During my time at Nextbite, I had the opportunity to develop visual identities for a slew of their virtual kitchen brands. Crack’t is one such brand, and like it’s sister brand Hatch House, focused on the delivery of breakfast sandwiches. While Hatfch House took a more classic approach to their offering, Crack’t was decidedly more experimental and whimsical, offering items like a chicken and waffles sandwich.
This visual identity exploration for Crack’t feeds off that playful energy, turning a retro script typeface into eggs and bacon. A cracked egg is used as the apostrophe, and an illustration system inspired by the logo is used across merch and packaging. The whole thing is tied together with a sunny and funky color palette.
Project Snippet - Hope Road Cafe
At Nextbite, we often partnered with other restaurant companies to help them break into the virtual kitchen space. As part of the pitch process for these potential partnerships, part of my role was exploring what that partnership could look like as a virtual kitchen brand. One such potential partnership was with the Bob Marley House. Below are is a visual exploration for Hope Road Cafe, a concept for a bowl-based virtual kitchen.
Project Snippet - Unused Brand Direction for The Cerulean
The name The Cerulean probably looks familiar. I recently posted another Project Snippet for the same brand, showcasing some of the merchandise I designed for the concept. This is an early exploration of that same brand, one that was a bit more refined and Southern in it’s execution, reflective of the higher-income patrons of the Bay St. Louis area.
Typography inspired by classic boat name handlettering makes up the monogram and the primary logotype. A monoline script is paired with this typography to feel classic and personable. I also chose a relaxed Great Blue Heron as the brand mascot. Native to the area, you normally see these regal birds standing tall over the water or flying with their legs outstretched behind them. Instead, I’ve chosen to show the bird breezily floating along on the water. This bird is mean to represent a more refined local patron taking it easy at The Cerulean.
This small snippet of a visual identity represents the nostalgia of a bay-front seafood restaurant packaged in a contemporary way.
Project Snippet - Chasin' Tails
Back in the day there were some real interesting clients that came through the doors at Vigor. One such client was Happy Endings Hospitality (HEH for short… you may giggle now). They own a few different restaurants, each of them with a suggestive name. Chasin’ Tails is one such restaurant, their Cajun concept, and the OG concept paved the way for the rest of HEH’s brands.
So you may be asking yourself, looking at the logo and supporting marks above… why poker chips? Why have you abstracted a crawfish into a spade? Well, dear reader, it’s because without poker chips Happy Endings Hospitality wouldn’t exist. The founder likes to take risks and have fun, as is obvious by the risque names of the restaurants they own, and initially started HEH with money he had one from time spent in Vegas. So, to pay homage to that story and set Chasin’ Tails apart from other seafood restaurants, I focused on a clean-lined look that would layer easily with gratuitous photos of low-country boils and stand-out among the nautical ship-lap-covered competition.
This little identity system didn’t end up being the final, but I felt there was merit in it and couldn’t let it gather dust on my harddrive.
Project Snippet - Little Fish Sushi Houses
Another little logo designed during my time at Vigor for Scratch Kitchen’s family of brands. This one got to see its day in the sun, and I’m so glad it did. For this mark, I edited existing typography to emphasize each letters sharpest edges, like the blade of a well-maintained Japanese knife. For the letters that featured flamboyant finials (say that five times fast) I added fins, and turned the F into a fish symbol for the brand.