Debut Hub

Minimalism has long been a dominant trend in logo design. But how do you stand out against the backdrop of sterile, safe corporate aesthetics? One option is to move in the opposite direction — to turn to heritage.

Recently, we had the perfect opportunity to do just that. Our client — Debut Hub — is a children’s educational center in Chicago, consisting of a school (“academy”) and an amateur theater, where students explore acting, directing, and screenwriting, expressing their talents.

The concept of both the academy and the theater is built around  full and free development of a child’s creative potential. The founders believe that every person has a creative spark, that everyone is good at something — whether it’s visual arts, music, theater, cinema, or literature. The key is to discover it and create the right conditions for growth.

Naturally, a place like this couldn’t have a banal or generic logo. The founders were inspired by the aesthetics and vibe of Art Deco (particularly strong in Chicago) and asked us to create a logo in this style.

Many options were explored, but in the end, we chose lettering — composed of unique letterforms with reverse contrast, intricately interwoven to create recognizable Art Deco-inspired shapes (and, in fact, with a subtle touch of Art Nouveau — though we’ll keep that between us).

Since Art Deco is all about relief surfaces and polished metal, the logo works exceptionally well in physical, tactile applications. It feels especially compelling in the real world — whether as an enamel pin or a sticker, it invites you to hold it and examine it closely. We also complemented it with a heraldic shield — a nod to the classic logos of historic universities.

But we know that a logo is only half the story. Brand identity is shaped just as much — if not more — by style and visual language. We believe there is no point in creating “just a logo” (no matter how good it is); what matters is building a brand. And it has to be flexible and scalable — so it can be maintained and developed by regular users, not just designers. In the era of fast content, this is especially important.

So how do you approach this, given that Art Deco is, to put it mildly, not the easiest style to scale? We chose a different path and built the system around three core elements:

Color — a soft lilac (representing theater) and a vibrant acid tone (representing the school).

Outline — not just a stroke, but a layered system. Double, triple — why not? Variations in stroke thickness create a playful, intricate effect that echoes Art Deco’s characteristic use of lines and contours.

Burst — our outlines, through their wild layering, naturally form sharp, angular shapes around the text. Essentially, a “burst speech bubble” — a perfect visual metaphor for a creative spark.

Today, one of the primary (and sometimes the only) carriers of brand identity is social media. That’s why we placed strong emphasis on creating a wide range of templates for posts and reels, with special attention to the interaction between static elements and motion.