DABEEF

Branding & Website

DaBeef was a project with a simple brief that needed a sophisticated brand identity to establish its feet. Being a mixture of urban and classic foods, it required a fusion of graphical elements that would help communicate its blend to its clientele. This gave a go to a creative concept that would play with the characteristics of Kitsch design values.

To further support the brand, its website was designed to be a unique experience that stunned both the staff and its clientele. Many users claimed that the website sold them the idea and their visit was due to that. Its design stands so highly appreciated and had driven a respectable amount of traffic to the restaurant.

Overview

client

DABEEF

country

ROMANIA

timeframe

3 Months

type

Branding / Restaurant

year

2018

A Bold Culinary Rebranding Journey

DaBeef undertook a rebranding project. The rebrand centered on a menu blending classic and street food, skillfully incorporating Kitsch design for a sophisticated identity.

The name, DaBeef, cleverly blends “Dadaism” and “Beef”, inspired by Dadaism’s principles of nonsense and anti-bourgeois art. The website played a pivotal role, impressing both staff and customers. While it boosted traffic and garnered acclaim, challenges like the pandemic ultimately led to the restaurant’s closure, preventing it from reaching its full potential.

Brief

DaBeef is a bold rebrand of an not-so-successful restaurant. With the same business model and staff (except for the chef), the goal was to connect with customers through food and style. Located on a prestigious street in Bucharest, the challenge was to attract a high-end clientele. The unique menu, blending classic and street food, required a branding strategy that avoided being classified as Kitsch. The intentional use of Kitsch attributes achieved this.

Creating a Unique Brand Name

DaBeef derives its name from “Dadaism” and “Beef”, pronounced as DáBeef. Dadaism — inspired by Tristan Tzara — aimed to express irrationality and anti-bourgeois ideas in art. Similarly, DaBeef mocks those who judge others’ food choices, be it chefs or the public, much like Dadaism challenged art as well as its critics.

1.1.

Brand Identity & Design

  • Logo and Visual Identity
  • Brand Name and Tagline
  • Brand Guidelines
  • Visual Mock-ups

The typeface used on the logotype is Cambria — a transitional serif typeface with relatively even proportions and spacing. Constructed with a tall x-height and decisively rigid yet delicate terminals, overshoots, and serifs, its use in a transfigured form was a perfect fit.

Attributing the playful manner of repositioning typographic elements to Dadaism works, DaBeef’s logo design cuts away the e’s terminal and taper to resemble a cow’s body and legs, and raises and lengthens the f’s cross stroke to resemble the cow’s horns. This aims to further clarify the brand’s main specialty; meat cuts.

2.1.

Brand Development & Implementation

  • Website and Online Presence
  • Marketing and Advertising
  • Content Creation
  • Customer Experience

As the brand’s scope was to target young adults with an upper-middle to high-class socioeconomic status. The main needs of the market were the request for something refreshing, cool, and “Instagramable”. With that being said, after the brand’s design had reached its completing stages, the start for the design of an online artistically-unique restaurant experience began.

Wireframe Composition

DaBeef’s website is composed of three sections: home, urban and classic. Each with its own scope, while complementing one another, was meant to act as separate experiences, pleasing both clients searching for a funky urban mood and the ones after a steak-and-wine dinner. Upon user entry, three options are presented: go urban, go classic or scroll below to visit the home page.

The home page welcomes users through animated messaging and promises them a “new experience, pleasure and taste”. Continuing their journey, a montage of a classic burger presents users to understand the fusion of the idea of both worlds. Further below, a personal CV and message by the head chef are placed due to his vogue. The following sections are purely aesthetically-functional and are used as content placeholders to showcase the restaurant and the experiences within.

Splitting the Menu Experience

The classic part of the menu presents itself in a more serious manner with the use of heavy typography and edited imagery. The experience aims to be slow, relaxing, and pleasurable much like a well-prepared steak and glass of wine.

The urban menu is much more playful, courageous, and confident, acting as an opposite to the classic experience. The layout is single-page, with rapidly-consuming visual content and a touch of mischief.