Make Space Studio
Make Space is a non-profit seeking to transform the city of Baltimore by nurturing its creative entrepreneurs and establishing sustainable maker communities. By converting vacant property to collectively owned live-work space for creative business owners, Make Space works towards both cultivating equity and independence for creatives, as well as combatting the vacant housing crisis in Baltimore City. Through mentorships, workshops, and training programs in professional development and homeownership, Make Space helps creative entrepreneurs build community and ownership.
THE PROJECT
Brand identity, website, program materials, marketing collateral, layout,
Over the last several years, Make Space Studio has been developing a 5-block area of once-abandoned townhouses in Mount Clare. Among the many efforts to reclaim the surplus of vacant housing in Baltimore City, Make Space is uniquely positioned as specifically geared towards cultivating community around artists and creative professionals. Their primary initiative is building a collectively owned entity, which includes housing, green space, and retail space, led and occupied by creative entrepreneurs.
The brand needed to support a multifaceted but integrated series of projects and programming with an adaptive visual system. The visual identity needed a contemporary, artistic edge to appeal to the creative community, but feel approachable and hint at the familiar.
Warmth and a homey feel were crucial to the tone of the overall initiative. Make Space needed to differentiate itself from the conventions of for-profit real estate branding and messaging and solidify itself as a people-first organization. Our challenge was to create a brand system that was artful and current, but with a grounded, historically-informed undertone that could pivot between art-focused events and content, and fundraising needs.
Though the Make Space projects take place in a very urban setting, the messaging around redevelopment is about returning to a sense of place and connection to the land through uplifting community and building for collective, human-scale growth.
The founder was looking for strong but elegant visuals that would resonate with artists, pay tribute the Baltimore’s richness and historical depth, and evoke the earth.
The brand elements recall the interplay of natural and built environments, with custom typography that feels architectural but natural, and a warm color palette reminiscent of clay, brick, sand, and stone.
The logotype is hand-drawn, lightly textured, and intended to be modular, often split up within an individual asset to act like bricks or framing.
After we launched the updated brand, I adapted the logotype into a display typeface, giving us an enhanced ability to customize. Make Space Display is an all-caps font that takes after the geometric sans-serifs of the 1920’s and 1930’s (a time when Baltimore arts and culture was rapidly expanding). The letters are stout and architectural but with organic imperfections and funky proportions.
