Vermont's first tourism brand hides a winding road, mountains and moon in its wordmark

Create the state's first dedicated tourism brand, 'State of Inspiration', to raise visibility at home and abroad and drive global tourism.

Move beyond the nostalgic postcard: letters of the hand-lettered 'Vermont' wordmark become a road, mountains and the moon over local peaks.

In the wordmark, the 'e' is a winding road, the 'm' bears local mountain outlines and the 'o' is the moon over Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield. Artist Alyssa McCabe drew icons from Vermont writers' typographic ornaments, plus cows, barns and pies, with cinematic film.

No results were reported at launch. The Creative Review story, dated 30 July 2026, covers the brand's launch and the stated aim of closing the gap between how many people find Vermont charming and how many book.

Vermont Tourism partnered with place-branding agency DNCO to create the state's first dedicated tourism brand under the tagline 'State of Inspiration'. DNCO managing director Luis Mendoza cited research that 79% of people say Vermont is charming but only 15% are booking, so the aim was to move beyond the nostalgic postcard and show that Vermont has the highest concentration of artists and writers in the country, a growing culture of innovation and early farm-to-table roots.

The hand-lettered 'Vermont' wordmark nods to the state's hand-painted signage. Its 'e' takes the shape of a winding road, the 'm' the outline of nearby mountains, and the 'o' the moon locals watch rise over peaks like Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield. Local artist Alyssa McCabe made a custom icon library referencing typographic ornaments from books by Vermont writers, folklore such as the Lake Champlain monster Champ, and drawings of cows, birds, barns, leaves and pies.

Warm, cinematic video and photography and a confident, cheeky tone of voice run through the identity: a man ice skating carries the line 'Our rinks are all natural' and a woman carrying fresh food 'Farm to table. We just call it dinner.' Commissioner Heather Pelham said the brand feels true to Vermonters while giving a clearer story to share.

The brief started from a measurable gap, charm versus bookings, instead of from a logo.

Hiding real geography in the letters made the wordmark say something specific to Vermont.

Cheeky lines about natural rinks and farm to table turned cliches into proof of local pride.

A place brand works harder when its research gap, here charm without bookings, becomes a brief to show the surprising layers behind the postcard.

Creative Review's July 2026 story is the only source and records no bookings or awareness results.