“I need a new menu.”
I had been a customer of Red Kitchen for about a year before we had any talk of design came up. Red Kitchen was down the street from where I worked and it had the best lunch option in the area bar none. Ale, the owner, had struck up a deal with a local coffee company to distribute her breakfast burritos and wanted some labels and a new brand to kick off the expansion. She really did need a new menu though. The one she had was a workhorse, but the menu and hours of her food cart were always in flux, so this workhorse of a menu had been through the ringer for sure.
Since the burritos were going to be many people's first experience for the brand, it was important that it reflect the authentic, DIY spirit of Red Kitchen.
First on my to-do list was the burrito labels. We had a really short turn around before this wholesale deal was going to go into effect, and we needed to establish the new brand in tandem with the label strategy.
Ale wanted the brand to reflect the same authentic spirit that her food did, a mix of the high and low brow elements of Mexican cultural history. This whole vibe was a great fit with my own love of the aesthetic of imperfect print techniques of yesteryear (aka crappy printing).
She wanted her brand to feel human and have soul. We also had some elements of the previous brand that I wanted to repurpose, like these awesome blue and white checker burrito wrappers.
The Alebrije Suite
The Luchador Suite
The original burrito label concept involved an ever-changing series of illustrations with a red/yellow color treatment. Someone could get a burrito everyday for a week and have a different label every time! They may never even notice that the art under the logo was subtly different, but that made the whole thing even more fun. I’m a big fan of that silly “collect ‘em all” mindset, especially when it’s flipped on its head. I’m a child of the Pokémon era, it can’t be helped.
Ultimately, these were sidelined in favor of (a single) red papel picado design. While I still love the idea of a "collectable burrito label," the single design ended up trading the “collect ‘em all” gimmick for a stronger single statement.
Embracing a one-color print style echoes the low brow print aesthetic that was an inspiration on the brand.
The logo itself was built out of some custom type. I found an old bold italic type spec that I had been messing with for a while. For this project, to keep with the spirit of the hand-painted signage found throughout Mexico, I traced over this type specimen several times to make a “new” hand drawn alphabet. Every time I’d take a new pass, some elements would get lost, others would sort of show up, and before you know it, we’ve got some pretty solid custom type. I took that “new” alphabet and hand-set them for whatever application I needed. I didn’t want to go the route of making a proper font because I feel like this method is much closer in spirit to what I’m aiming for...also full disclosure: the idea of making a real is a bit daunting.
Tedious? Yes. Unnecessary? Totally. Worth it? Of course.
The hand-set type practice lead to some slightly inconsistent kerning, and a little wonkiness throughout, but that was kind of the point. It was the right kind of wonky to fit the spirit we were going for.
True to the soul of the brand, the "main" type family is a rough hand-drawn trace of an old type specimen.
Every use is set custom for each use, just like the hand painted signage that inspired it.
The custom type in use on two art concepts: a sticker and to-go tote bag.
When it came time to make the menus, the memory of the work horse menu wasn’t far from my mind. I knew the ever-changing menu and hours were just part of Ale’s business model, something that’s more of a strength, something that I thought we should lean into.
We did away with a physical sign and opted for a TV screen menu with a rotating series of “menu boards.” I expanded on the papel picado look and added in some more color. The overall vibe of the menus was meant to reflect a hand-painted menu sign, but give us the flexibility to have several in rotation depending on the day. It also gave us the flexibility to change menu items on the fly or add specials.
One of the (many) menu board slides.
Alt logo treatment with "Mickey Mouse" highlights.
