Gloria Bendita: identity and branded elements (December 2021)
Brand identity
Foodservice
Visual identity and brand design
Graphic design and illustration, Design, Manufacturing
The project
La Maja restaurant decided to change its dining concept and begin a new chapter. At Archicercle, we developed the name and identity for Gloria Bendita, then carried the brand through to a series of physical elements that we also designed and manufactured.
The starting point was to find a name that would evoke the restaurant’s new concept. Gloria Bendita draws on an everyday Spanish expression of delight —‘¡esto es gloria bendita!’, roughly ‘this is heavenly!’— and places it at the heart of the identity. The new name was accompanied by research into images and texts to establish its graphic references.
The design was built primarily around typography: a typeface with simple serifs, a modern character and ecclesiastical echoes. Raising the ‘o’ gives the name a distinctive gesture, while a motif of rays offers a more figurative expression of glory. Together, the typography and symbol form the brand’s visual language.
The work extended beyond the logo. We designed and manufactured QR menu pieces, a projecting sign, signage and reserved table markers. The identity moved from graphic design into objects with different roles within the restaurant: identifying the premises, accessing the menu and marking reserved tables.
The applications combine dark surfaces, pale tones and blue. The QR menu elements bring together the code and the restaurant’s identity in card or plaque formats, while the reserved markers carry the name and graphic motif on small blocks. Each applies the same brand to a different scale and use.
On the signs, the name and rays remain the focus. The set includes a dark, square box-shaped piece with a side bracket and a rectangular plaque with rounded corners. These applications complete a commission spanning naming, visual identity development and the manufacture of branded elements.
The raised ‘o’ and the rays distil the reference to glory into two graphic gestures.
QR menus, signage and reserved table markers bring the identity to different points of use within the restaurant.
Processes and materials: fabrication services · available materials · studio machinery.
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