Stony Island
Arts Bank
A fun challenge that I was given was to take a building from around the Chicago land area and create something, anything, that reflected both the architecture of the building and what the space was used for. The building that I decided upon was the Stony Island Arts Bank on 6760 S Stony Island Ave, in Chicago. Originally the Stony Island Trust and Savings Bank, it was built in 1923 in the Classical Revival Style. Throughout its lifetime, the building housed several different banks, until the last one closed in the 1980’s. In 2012, Theaster Gates bought the building for $1 and transformed it into the Stony Island Arts Bank, a space that enables everyone access to art and also a place to celebrate black culture. For my project I decided to
make a fake bank identity. That way I could tie in the history of the building, while providing an interesting way to advertise for the cultural center. Starting with the logo mark, I decided to use a combination of the letters S and I that mimicked a dollar sign. Additionally, I stylized the I to look like one of the pillars at the front of the building so the dollar sign would not be extremely apparent. I decided to use a golden yellow to symbolize the rich experience you would receive by going to the cultural center. After I created the logo mark, I built out the rest of my advertising program. The purpose of my bank identity system was twofold. First I wanted to trick people into reading the advertisement instead of just throwing it away. I thought by disguising the advertisement in what seemed like a bank mailing, people would at least open the advertisement to ensure that there was no sensitive information inside. Secondly, by going to the cultural center, you are making an investment of sorts in the community the center supports and your own cultural understanding. Thus I created a cultural credit card mailing set complete with credit card, envelope, terms and conditions, letterhead, and a business card.
