World Business Chicago hosted a public 12 week long pop-up experience (that was extended further into 2023 than just 12 weeks!), leveraging a presently vacant storefront in the John Hancock Center and allowing food-industry focused businesses, based in Chicago, the opportunity to take up temporary tenancy in downtown Chicago and along a high traffic commercial corridor. The pop-up highlighted the impact Chicago has made to the food industry, why Chicago is a good place to build business and the diversity and innovation that is found within Chicago’s business community.

In partnership with WBC, Agency EA lead the creative strategy to develop the theme, identity, recommended attendee journey, and designed the experience within the space. The pop-up focused on the following:

• Tell the story of Chicago’s legacy as a center for food production and distribution.

• Showcase Chicago companies leading the food industry into the future.

• Create connection points for partner brands to tell their story, educate and receive real-time feedback on new products.

The approved visual identity was created by Agency EA’s sister division, Storyhorse. Sticking a fork into the Chicago bean highlights the conceptual direction of the bean as a food item representing the food scene in Chicago as a whole. The Hancock building behind serves as a visual device to highlight where the experience is located.

In this project, my main focus was to take the identity provided and expand on it more as we developed what assets we would need within the space. The building blocks were set and I created designs for the outside windows, inside banners and directional, and any design used on signage within the space.