CLIENT: Abyssinia Event Center and Abyssinia Cultural Center | Brand Messaging and Visual Identity
Abyssinia Cultural Center
Mission: The Abyssinia Cultural Center is a locally-owned, small business and cultural incubator that provides welcoming, tangible space and resources for emerging entrepreneurs from minority populations who want to share their expertise and grow economically together.
Vision: Its vision is to be a hub of locally-owned businesses that drives a revitalized economic and cultural corridor on Lake Street that includes music, arts, restaurants and enterprises dedicated to long-term success and growth within the community.
Abyssinia Event Center
Mission: The Abyssinia Event Center is an elegant, bright, spacious, state-of-the-art event space housed on the top floor of the Abyssinia Cultural Center that aims to make guests feel welcome and at home. It celebrates and strengthens the rich diversity of the Lake Street Corridor and helps build its long-term economic success.
Vision: Its vision is to be a prized and welcoming venue for social and business gatherings, that helps develop a blooming cultural and economic corridor on Lake Street, and is dedicated to long-term success within the community.
Many parts of the Lake Street community were destroyed during the uprising and Covid. That void is represented by the empty space in the “A” letter in the Abyssinia wordmark.
Abyssinia is rising after that destruction to rebuild and revitalize the area. The icon represented a person reaching out, or a bird taking flight, or a seedling starting to grow and bloom
The Abyssinia Cultural Center icon merges those two graphics into a unified symbol for overcoming loss through self-directed community revitalization
The Event Center is part of the Cultural Center, and also a place for people to come together and celebrate. The icon is therefore made from the lines and shapes used in the Cultural Center icon. It expands into a shape that represents people gathered together around a table in celebration and represents a blooming flower (as the Lake Street corridor blooms with Abyssinia)
Iconography
Many parts of the Lake Street community were destroyed during the George Floyd uprising and Covid. That void is represented by the empty space in the “A” letter in the Abyssinia wordmark.
The Abyssinia Cultural Center is rising after that destruction to rebuild and revitalize the area. The icon represented a person reaching out, or a bird taking flight, or a seedling starting to grow and bloom.
The Abyssinia Cultural Center icon merges those two graphics into a unified symbol for overcoming loss through self-directed community revitalization.
The Abyssinia Event Center is located within the Cultural Center, and is a place for people to come together and celebrate.
The icon is therefore made from the lines and shapes used in the Cultural Center icon. They repeat and expand into a shape that represents people gathered together around a table in celebration and represents a blooming flower, as the Lake Street corridor blooms with Abyssinia.
