Promises Bar + Venue
Promises is a bar located in Walker’s Point that mixes punk rock, modern art decor and the classic divey sports bar aesthetic for a unique bargoing experience. Promises is also a venue which showcases national and local performing artists from hip hop to punk rock to club music.
inspiration + influences
promises was a unique branding opportunity because what it set out to mix aesthetically was punk rock, nail salons, Wisconsin supper clubs, and sports bars. i pulled things for inspiration like Patrick nagel’s nail salon signage, the new york dolls’ debut album cover, the brewer’s logo and assorted supper club and strip club signage.
the creation of the logo
i started with a typeface “Galaxie” which had both the nail salon look and the tube of lipstick feel from the new york dolls’ album cover. from there i fashioned a tail coming off of the “s” which the brewers logo (as well as the logos of many other sports teams) have. bouncing off of the nail salon concept, i started to think of hands; how you can signal something to do with “promises” a few different ways with the hand or fingers. two hands in a pinky “promise,” one hand with two fingers up is “scout’s honor” or a negation of a promise by promising something while crossing your fingers. this excited both me and the client because the logo symbol negates the word itself. I couldn’t think of a lot of instances where the logo was telling you that essentially the word or the name of the business doesn’t matter. this felt dangerous and punk. the logo is essentially saying “promises mean nothing at this bar.”
the lookbook + concept
I created a look book with variations of the logo but with each variation I put them on a photo of a famous person wearing a plain white t-shirt, making it easy for me to photoshop the logo on the photograph. this may seem ridiculous but i did this for two reasons. 1. promises was a music venue where a lot of musicians would most likely hang out 2. i knew that eventually they would be making t-shirts to promote the business. for me, the ultimate question was: would someone cool wear this t-shirt or better yet…did the logo look cool on a t-shirt that was worn by a cool person. for the example on the left, i used bruce springsteen, james dean, marlon brando and charles bronson for these options.
this celebrity-wearing-the-logo concept would come back later in some of the bar’s decor.
the bar
the bar invited local artists and muralists to add to it’s power clash decor. in the wide photo you can see the logo painted on the ceiling above the bar’s televisions. the large prints on the wall in the venue room are of famous musicians and athletes wearing promises t-shirts. featured on this “wall of fame” are jerry garcia, kate bush, Giannis Antetokounmpo and local musician Matt pappas. of course these are fake photos but this meta tongue-in-cheekiness adds to the bar’s punk brand while also embracing it’s sports bar dynamic.
promises opened in july of 2022.