Juan Luis
Tapas Bar • Belgium
Juan Luis and his daughter Maria serve authentic Mediterranean dishes inspired by their warm Spanish roots. They value quality ingredients, authentic recipes, and see tapas as much more than a meal. It's a lifestyle to be enjoyed with friends and family.
When working on a rebrand, I often take the previous brand style into account when researching the new direction. Since the olive was already an important visual in the previous logo, this was a good place to start.
Several initial concepts were drawn that included fish, peppers, lemons, text only, and monograms. Nevertheless, with its strong cultural connection to freshness and the Mediterranean lifestyle, the olive branches showed the most promise.
initial concepts
fresh • delectable • sociable • quality
keywords
Joining her father in the family business, Maria came to me for a rebrand of Juan Luis tapas bar. She wanted a fresh, more casual look that would reflect the social nature of food sharing as well as the high quality of ingredients on which they pride their dishes. Very early in the research we saw a softer, hand-drawn approach as a means to help Juan Luis stand out from the competition and communicate authenticity.
The design brief
The two olives in the final artwork have an extra layer of significance in symbolizing Maria now joining her father at the restaurant. This, paired with the simplicity of the initials and the sense of connectedness from the oval shape came together to form the final logo design.
Because many Spanish restaurants use bold, saturated colors in their branding, this an area to really communicate that Juan Luis is different. Rather than being high energy, we wanted to show Juan Luis as a place to slow down and enjoy great food with great people. For this reason, we chose a warm palette of soft, muted hues.
the color palette
Brand elements for Juan Luis included two custom illustrations, a simpler secondary logo, business card design, and menu design. All brand elements are assembled into a brand style guide, which includes the color palette and typography selections for easy reference and to maintain a cohesive brand identity going forward.
brand elements
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