Opening up shop, whether it be a retail business, or a food related business, such as a cafe or restaurant requires starting on the right foot. The first step is to clearly understand what makes your business unique.

What’s Your POD?

How are you going to stand out from the crowd? Do you offer a unique product or service? Do you have a twist on a common product or service? Will you give exceptional service and so make this your point of difference? Whatever your Point Of Difference (or POD for short) is, the most important aspect from the very beginning is for your USP to be instantly communicated to your customers. This is where great branding strategy and implementation is important.

Branding Strategy 101

Great brands instantly convey who and what they are about. The role of a designer is to help bring out your uniqueness so that in a split second your customers will know and understand what your business is about and what is your promise. You could say that strong branding is your ‘split-second elevator pitch’.

The UNO Experience

Recently we have been involved in the creation from the very start of UNO Caffe & Pizzeria at Westfield Strathpine. The Client wanted to create a unique wood fired pizzeria in the shopping centre. The shopping centre has very little after core hours trade, and UNO promises to help change this. The tenancy is located on the outside of the shopping centre and aims to attract locals who are after a great meal when other places in the centre have closed for the day.

Logo Mojo

The graphic design and logo are crucial to a brand. With UNO we wanted to capture the essence of Italian cuisine. The logo we came up with was very simple and expressive. The circle reflected the shape of the pizza and the expressive handwritten style of ‘UNO’ captures the feeling that the pizzas are ‘hand made’. You can just imagine an Italian making a pizza and the theatre that goes with it. You can also imagine the expressive hand movements Italians use to speak. Also, the handwritten font expresses that you can expect to get quick service.

Brand Development

To really get to the core of what this business would be about we created a brief to capture the essence of what the brand is about. Below is the brief that we pitched to the Clients :

UNO Caffe& Pizzeria is a place where you can bring the whole family.
Whether you are after a quick coffee fix in the morning,
catching up with the girls for lunch, enjoying a sundowner with
mates while watching the footy, or a night out with the family,
UNO is the number one choice in Strathpine.

UNO is your local. The atmosphere is relaxed and convivial.
You know that the food will be great because the ambience is
of a place that feels like it has a long history. The finishes are authentic
just like the wood fired pizzas that come out of the oven. You could be
excused with the relaxed atmosphere as the inside and outside flow
into one another that you could be at home or at the very least
having been invited to a suburban backyard feast hosted by an
Italian family.

Many of the finishes you would expect in an Italian immigrant’s home
who haven’t renovated in many years and retains the charm of age
and memory. Patterned tiles that were once outdated have come
back into fashion, and furniture follows the aesthetic of making
do with what you have – recycled timber and bits of old metal create
furniture that is functional and aesthetic.

Filling In The Picture

From here we were able to literally ‘fill in the picture’ by designing the business around these thoughts. Having a picture in one’s head down to the colours, finishes and materials to the way you want the customers to interact with your business and feeling the space help to create the brand experience. Words can only take the vision so far and this is where it is the job of the designer to ‘fill in the picture’ through visuals that convey the design vision.

Let Us Help You See Clearly

At The Design Creative we are branding design experts and we would like to help you along your journey to drawing out the essence of what makes your business unique. Businesses that prosper are those that stand out and give their customers not what they only want but also what they didn’t realise they wanted.  We look forward to speaking with you and turning your vision into a profitable business.