Branding & Identity
A tasty experience.
A Latin-American restaurant concept needed a name, a personality, and a presence, in three months. Named after two characters from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Tuco & Blondie was built around an irreverent cat motif representing each of the film's archetypes. The brand system covered naming, interior and exterior murals, the website, menu systems, brand ephemera including matchbooks, swizzle sticks, and apparel, messaging, and PR planning. The exterior mural became a destination in its own right, named the number-one most Instagrammable wall for fashion bloggers.
The name came from the film's three iconic characters. The cat motif gave the brand an unexpected visual hook that worked across every application, from the neon sign out front to the matchbook in your pocket. Typography, color, and illustration were calibrated to feel festive without feeling generic. Every brand touchpoint was designed to be photographed and shared.
I wrote the launch roadmap and managed the client relationship with 4 Star and their vendor network. The client noted that project meetings were the highlight of their week.
