SQUARE ONE BREWERY BRANDING
Square One Brewery is a restaurant located in Lafayette Square, St. Louis, Missouri. Combining knowledge of good St. Louis eats and a unique, homemade distillery process thier aim was to create a modern brand focused on the simple pleasures in life: good food, great drinks, and excellent company. Thier goal was to create an atmosphere that was classic, welcoming, engaging, and really focused on drawing in the younger, micro-brewery enthusiast generation. With these goals in mind, I chose to utilize a sanserif font focusing on clean lines when designing the logo. The vertical stacking of the text creates a visual box in itself which balances the box in the upper right corner. Limiting the logo to one color enables a clean and cohesive design that easily translates onto any surface.
One of the most important aspects of a restaurant is the menu and the design for Square One Brewery was no exception. I wanted to create a menu that was unique and engaging from cover to cover and it all began with the presentation. I created separate drink and food menus presented to guests via a cutting board display. Menus fold upward revealing vibrant imagery of several favorite dishes meant to entice guests and make some stomachs rumble! With a heavy focus on photographic imagery it shows off the most important part of the restaurant - its high quality food. The clean, consistent design of the listed food and drinks compliments the modern images while still differentiating different items like gluten free, vegetarian, restaurant favorites and more. To view the full PDF version of the menus click here for food and here for drinks.
The to-go bag and box feature the logo front and center while incorporating the "great drinks" and "good eats" mentality of the restaurant. Additionally, the pattern on the side of the square box continues to tie in the square element of the design in a subtle but visually interesting way that accents the rest of the piece.
The salt and pepper shakers continue the pattern of interlocking squares. The inversion of the black and white colors in the pattern creates a coordinating, but not matching design while the sanserif font continues the clean/sleek look. The mustard and ketchup bottles feature a close up version of the pattern to coordinate with the other pieces but the continued use of that pattern does not get repetitive, dull, or predictable. The muted colors ensure that the bottles do not contrast with the black and white pallet but instead act to bridge the gap between the limited colors used and the muted reds and yellows of the building itself.
Below are the four billboard designs that would be displayed throughout the St. Louis area. The message of the company is on its superior food and drinks so therefore it is the focus of the signage. Colorful images draw the viewer's attention while the limited words enable the billboards to avoid information overload when most drivers will have only a few seconds to absorb the message.
I chose to keep the logo the central focus for the letterhead, business card, and envelop for Square One. The business card features the logo on the front with all of the business information on the backside of the card. The info on the back of the card is set in the shape of a square as a nod to the brewery's name and he business card being square in shape itself further nods to the location of the business being on a square street. The flap of the envelope is the first piece to include the secondary geometric pattern that will be carried out throughout the rest of the design. These interlocking squares connect the modern theme while still typing in the repetitive element of the square but in a new and different way.
Gift cards would consist of a big image of the company's logo overlaid on top of an image of the exterior of the building, creating a clean but easily recognizable look. The coasters are simple and clean with the Square One Brewery logo over a solid colored background.