A voice of the people by the people
Founded as a student paper at the University of Chicago in 1995, the South Side Weekly is an alternative publication by and for Chicago’s South Side. The Hyde Park Herald was founded in 1882. It has a similar mission as the South Side Weekly with a focus on local business, politics, real estate and housing, and the University of Chicago. The South Side Weekly and Hyde Park Herald merged to form a new nonprofit organization. Substance was tasked to develop a new name and brand that recognizes the history and mission of the constitutent organizations.
Brand Vision
Community is the common denominator for the respective brands so it was important to include that in the new name. With an online, print, and radio media presence, it was also critical to have a name that was media agnostic and not limiting. Substance came up with the name South Side Community Media to reflect the origins of the brand. The typography plays off the visual language of street signs and stencils, a far cry from the more corporate media brand entities. Independent and alternative are the strategic underpinnings of the brand.
The symbol is a reference to quotation marks used in news stories and articles. This suggests dialogue and participation, a cornerstone of the South Side Community Media brand.
