MARKO
BRAND
CONCEPTS
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.
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.
