So you have a tasty logo design for your restaurant displayed on your website, packaging and napkins, but is that enough? Single-use items create some brand visibility but that’s nothing compared to the impact of a full line of multi-use merchandise. Leave them thirsting for more!

We talked about trends a year ago here on the Blog and how following trends isn’t always the best route to go. However, when it comes to package and product design, doing so isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as it makes sense within your brand identity. Today, we’re going to talk about some trends emerging this year that are worth taking some time to chew on.

There are so many different factors that contribute to a potential customer’s decision to dine at your restaurant specifically. Simply having excellent food, and great service aren’t always enough to keep them coming back. Successful brands know their customers’ deepest desires and how to attract them. If you’re not there yet, don’t worry. We’re going to take a deep dive into the 5 most important areas of branding your restaurant to attract your ideal customer.

We may be hitting *slight* fatigue in hearing how COVID has affected industries and lives. Some effects of the pandemic are still interesting to consider, especially as to how they might continue to impact future trends. Photography in design being no exception, post-pandemic designs are now starting to favor illustration a bit more. Lockdowns and mask mandates weren’t kind to on-site photographers, after all. And, how many times can we recycle the same stock photo imagery? Will illustration make a full blown comeback? Or will we see photography surge again as things “go back to normal?”

We touched on what a brand is in our January blog – how it’s so much more than a logo, how it communicates what your company’s all about, and how it’s a contract between you and your customers (and so much more. Check it out here). So this time around, I thought it’d be fun to talk about what a brand isn’t in a favorite format: Top 10 Myths.

There’s a psychology behind literally everything that engages people in the intersection of choice and decision. This month, we’re focusing on the psychology of menu design. Placement, formatting and ease of use count for major points – as does color and imagery – in creating a menu that generates maximum profits. A menu done well is a restaurant’s silent salesperson for hungry buyers.

Limited and special edition themed items play a really neat trick on us – FOMO! (Fear of Missing Out) FOMO has an embedded sense of urgency within it. As such, people become obsessed with an item that is “special,” “limited,” and an out-of-the-ordinary design element for a particular product. It’s a product marketing strategy that creates instantaneous brand awareness, a competitive edge, and FREE publicity through the #hashtag “look what I just bought” social media post from a loyal customer.

Colors have a psychology embedded within them. Our brains respond to colors without us noticing. Leveraging this neat little trick is a core element of marketing – especially marketing within the food and beverage industry.

A brand is SO much more than just a logo. Your brand is how your company speaks to the world. It’s effectively your company’s face, voice and personality that needs to grab the attention of your customers, as well as differentiate you from competitors. As we enter the season of resolutions and healthful habits to carry us throughout the year, have you thought about the health and vitality of your company’s brand?

Over the last few decades, branded merchandise has entered the scene as a very real piece of culture. If you’ve never thought of brand merchandising, it may be time to jump on the bandwagon.