San Marco Pizzeria
Discovery | Logo & Branding
San Marco Pizzeria needed help developing a more modern brand identity while retaining its family values for premium quality food and service.
Original logo
Where it started
The complexity of the logo makes it difficult to make the mark unique and memorable. The kerning of typography and the drop shadow make it challenging for legibility and readability at various sizes. The overall composition of the badge design works, however, it needs some refining and simplification to achieve that functional and memorable look.
game plan
Developing an iconic mark
It was important to include a mark with the lion because it symbolizes a balance of power (or flavours). It communicates the strength and courage of the brand.
To begin, I started by sketching all possibilities of what the logo could be. Exploring typographic and iconic solutions. Through this exploration, I found that simplifying the lion's anatomy down could encapsulate the brands' initials, so I kept pushing it further to discover where it could lead to the final mark.
new logo
Where the process lead us
The new logo badge maintains the same layout as the original but has drastically improved legibility and readability, as well as been simplified down to become a more unique and memorable mark.
The emphasis on large typography within the badge allows for readability in many sizes. With the lion mark being an important asset to include we were able to develop an icon that encapsulated many meanings from the brand.
The lion's mane symbolizes two things. The first is that of slices of pizza because that's what San Marco focuses on mostly. The second is a ship's helm (steering wheel). The Helm communicates that they guide you through the journey of enjoying an authentic Italian cuisine through their quality ingredients and unmatched service.
