Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center Identity by This Is Folly

Chicago Ave. Fire Arts Center (CAFAC) / Branding & Collateral

Catching Fire.

Heat. Spark. Flame. Artists who use fire in their work harness these powerful forces to make equally powerful art. We partnered with our friends at Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center (CAFAC) to forge a new brand and visual culture. The Fire Arts Center is the only education and artist support facility in the Upper Midwest completely devoted to the fine and industrial "fire art" forms such as sculptural welding, blacksmithing, metal casting, jewelry making and glass working. As CAFAC approached their 5th anniversary, the new logo and look is a celebration of what they have become and the people and community that they so proudly serve.

Work & Credits

Our Work: Discovery, visual brand identity, collateral & signage

Photography: Various CAFAC partners, friends and supporters

Client CAFAC

Print Regional Design Awards Winner badge.
Fire artists pouring molten metal at a CAFAC Hot House event.
Red and white CAFAC masthead with weathered logo and flanking “Sparking Creativity” and “Fueling Community” message lockups.
Red heat, spark and flame brand icons.
White with red brand pattern with metalsmith themed tools and messages.
Red with white brand pattern with metalsmith themed tools and messages.
Red brand graphics with messages, including “Inspiring hands, hearts and minds through art forms produced with heat, spark or flame”.
Red rule divider.

Sparking Creativity.

TIF met with the folks at the Fire Arts Center to get immersed in what they do and to fully understand their history, aspirations and how the organization has changed over the first 5 years in response to stakeholders. Accordingly, the new identity is gritty but approachable, like an inspired blacksmith with a grin on their face. The hand-drawn logo typography speaks to the hands-on, DIY, nature of the Fire Arts Center’s programs. To ensure that the visual identity would be flexible and vibrant, we crafted a suite of elements that can be applied to any future communications—from business cards to digital media and wearables.

Red rule divider.
Black and silver welding helmet decorated with “Sparky” and brand spark icon with graphic pattern background.
Red and white CAFAC letterhead, envelope, business cards and matchbook style notebooks on blue metal background.
White Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center tote bag with “Red-Hot — The Fire Arts!” printed graphics.
T-shirts with printed “Red-hot”, “Spark your imagination” and “Light your creative fire” graphics
Metal artist hammering red hot metal on an anvil.
Promotional red and white branded emails shown on electronic tablets.
red rule

Fueling Community.

CAFAC and TIF wanted to bring the brand out on to the street to help bring more vitality to this corner in South Minneapolis. We wanted the signage to be an asset to the community, a compliment to the building and an invitation for everyone to come on in. Window graphics were designed to highlight the programs the Fire Arts Center offers, while the event signage system allows for cost-effective updates for upcoming classes, shows and Hot House events.

red rule
Exterior building concepts, including CAFAC blade sign and flanking class/event posters.
Red vinyl CAFAC logo on glass entrance door and poster advertising classes and events.
Weathered metal background with red “sparking creativity” and “fueling community” emblem.
Illustration of interior workshop space with brand message on red wall.
Red welding helmet with silver painted “Hot Stuff!” graphics in front of red brand pattern.

Early logo concepts.

CAFAC logo design exploration
Dark gray colored dot pattern divider.
Two thumbs up icons.

“Working on our logo with Holly and John was a huge learning experience, not only about ourselves and our brand but about the process. We began with some really creative processes to determine who we were to ourselves, to our customers, to all of our stakeholders. They were so patient with us as we went back to the drawing board to get it perfectly right. And then they kept going – giving us all the tools we needed to use our logo perfectly and giving us ideas we never even thought of. Working with This is Folly was fantastic and we love our logo.”

— Susan Haugen, CAFAC President

“I truly enjoyed the experience of dialing in our perception of not only our initial mission, but who we have become as an organization. It was illuminating to see how each element in the logo design reflected the aspects we felt were important. The visceral reaction to the logo is dead on for everyone we've shared it with. It is thoughtful, well-crafted work.”

— Heather Doyle, CAFAC Artistic Director

Dark gray colored dot pattern divider.
 

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