to present stories.

Our Approach

Discovery & Strategy

openbox9 grounded the brand strategy in a powerful visual anchor: the handwritten picket signs iconic to the Civil Rights movement. This artifact of protest history was identified as the emotional and visual core to carry the identity forward— rooting the brand authentically in the movement’s own visual language.

Design & Installation

openbox9 developed a custom logo and display typeface drawn directly from the lettering of historic picket signs, paired with a color palette recalling the Prince George’s County seal and pattern work influenced by Black and African cultural traditions. That identity was extended into physical trail signage installed at historic sites across the county. Openbox9 coordinated with the sign fabricator and installation vendor to ensure concepts were successfully brought to life. The design system was also applied to the companion website featuring an interactive map and wayfinding tool, and print collateral including a rack card displayed at the county’s visitor center.

User Experience & Content Strategy: Connecting the Digital and the Physical

Since the Trail exists as both physical landmarks and a digital footprint, openbox9 designed the signs and website to function as a connected experience. Each physical sign incorporates a QR code linking directly to its corresponding webpage, where visitors can access extended histories and additional photographic content beyond what a sign can hold. The website was structured around an interactive map with GPS-based wayfinding, letting visitors find, preview, and route to the next trail location.

Deliverables

• Logo and custom display typeface based on historic picket-sign lettering
• Brand color palette and cultural pattern system
• Physical trail signage, installed at multiple historic sites
• WordPress website with interactive map and GPS wayfinding
• QR code integration linking physical signs to corresponding webpages
• Brochure rack card

Results Over Time

The Trail now exists as a single connected system rather than disconnected historic markers: a visitor can encounter a sign, scan a QR code, and immediately access deeper historical context, then use the interactive map to plan their next stop. Signage has been installed across the historic sites in Prince George’s County, with the brand identity carrying consistently from physical markers through the digital experience. With a system designed, future sites can be added and our shared history of resistance expanded.