Cade Museum
In 2016, the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention had most of its pre-opening ducks in a row.
A gorgeous Fibonacci-inspired building under construction. Plans for exhibits to spill out locally and eventually nationwide. Classes already running in a temporary space.
What they didn’t have: A brand foundation that matched their vision and environment. And they didn’t have sufficient capital for year one. It all hung on a $20M fundraising campaign.
They came to us for marketing campaigns. We saw something else entirely: a world-class institution trying to tell its story through a brand identity that spoke down to kids and fell flat with grown-ups.
Scope
Brand Strategy
Visual Identity
Copywriting
Illustration
Environment
Exhibit
Signage
Print Collateral
Contributors
Strategy & Writing:
Larry Werner
Design: Benji Haselhurst,
Elisa Gomez-Monzo
Signage Production:
Lex Dold
Wonder at Scale
The Cade isn’t just another museum – it’s a laboratory for curiosity and a playground for possibility. We needed to think less like branders and more like inventors cobbling hare-brained gizmos together with duct tape, granddad’s tools and a prayer.
We created a brand strategy that positioned creativity as a learnable skill and broke down boundaries between science and art. And we gave them pacy, question-rich messaging that turns visitors into inventors before they walk through the door.
In other words, we built the foundation around founder Phoebe Miles, daughter of Gatorade inventor Robert Cade and a delightful Enneagram Seven if there ever was one.
Brand Strategy Highlights
Tagline
Spark Wonder. Invent Possible
Position
The passive museum is over.
Mission
To transform communities by inspiring and equipping future inventors, entrepreneurs, and visionaries.
Vision
To spread an inventive mindset across the world.
Principles
We believe in creativity.
We believe in inspiring future inventors
and entrepreneurs.
We believe in the power of great ideas.
We believe in creative transformation.
Philosophy
(excerpt)
Community Transformation
We created the Cade Museum to spark collaboration across diverse sectors of the community, cutting across political, social, and economic divides. We offer a unique opportunity for people and institutions of very different perspectives to work for the common good and to experience life together.
A Bridge to the Innovation Economy
Our teaching philosophy and Inventivity® Framework is intended to serve as a bridge to the innovation economy for everyone, providing access to the very best of American Innovation culture, with a special emphasis for those who have not had access to it.
Museum for Thinking Out Louder
We set ourselves a madcap design brief: Monty Python meets punk by way of Marshall McLuhan.
The resulting visual identity bursts with eureka colors, slapdash collages and strange font combinations that shouldn’t work but somehow do. Beyond aesthetics, our public-domain approach to illustration was (still is) an NPO-friendly method of generating imagery for exhibits, marketing materials, wearables and even toilet paper dispensers – true story. Max punch, minimal spend.
Next, we brought the system to life in three dimensions. Oxidized aluminum signage that changes colors at night. A permanent, two-story exhibit – Mothers of Invention – that spirals through American innovation history, brims with “Did you know?” energy and sneaks in wordprey that delights mad scientists from 8 to 80.
The rebrand didn’t just exceed expectations – it shattered them. The Cade completed their entire $20M capital campaign before the museum even opened its doors.
Today, the Cade Museum stands as Gainesville’s beacon for creativity and invention, with a brand that grows stronger with each new exhibit, program and partnership. What began as a request for marketing help became a total transformation – proof that when you frame your story right, the right people find it irresistible.
$20M before opening day
“Our rebrand was so different from what I pictured in my head. Verbally and visually, it far exceeded anything I could have imagined, and I wasn’t the only one who thought that. When Matthew and his team presented the rebrand to our board, one of our board members actually gasped out loud because she was so moved by the power of the narrative and how it encompassed our vision. And when the presentation ended, another member sighed and exclaimed, ‘Oh… I’m so relieved!’”
Phoebe Miles, Founder & Chairman
© 2026 Matthew Steel
Aurë Entúluva · Purpose Never Rusts