UPTOWN — Uptown has a new look.
Earlier this week, Uptown business groups unveiled new "dynamic" branding for the neighborhood, including a custom font and color palette that will be used on banners and in brochures promoting the North Side neighborhood.
The new branding was one of three priorities set by Uptown United and Business Partners, the Chamber for Uptown, back in 2016, said Martin Sorge, Uptown United executive director. The image of the neighborhood "no longer fit its unique vibrant, diverse community," leaders wrote in a press release about the new branding.
"We wanted to think a little more holistically about [the vision] ... It can't just look good, it's got to be real," Sorge said at a monthly networking mixer at Fat Cat, 4840 N. Broadway, where the branding was unveiled for the first time to neighbors.
Uptown's chamber of commerce enlisted design firm Firebelly, which has worked with Divvy, Dollop Coffee & Tea, Chicago Market, Halfwit Coffee Roasters and Vocalo. The firm "understood and appreciated Uptown," leaders wrote in a press release about the new branding.
[Uptown United]
To ensure the new branding felt "real," Uptown leaders sought input from a 12-person volunteer committee and more than 500 residents who completed online surveys or were interviewed on Uptown streets, Sorge said.
"We can use it in a lot of different ways. Build people's pride [in their neighborhood] and entice people from across the city," he said.
The branding's new color palette, which includes eight hues, reflects the "vibrant and diverse community."
Those colors will be scattered across Uptown, as each "sub-neighborhood" — Buena Park, Sheridan Park Uptown Square and Argyle Street — has its own customized colors.
The chamber will be selling advertisements on the banners to local businesses.
Take a look at some of the promotional images below:
[Images courtesy of Uptown United]
