Impasto Italian Restaurant
Italian Restaurant Brand Identity Design
The Client
Impasto is a Roman-Italian street food restaurant that keeps things traditional with its food and experience. The restaurant takes pride in the history of its establishment and the local cuisine and this is its greatest strength, presenting experience, know-how and authenticity to its regulars as well as new passers-by who stumble upon its exterior. My job, therefore, was to design an identity that was familiar to the locals, that heralded traditional Italian dining experiences and present this narrative in a digestible and inviting package for new customers and tourists to be drawn to.
Design Vision
The vision for the brand identity design was to use all of the available resources that Impasto provided to me. With a wealth of experience comes a wealth of Photography, scratched tabletops and worn aesthetics, qualities that immediately show history, love and tradition. The logos and typography would capture a period in time and, along with some finer touches and strategic colour choices, a geographical resonance with Italian and Roman food.
Creative Decision Making
Art Style: Our art style therefore was anchored by the use of vintage photography of the restaurant itself. Reminiscent of many traditional restaurants in Italy hanging photos on the walls, this collaged art style immediately gave some retro italian flavour to identity not only from the subject matter of the photos themselves but from the scratched, used tabletop surface below and dusty, film textures applied over the top.
Typography: The typography takes inspiration from retro, Italian eateries and their signage. Mimicking the rising script fonts, mixed lettering styles and extra wording and details where practical, I was able to recreate a traditional retro typography system frequented by gastronomic businesses of this era and give an iconic Italian character to the brand’s identity.
Colour Palettes: For the colour choices I wanted something that would boldly contrast the use of our black and white photos. The iconic Roman Ochre Yellow and its partnering Red seemed logical and fitting choices without need to overcomplicate.
Logo Designs: The logo suite, therefore, was given flexibility in application by the typography system. A bold, all-caps, sans-serif font led the line and gave an impactful, minimal primary logo when necessary, whilst a more retro rising script font took over on more ornate applications. As the logos were mostly typographic at this point, a need for a complimentary icon arose. For the business’ icon, I chose an Italian Buffalo whose milk would produce the Mozarella for the pizzas, a strong, authoritative and local mascot to represent the restaurant in applications when real estate was more lacking.
Implementation
The Black and white Photography laid the foundation for the Typography and logos to communicate on top in an eccentric and evocative style. In print applications, this was contrasted with minimal block colour backgrounds of our iconic duo with stamps and foil stickers of our icon over the top. This layering of media leads to a deep and luscious texture of history, tradition and style and the culmination of all the parts leads to a much more fruitful experience for a business’ audience when opposed to one or two of those parts alone.
Results
Impasto created a new look that cherished what came before. Through careful association with iconic techniques and aesthetics, we were able to create a deep experience for the restaurant’s customers to enhance their experience of the traditional food. Cliche was effectively avoided and in its place authenticity and integrity were intertwined in the restaurant’s narrative. This is often a shortcoming of new and rebranding businesses in this niche, opting for obvious and stereotypical imagery of Italy and its food, forcing colosseums and gods where we should be celebrating families and people. This human element guarantees a real connection and narrative for your business.
Conclusion
As mentioned previously, too often do restaurants associated with popular world cuisines opt for the obvious choices of imagery. Although this is a great way of giving an immediate signal to potential customers of what you sell, this lessens the overall experience of your brand and therefore the likelihood of resonating with your audience on a deeper level. This project is a testament to telling stories off the beaten path and creating a real personality that your customers can relate to and in turn celebrate.