What’s Up?

While some throwbacks involve funky haircuts, dads in mom jeans, and Aunt Harriet’s wild collection of glass penguins, we wanted to share a throwback that involves something we really really love: chili

Like Sails on a Wagon

In the 1860s, people put sails on wagons. While others stood by and laughed at the seemingly strange invention, those wagon sailors flew by with their coattails billowing in the wind. Even though that idea didn’t stick, it’s the story that we like. It’s the fact that a group of people got together to try something that they thought would change the world forever. We get excited by ideas like these, which is initially what drew us to The Wagonmasters.

The Wagonmasters are a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders in the Wichita area dedicated to making a difference in the lives of Wichitans by providing and supporting a variety of local programs. When Wagonmasters came to us about their chili cookoff logo, we knew we had to create something memorable and meaningful that would reflect their philosophy.

We got super excited about this challenge. Who doesn’t love chili? And that, paired with the fact that the Wagonmasters help the community, made working with this client sort of a win-win. The Wagonmasters are vibrant and lively, and we wanted to create a logo that was just as exciting as they are.

So we hit the drawing board. We knew we needed a logo that would be flexible enough to be used on signs, in print, and on the web, and our first round of logo sketches tried to reflect that goal:

Our first logo featured carrots being placed into hats, smiling chili bowls with spoons and forks, and cowboy-attire-wearing beans and bowls. Although our finished logo was different from the ones we created in our sketches, we needed those initial sketches. Because of the Wagonmaster’s story, we knew the logo had to show movement— after all, the Wagonmasters are all about moving and shaking. We settled on this final logo because it represented the pioneering attitude of the Wagonmasters and the fun-loving nature of the chili cookoff.