Widgets was brought to the table early in the organization's history, even before a name was chosen. Our design director Paul Rustand and freelance collaborator Caleb Ludwick joined Brian May of MayCreate and Josiah Roe of Coptix, along with CreateHere strategists Josh McManus and Helen Johnson to name and develop objectives for the initiative.

These objectives would frame the design challenges of branding and launching CreateHere:

1. create a brand that would inspire, invite and engage participation from local creatives and entrepreneurs

2. help secure foundation funding

3. position for scalable growth.

Since the principals, Josh and Helen, came out of an arts granting organization and their day-one programs included relocation grants for artists, we knew that CreateHere would need to appeal to practicing studio artists. We also knew, however, that the financiers of the programs wanted to see the organization's influence expand to all of "the creative class", including entrepreneurs, techies, doctors, lawyers, and other service-driven self employed and small business owners.

Thankfully, we know of a discipline located squarely at the intersection of Art Boulevard and Commerce Street. By foregrounding design as a strategic platform and the design process as an explicit part of the aesthetic, we were able to position CreateHere for success.

Key initial strategic positioning meant framing the launch of CreateHere as a brand rather than as any particular product, service or program, with a self-referential identity that asked people to "join us" in a grassroots spirit, as a call to action. The act of joining was as important as whatever form it took, as the brand invited input of any and all sort by asking Chattanoogans to think big and talk loud about what they wish our city could be, would offer, and should become.

A concept developed to encourage response: "business cards" were handed out with post-it notes attached, asking one of 4 survey questions... Recipients were asked to answer them and hand them back...

CreateHere's core commitments are to treat creative individuals as economic drivers, tell Chattanooga's story, promote creativity, encourage citizen engagement, and help our city retain creatives and entrepreneurs.

The visual articulation that Widgets created for the logo and identity, then, was straightforward. A clear homage to directional highway exit signs. A hand-drawn quality. Acidic pinks, oranges and yellows highlight the fact that these are not your average highway signs. All with an industrial and manufacturing feel made modern, calling to mind the very city which it intended to serve.

The verbal articulation of the brand was established as simple, straight-talking, and unabashedly optimistic. The brand invited citizens to refuse any retreat into cynicism or passivity. Instead, it invited hope and hard work to achieve a better hometown.

The brand launched with a survey, inviting input and hundreds of Chattanoogans responded. Their priorities shaped the grant request that CreateHere made to area foundations, and funded programs quickly grew from proposals to reality. The launch of the website attracted 10,000 visitors to the website in its first three months.

Scalability was achieved primarily through the naming convention of a VerbNoun combination, in a way that could be repurposed for subbranded programs under the CreateHere umbrella. To date, these include SpringBoard mentored small business classes for entrepreneurs, MakeWork artist grants, and the peripheral TakeRoot tree planting and city beautification project. One year after CreateHere's launch, Widgets was retained to name and brand a citywide internship program and forcibly evolved the model, by naming the program Plugdin, in a way that references and yet revolts against the VerbNoun combinations.

During construction of the new CreateHere space, post-it notes were used to make teaser signage in the windows to hide the renovations...

Logos designed for a variety of initiatives and programs of Create Here: