Montana Stake

Project / music identity and web experience

First Known Use

An identity and web experience for a Burlington, Vermont music project creating work that feels both familiar and experimental. The public site is currently a minimal WIP landing page; this case study documents the broader identity and archive system being developed around it.

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Live preview of the current First Known Use WIP.

First Known Use is being developed as a living music archive: releases, lyrics, images, videos, contact, and a playful digital world. The deployed fragment is intentionally smaller than the planned system; this entry keeps that distinction visible while the project grows.

Case study

A band site built to feel like an artifact.

The brief called for something between a photocopied poster, a music archive, and a small digital world. The result treats releases, lyrics, photographs, and contact information as parts of one living identity rather than separate content silos.

Contribution
Design direction, development, and technical architecture
Built with
Astro, TypeScript, TinaCMS, and Cloudflare
Current WIP
Current public state: minimal WIP landing page; broader archive in development
Visual language
Monochrome imagery, fluorescent orange, oversized type, GIFs, doodles, and marquee motion
Editorial need
A band-friendly editing workflow without flattening the visual language

How it came together

The identity leads; the system stays out of the way.

  1. Translate the reference

    A photocopied, fluorescent-poster direction became a vocabulary for the site: monochrome imagery, orange spot color, oversized type, doodles, and timetable-like structures instead of a rigid component library.

  2. Make the archive usable

    Releases connect to tracks, lyrics, listening links, and visual material while remaining authored by the people who make the music.

  3. Leave room for play

    Marquees, hover treatments, scattered GIFs, retro controls, alternate themes, and small easter eggs make the WIP feel discovered rather than simply browsed, while the essential content remains available without depending on JavaScript.