THE CLIENT
Brooklyn Organic Kitchen is a local restaurant in Mahopac, New York that believes everyone should be able to eat delicious food, no matter their dietary preference. Because of this, they cater to vegan, gluten-free and traditional palates, and (in my humble opinion) serve the BEST hot agave fried mushroom chik’n.
THE GOAL
The owner, Sandra, wanted an entirely new brand for her restaurant, one that communicated their cutting edge ideas for both vegan and traditional meals while staying true to their mission: to nourish the community through clean eating with a unique, exciting twist. A major pain point of Sandra’s was that many customers would read the previous logo as “BOK” (read: bock), while she wanted it read as “B OK” (read: be okay).
A BOLD AND HUMANIST LOGO
After lots of sketches exploring various logo directions, the solution I came up with was to split the acronym between two levels with the wordmark nestled within the letters, encouraging the customer to read the logo as “Be OK.” The bold sans serif letters have a slightly humanist personality to them, representative of the restaurant’s outgoing personality yet warm and approachable environment. A textured brick background is a nod to their goal of opening a location in Brooklyn, New York.
A MENU WITH MORE THAN A FEW OPTIONS
Brooklyn’s previous menus were back-room printed, eight pages front and back. The challenge was that the restaurant wasn’t changing their offerings, so it was up to me to fit it all in a menu that was clear and legible while still being engaging and fun to look at. The new menu design pulled in the brick texture and the “B” from the logo, and every menu item was squeezed on a legal size page, front and back.
VEGANDALE LAUNCH
In September, Brooklyn Organic Kitchen was one of hundreds of awesome vendors featured at Vegandale, a vegan food and drink festival in New York City. It was a day filled with incredible food, live music, art installations, and more. Brooklyn Organic Kitchen sold their oyster mushroom chik’n, nutella baby crepes, and lavender iced lattes, all proudly displayed on a banner above their booth. Sandra and their crew also rocked the new logo on custom-embroidered chefs aprons and hats. Not to mention, they sold out of all their food that day.
A MODERN AND INDUSTRIAL BRAND
Sandra’s brand is inspired by the streets of Brooklyn, playing heavily off a rustic brick red with texture to match. It communicates a bold, industrial and organic style, complete with a logo, primary and secondary color palette, typography, labels for vegan, traditional, and gluten-free, and a style guide to explain it all.
Brooklyn Organic Kitchen's Style Guide
"Rachel and I worked for several months together on the rebrand of my restaurant, Brooklyn Organic Kitchen. From the beginning I was impressed with Rachel’s bold and modern ideas displayed in her past projects. I was hoping for something similar for my look and I got it. Rachel listened, spent time with me at the restaurant and came up with the logo that truly represents my vision. I would highly recommend Rachel for any graphic design project."
– Sandra Marinelli
Chef & Owner at Brooklyn Organic Kitchen
Chef & Owner at Brooklyn Organic Kitchen