BRIEF
THIS DESIGN BRIEF WAS SET BY RED DOG CREATIVE AGENCY ON THE 2024 ICAD UPSTARTS PROGRAMME.
IF YOU COULD EAT YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD ANYWHERE IN DUBLIN, WHAT FOOD WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHERE WOULD YOU CHOW DOWN?
IF YOU COULD EAT YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD ANYWHERE IN DUBLIN, WHAT FOOD WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHERE WOULD YOU CHOW DOWN?
CHOOSE A LOCATION THAT HAS SIGNIFICANCE TO YOUR CONCEPT AND CREATE A NEW NAME AND LOGO FOR A POP UP RESTAURANT OR MOBILE FOOD TRUCK.
CREATE A VISUAL LANGUAGE TO SHOWCASE YOUR BRAND - COLOUR PALETTE, BRAND FONT, GRAPHIC DEVICES, PHOTOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATION TREATMENTS AND GRAPHIC DEVICES.
CREATE A VISUAL LANGUAGE TO SHOWCASE YOUR BRAND - COLOUR PALETTE, BRAND FONT, GRAPHIC DEVICES, PHOTOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATION TREATMENTS AND GRAPHIC DEVICES.
APPROACH
Picking a favourite food was easy as it’s always Mexican, hands down. Especially tacos. But what’s special about just-another-Mexican-food-truck? Nothing really, so I had to consider how to create a point of differentiation.
I looked to my favourite thing in the whole world - besides Mexican food - for inspiration. Cats. I’ve been caring for and rescuing cats since 2019. There are so many incredible organisations that do phenomenal work in rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming neglected, injured and abandoned cats, of which there are far too many unfortunately.
The food truck would operate as a fundraising outlet for Cats Aid Ireland, a Dublin based charity, serving vegan Mexican food because while its priority might be cats, it’s not speciesist.
Next job was to find a location that has significance to the brand concept, but would also need to have decent footfall so that the truck could make money.I discovered that Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, is home to a mummified cat and rat discovered in organ pipes in the late 19th Century. The mission of Cats Aid is to keep cats alive, however these artefacts inspired the brand direction.
Next job was to find a location that has significance to the brand concept, but would also need to have decent footfall so that the truck could make money.I discovered that Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, is home to a mummified cat and rat discovered in organ pipes in the late 19th Century. The mission of Cats Aid is to keep cats alive, however these artefacts inspired the brand direction.
EXECUTION
The name practically wrote itself as ‘cato’ is an anagram of ‘taco’ and so CATO TACO was born. The brandname typeface is Cucciolo which immediately reads as Mexican, helping people to understand at a glance, what type of fare the food truck is serving.
I looked to Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations for visual references for both style + cat references for the visual identity. If this project were to happen in real life, Steve Simpson would be my illustrator of choice to bring it to life as his style and expertise in creating Mexican-themed work is unparalleled
The cat skull was inspired by references found on Adobe Stock. Graphic elements from the cat skull have been threaded together to make decorative borders + other patterns on the rollout elements.
The colour palette was inspired by Mexican food menus + Day of the Dead celebration image references - bright, colourful and attention grabbing.
