April 2024
Anita's Kitchen: Brand Identity Design
Anita’s Kitchen began at home, amidst gatherings and celebrations. From a child's birthday craving for enchiladas to the comfort of deep-fried tacos upon homecoming, and the tradition of homemade tamales during Christmas time. The kitchen became a hub of culinary heritage.
Guided by the spoken recipes passed down by generations of women in her family, Anita adheres to three core philosophies: fostering positive energy in the kitchen, creating community through cooking, and upholding family traditions.
Through the act of sharing meals with loved ones and engaging with local organizations like the VFW and Society of Eagles, what started as a dinner table operation became a culinary pop-up dedicated to making everyone feel like family.
Guided by the spoken recipes passed down by generations of women in her family, Anita adheres to three core philosophies: fostering positive energy in the kitchen, creating community through cooking, and upholding family traditions.
Through the act of sharing meals with loved ones and engaging with local organizations like the VFW and Society of Eagles, what started as a dinner table operation became a culinary pop-up dedicated to making everyone feel like family.
Old Flier
Project Details
The Problem:
Fliers and social media posts for Anita’s Kitchen have been created spontaneously, each one varying in color, typography, and imagery. Although at their heart, they aim to represent Anita, the absence of visual uniformity has led to confusion among new and returning customers.
My Role:
Create a unified Brand Identity by incorporating previous logos with new designs that effectively communicate Anita’s Kitchen’s core values.
Project Goal: Brand Identity, Logo, Typography & Color, Marketing Materials, Brand Guidelines
Brainstorming and Explorations
MindMapping:
I met with Anita to learn more about her experiences crafting her cherished dishes and to understand her aspirations for the future. Based on our conversation, I created a mind map to identify recurring themes and ideas:
Moodboarding
To honor Anita’s Heritage, and the artisanal feel of her dishes, I sourced inspiration from traditional Mexican art forms such as terracotta pottery, oil cloth, embroidery and Talavera tiles.
For palette inspiration, I focused on juicy saturated colors commonly found in these artforms.
First Sketches
My initial idea was to design an icon featuring an illustration of Anita. However, I realized that this logo would pose challenges in terms of responsiveness across different platforms and failed to integrate any of the original iconography.
Anita's Kitchen Logo Concepts
The Big Idea:
Anita’s Kitchen deserved a visual language that pays homage to her heritage while echoing her belief that cooking a meal is an act of care.
I created a floral symbology inspired by Mexican terracotta pottery and serving dishes to represent both the artisanal quality of Anita’s Family recipes, and the lineage of strong women who entrusted them to her.
Anita's Kitchen Primary Logo
Anita's Kitchen Logo Suite
Anita's Kitchen Business Cards
Reflections
This project was very close to my heart as I’m lucky enough to have Anita as my own mother. Despite that fact, I treated this project as I would any other client. I learned so much about her identity and dreams of the future, and overall am thrilled to contribute my craft so that her business can grow.
