I created this for a project in my college Intro to Graphic Design class, in which the students rebranded an existing restaurant of our choice. I haven’t been to many restaurants, but El Jefe is one of the few that I want to try. After some brainstorming and finding out that “El Jefe” means “The Chief,” I decided on the Mexican Hairless Dog, or Xoloitzcuintli, for the icon. I thought about giving him a taco or a sombrero, even doing a little research to find out what type of sombrero the Chief would wear, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to portray these cultural icons in a way that does not perpetuate negative stereotypes. I already like the angular dog idea, so it was easy to make a simple vector graphic. The unique coloring of the Xolo dog opened the opportunity to create an interesting color. Mexican art stands out for its complex, intricate, floral designs. I was hoping to get a feel for that with the line work around the edges, but my primary icon is very simple and too much complexity elsewhere would clash.
