The client asked us to encapsulate the quintessential feeling of italian cafe’s and restaurants whilst retaining an element of playful modernity with a strong social vibe. We poured through piles of references and sent him on a trip to Italy to photograph his favourite signs and bring back some references. On his return I started copying hundereds of letter forms, creating a host of different logo types using mixtures of different forms inspired and informed by the signage he had shown us. We also used the natural, weathered colour tones from the buildings and signs in his documentation to create a colour palette that felt both vibrant and playful but grouneded in the roots of italian businesses without being overly patriotic. This is the world we ended up in. I felt like the letters I had created couldnt go to waste so we used them as patterning elements and created
a typographic and colour based brand for him to
play with.

Note: I was frustrated at the time of the slightly unbalanced feeling the logo has.. it never feels fully centralised or fully balanced, however it was this aspect that the client seemed most drawn to. The idea it felt less perfect and more human seemed to appeal to him.