restaurant branding

To give a better understanding to consumers of the vast creative capabilities a conceptual branding studio possesses, like Tasty Concepts, I wanted to write about our involvement in the journey of a new restaurant, from conception to grand opening. I decided one of the best, and easiest, restaurant concepts to profile during its progression would be the new café going in below our studio here in Georgetown — Puro Café, which is slated to open early October.

Part 1: Concept Inspiration, Logo Design, and Look & Feel

When initially deciding upon the concept, the owner of the café , and friend of Tasty Concepts, came to us to create a dynamic concept and bring it to reality.  Roberto, Creative Director at TC, toyed with the idea of doing an all black or all white themed restaurant. Although the black concept was first decided upon, the concept quickly switched to a sleek, white concept after working on a project for The Ritz-Carlton in South Beach. The idea of an all white, chic, café oasis in Georgetown seemed very appealing to the café’s owner and the design team at Tasty. Originally “White House”, a nice play on DC’s main notoriety and the color concept, was a name considered, but after some further research and development by the design team, the concept of purity became one of interest and therefore a forerunner. Several translations of “pure” were researched, and in the end, the Spanish and Italian translation was chosen. Thus, Puro Café was born.

After finally nailing down the name, the logo design process began. The owner decided to draw upon he and his wife’s Moroccan heritage. Several ideas were gathered for inspiration, yet a particular design seemed to catch the eye of the Tasty team while summing up the new inspiration behind Puro best — a Moroccan pillow with a simple, and perhaps pure, embroidered graphic design. The designers took this inspiration, transforming it into the current logo seen above.

From there, the look and feel was developed. With white being the main color, and some touches of gold, a clean, fresh, and chic feeling evolved. But after some preliminary conceptual drawings, the designers realized that using only these colors would wash out the curb appeal of the building and signage. Further research into Moroccan travel and food books prevalently showed the use of a vibrant red hue, which gave way to the use of it as a third color in the logo to create a visual pop. The look and feel of the café will mirror this design aesthetic with clean, white furnishings and small red and gold accents.

With this fundamental branding identity in place, the renovation of the space, design of a mural, and the creation of exterior signage began. Stayed tune to read and see more…..