Fresh food from the ground up...
Marko is a new plant-based and sustainability focused diner in South Melbourne, serving up local, all-natural food. Think HQ was tasked with building a unique brand identity for Marko and establishing a presence across both social and traditional media.
The brief for Marko was pretty straight-forward: make a plant-based casual dining experience feel cool and modern, but comfortable and friendly at the same time. The client didn’t want to especially highlight the vegan aspect of their offering – they wanted to welcome newbies to plant-based eating with delicious food that also happens to be animal-free. Ingredients are fresh, locally sourced and whole.
I was the sole designer on this project, taking the client's brief and leading them on a journey through suggested directions, visual concepts, and design development. The client was presented with eight initial directions (why so many? Because I was thoroughly enjoying working on this project!) which we discussed and agreed upon two to take to visual exploration.
If you're interested in seeing how this brand evolved and was rolled out, take a look here.
Direction 2: Food nostalgia
This direction speaks to the good old days of food, when fresh produce was the norm. The colour palette evokes a summery freshness, with a touch of the Mediterranean. Typography and graphic elements are vintage inspired, a nod to vintage packaging and travel posters. We want to invoke a feeling of authenticity and playfulness, with a healthy dose of tradition.
Direction 7: Future Food
This direction is fresh and modern, contrasting vibrant green illustrations of verdant, vigorous edible plant growth with contemporary type treatments and a minimal black and white palette. The fresh abundance of the botanical illustrations are the hero of this direction, standing out in all their glory against the no-nonsense black and white of the other brand elements.
CREDITS: I worked on this project as an employee of Think HQ
