Home Depot In-Store Signage Refresh
Creative Direction
Overview
As Home Depot continued evolving into a more technology-forward retail environment, we led a multi-year initiative to modernize in-store signage—making it faster to read, easier to scale, and more aligned with how customers actually engage in-store.
As Home Depot continued evolving into a more technology-forward retail environment, we led a multi-year initiative to modernize in-store signage—making it faster to read, easier to scale, and more aligned with how customers actually engage in-store.
Challenge
Customer data revealed an increasingly narrow window of attention at shelf. Existing signage systems were overbuilt for that reality—overly instructional, visually dense, and inconsistent in hierarchy. At the same time, we needed to anticipate a future where digital and physical signage systems would converge, without overhauling established brand standards.
Customer data revealed an increasingly narrow window of attention at shelf. Existing signage systems were overbuilt for that reality—overly instructional, visually dense, and inconsistent in hierarchy. At the same time, we needed to anticipate a future where digital and physical signage systems would converge, without overhauling established brand standards.
Approach
As a three-person leadership team (Creative Director, Associate Creative Director, Senior Art Director), we rethought signage through a digital-first lens. We stripped back unnecessary complexity and prioritized clarity, speed, and modularity—focusing on:
As a three-person leadership team (Creative Director, Associate Creative Director, Senior Art Director), we rethought signage through a digital-first lens. We stripped back unnecessary complexity and prioritized clarity, speed, and modularity—focusing on:
• Stronger messaging hierarchy
• Reduced instructional content in favor of quick comprehension
• More intentional use of white space
• A simplified, more disciplined color system
• We introduced a responsive, system-driven design approach inspired by digital frameworks, adapted for physical retail.
• We introduced a responsive, system-driven design approach inspired by digital frameworks, adapted for physical retail.
Execution
We developed a flexible layout system that could scale seamlessly across multiple POP formats, enabling rapid iteration in a high-volume, fast-paced retail environment. The system balanced consistency with adaptability, empowering the broader creative team to produce work more efficiently while maintaining visual integrity.
Outcome
Over two years, Project Mercury transformed how in-store messaging was created and deployed—grounded in customer data and real-world retail behavior. The result was a more agile, scalable signage system that improved clarity at shelf and significantly increased creative team efficiency under demanding production timelines.
Our best case scenario layout showcasing Project Mercury
Responsive design, usually utilized in phones and tablets, deployed into a print environment
Reducing and reframing color use puts the focus on important messaging in a very cluttered retail environment
We made a specific choice to deploy the color orange in the store almost always as a navigation tool. Orange is the brand color but it's also the color that represents direct customer assistance. If you see the color orange in a Home Depot store, it is almost always directing you to where you need to go., both on and offline.
