Being full-on fans of everything mid-century, we were thrilled when The Charlotte Museum of History asked us to develop a permanent brand identity system for its annual mid-century modern home tour—Mad About Modern (MAM). The mission of the tour is to celebrate and foster an appreciation of mid-century + modern architecture, design, and lifestyle as part of its mission to preserve Charlotte’s historic built environment. The challenge was to capture the essence of the Modernism movement of the 1950s and ‘60s, while building an identity system relevant to audiences of all ages—plus add a twist of now. Using the backdrop of featured architectural wonders of the previous century, we were all about the celebration of design.

Using iconic typography, flat illustrations and icons, and period patterns as backgrounds, we set out to create an identity system that would be as timeless as the beautiful architecture being featured. A maker’s mark and typographical lock-up were initially created to energize the development of collateral pieces, then signage, wayfinding and map routes, posters, promotional items, T-shirts, and a social media campaign were created. And, perhaps most importantly, a website design that functioned as a day-of-event mobile experience. We also created a complementary look for the ancillary events to the tour—such as the Modernism, Why it Matters event.

• MAM 2017 was a huge success, with tickets selling out before the tour even began
• Tour won Charlotte’s best of the best award

As important, the event set a new standard for how to do mid-century modern in a scalable, deliverable package. Don Draper would have been proud.