A fledgling St. Louis barbecue brand needed a fresh new visual identity with a nostalgic disposition and a true connection to its Midwestern roots. Founders Greg and Erica named their venture “Fourth City Barbecue,” harkening back to 1900 when St. Louis was the USA’s fourth largest city.

We worked through a brand exercise to identify audience segments, discover their brand voice, and brainstorm ideas. I collected and analyzed the competitive landscape, so they could set themselves apart from the competition. We collaborated on a moodboard of styles, typography, and colors.

Greg had always envisioned the wordmark as a baseball-style hand-lettered script, but wanted the other type to firmly evoke the era of the 1904 World’s Fair (which was, of course, in St. Louis). We workshopped many sign-painter-style scripts until we got exactly the right feel, then I added a fleur de lis — one of the city’s historic symbols — as the i’s tittle and the finishing touch to the main wordmark.

In the logo itself, they wanted to avoid the typical symbols seen in a million logos for BBQ joints — so many flames, forks, and pigs! They did, however, like the idea of making secondary symbols to extend the brand. So I made silhouette icons of the tools Greg uses at his smoker and the two types of wood he cooks with, white oak and hickory.

I had so many great ideas during the ideation process that we ended up with a plethora of logo options they could mix and match, including various seals, brands, icons, and patterns. We used a lot of the elements on the deli paper which every customers gets with their order.

Greg and Erica started out as an Instagram-only offering, then moved into the kitchen at the local Fortune Teller Bar. Fourth City offers delectables such as STL-style ribs, chicken, brisket, pork belly pastrami, vegan options, and sides such as bacon fried rice, Cincinnati chili, and lemon herb pasta salad