Reale's Italian Cafe
logo rebrand & menu layout
Reale's Italian cafe is a family owned and operated restaurant located in Austin, Texas. Opened in 1981, Reale's serves up fresh and delicious Italian cuisine. They take pride in their authentic recipes, relentless hard work and their strong family bond. With a diverse menu and a little something for everyone, Reale's timeless classics are sure to hit the spot. Get your pizza and pasta fix at your home away from Rome!
the challenge
Create a new logo for Reale's Italian restaurant. The new logo should reflect a more modern appearance while maintaining a sense of familiarity. The design should appeal to new customers who haven't dined at Reale's. Apply updated style to deliverables such as menus, uniforms, and in-store materials.
the current logo
Reale's current logo is very much has classic Italian restaurant vibes. The name is in script typeface paired with a bold serifed typeface. On the actual building, they have a different script and serifed typeface. I think this logo defiantly speaks to the Italian roots, but it feels outdated and inconsistent.
ideation
After dining at Reale's and getting a feel for the place, I started my creative process with a mood board. I wanted my logo design to reflect a more modern style and less of cliche Italian. Being a family owned and operated restaurant, I also wanted the design to feel friendly and not too upscale.
competition
I looked at a few popular Italian restaurants in the Austin area to see how their logos compare to Reale's. The logos below are defiantly more modern and stylized. I believe Reale's should be as popular as these places, but their branding might be holding them back. Eye-catching branding could introduce a whole new clientele.
sketches
I tried out a variety of ideas in my sketches, even venturing into the realm of cliche Italian themes. I knew I wanted this logo to be a word mark so that it can maintain some familiarly to the customers who have been dining there for decades.
logo drafts: round 1
In my drafts, I was trying out an assortment of typefaces. I wanted to stay away from a script typeface because it would be too similar to the old logo. Some of these typefaces felt too old fashioned for the updated style I wanted. I also created this cutlery set that I tried out using in a variety of ways.
logo drafts: round 2
For my second round of drafts, I decided to move forward with one typeface. I chose a typeface called Blakely. This typeface captures the more modern aspect I want the logo to have. I developed idea for my cutlery to be enclosed in something and came up with an idea for this pizza paddle. I wanted Reale's name to be able to stand on its own, so I didn't want the icon to interfere with the type.
logo drafts: round 3
I received feedback that the orientation of and the circle cut out on the pizza paddle could be misconstrued or distracting. In this round of drafts, I tried to rectified both issues, but it still wasn't feeling right. In this round, I also customized the typeface to be a bit thicker with rounded ends. I made some adjustments to the pizza paddle icon as well so that it matched the typeface a bit more.
final logo
My final logo design has the pizza paddle leading into the name, with what would be the handle of the paddle reaching across the E's. This helps tie these two elements together in a way that is visually appealing while allowing them to be separated without loosing any recognition of the restaurant's name.
typography & color
In order to apply this new logo to materials, I first wanted to establish a secondary typeface. I chose a type family called Fira Sans. I chose this because of it's simplicity and versatile variety of weights. I also wanted to establish a color set. I decided that another way to create a sense of familiarity with Reale's long standing customers would be through the use of colors. I stuck with the classic Italian flag colors for this brand.
menu layout
I created a new layout for Reale's extensive menu. Their current menu is very busy so I wanted to make something more condensed and a little easier on the eyes.
applications
reflection
Getting to do this rebrand was a valuable process for me. It taught me the importance of knowing more about the brand you're designing for as well as knowing who these designs are really for: the customers. I also got to hone my type layout skills a little bit more in this project. In future rebranding projects I would love to spend more time observing and questioning the regular clientele to get more insight on what design solutions would be most beneficial to the guests.