Pizza and Italian restaurant tend to pull from the same inspiration. Old World Italy icons like stucco walls, cypress trees, antiquated typography, and the classic red, green and white combination all find their way into brand identities for these types of restaurants. Rocco Trattoria’s identity takes a different approach.
Designed by the team at Bodega Design Studio, the branding for Rocco, a vegan Italian trattoria, has a more modernized approach. Their descirption of the brand and work includes the word “obscene.” I think there may be a translation issue there however. Instead, I’d say this look is more raw and in-you-face. It has attitude and moxie.
The brand is spearheaded by a nine pointed star with the C letterform knocked out from the center. This burst-like element speaks to the bold flavors. Archways are used as a graphic device adding a blunt edge to the grid system that contains more of a refined layout across touchpoints.
The colors are lead by a bold red with pinkish pastel as a secondary color. A rich black serves as the third color. Combined it has a saucy vibe to it and also serves as a great foundation for the photography to pop.
My only criticism is that C letterform. The swash at the top of the bowl needs a little more work to look like a natural extension of the form. Additionally, I’m not convinced the C is the right letter to serve as a figurehead for the brand mark. After all, it’s Rocco, so the R should be the front and center letter.
Outside of that, this is a stellar brand identity for what I hope is an equally stellar restaurant concept.
