Lick Yoghurt is a lovely, small brand for a shop in the UK. It’s “fluffy” and bright. The interior is well done, especially the lighting. Designed by Freshwest

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The design crew at Blend It brings us this identity for a cafe and pastry shop. Red and blue are hard colors to work with, but I think they nailed this duo with the addition of browns to make it more natural on a couple of levels. The visual dash cutting the wordmark in half makes a lovely visual pun too. Here’s how they describe their inspiration:

Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Fascinating and dramatic stories – personal, urban, and national – have been used by us to create a visual language for a Berlin-style cafe.

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Now this is a Kickin’ Chicken! Charleston, SC-based Fuzzco, put together this rebrand of Kickin’ Chicken restaurants. It’s all encompassing, and well thought out from the get go. Even the website follows suit with the brand’s new voice and identity. Thanks to Armin over at Brand New for bringing this to light.

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Allison Newhouse (while at Duffy & Partners) designed this small brand identity package for Cruet & Whisk. Not necessarily a restaurant, but a gourmet meals concept. She describes it as “a place that allows people to prepare gourmet, family meals in advance in a warm and welcoming environment”

The  image is inviting, warm, and free flowing. The color palate is soft and approachable. The strong, clear typography mixes well into the design without being lost. Love the little toothpick filled matchboxes.

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This one hit das interwebs pretty hard today and with good reason. Studio MLPS designed up a fantastic brand and package design for this new upscale maple syrup product. From the logo to the graphic treatments the entire package is thought through and well designed. You can take a peek into their process and design steps at their blog.

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I always thought this rebrand was on the fence between good and not-so good; however; it’ has grown on me and the execution of the branding is what sells it for me. Allison Newhouse designed it.

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It’s that time of year again. The time when Bill Gardner of LogoLounge reviews the trends seen in logo design for 2011. Color is playing a huge role, much like last year. This time, though, the colors are tinted and more subdued. Beyond that, it’s also noted that the traditional thought of logos is transcending:

It feels like what people believe a logo to be is also becoming more transcendent. A logo is no longer a single piece of flat art. It can be a favicon, an icon, or an entire set of marks that work together to support the team. Its boundaries have become less strict as well. There was a time when most logos could be enclosed in a simple hand-drawn square, circle or similar geometric shape, but now many logos drag outside those outlines. They just don’t want to fit the old mold.

Click here to read the entire report »

There are so many articles written on the design of logos, restaurant logos and company logos. It’s like beating a dead horse, but I wanted to lay out how the logo plays into the rest of the elements that create a restaurant’s brand and identity.

Often times, a restaurant wants a logo to do much more than it should or effectively can. A lot is expected of our little friend The Logo and unfortunately her strength is in her simplicity. Maximum meaning, minimal means. Form follows function. These axioms hold especially true when it comes to logo design.

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I guess we have to jump on the wagon here and proclaim our distaste for the gap logo. Along with everyone else that would call themselves a designer, we absolutely abhor the new look. But rather than rant about how design is dying all around us, we’d like to keep things factual, true to our own nature.

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Where do designers get their great ideas? All over the place. It could be a random daydream while riding in the car (like the one I had while designing the Jackie Blue Restaurant brand), or it could be through endless sketching and exploration (like I did for the Mark Garrison Salon brand). No matter where a designer’s get their great ideas, we all salivate and covet each others’ work. I’m no different and have my own list of websites I go to when I’m looking to quench my thirst for beautiful design. So, I decided to list them here for everyone to view.

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