Uptown, Charlotte

Uptown Brand

COVID-19 devastated the Uptown area of Charlotte - a vibrant area of bustling office-workers and restaurants became a ghost-town over night. In an effort to reignite life and welcome people back, we created a brand for the beloved city center that would not only support a sense of strength and resiliency during recovery, but would also last long after the pandemic. With a vibrant color palette, bright photography, and conversational and optimistic copy, a brand that is both welcoming to tourists and familiar to residents was brought to life.

Logo design by Wray Ward.

The Uptown brand was rolled out right when the world started opening up again, so being welcoming, familiar, and optimistic was pivotal. We gave out “Show Up for Uptown” stickers for local businesses to hand out and used #UpliftUptown on all of our social channels.

The Uptown brand was rolled out right when the world started opening up again, so being welcoming, familiar, and optimistic was pivotal. We gave out “Show Up for Uptown” stickers for local businesses to hand out and used #UpliftUptown on all of our social channels.

A wayfinding campaign was implemented to help visitors find the great spots around Uptown that locals know and love. The posters added life and color to the bus kiosks, which were largely unused, and pointed towards things that weren’t usually mentioned in visitor maps.

A wayfinding campaign was implemented to help visitors find the great spots around Uptown that locals know and love. The posters added life and color to the bus kiosks, which were largely unused, and pointed towards things that weren’t usually mentioned in visitor maps.

Charlotte is unique in that it has an ‘UPtown’, not a ‘DOWNtown’, so we used that opportunity to have fun with the language with phrases like “Show UP for Uptown”, “Shake it UP”, and “UPlift Uptown”.

Charlotte is unique in that it has an ‘UPtown’, not a ‘DOWNtown’, so we used that opportunity to have fun with the language with phrases like “Show UP for Uptown”, “Shake it UP”, and “UPlift Uptown”.

A custom-wrapped info cart Uptown is manned during the day by Center City Ambassadors to welcome visitors, answer questions about the area, and also be a resource for those in need of assistance Uptown.

A custom-wrapped info cart Uptown is manned during the day by Center City Ambassadors to welcome visitors, answer questions about the area, and also be a resource for those in need of assistance Uptown.

Victoria Yards

Victoria Yards is a brewery pop-up inside the heart of Uptown. It’s a post-work pit stop to hang out with co-workers, catch up with friends, and enjoy the atmosphere of an urban center city. The brand needed to live under the umbrella of the Uptown aesthetic, but it also needed its own personality. Inspired by the street art laden shipping containers on-site, I crafted a sub-brand that was casual, friendly, and edgy - with splotches of paint dripping every which way and copy that screams, “THIS PLACE IS RAD”. This is Uptown’s wild younger brother who probably shouldn’t be invited to nice parties.