A few years ago, we helped Restaurant Nabo to launch a premium dinner and bar concept in central Stockholm – it soon became a popular addition to the neighbourhood. But Covid hit hard, even the regulars dropped off. To survive, keep staff and meet the needs of a city held back by a pandemic – Nabo decided to open a fast-food place next door. Being responsive to what people asked for during restrictions, they catered it for comfort food pick-ups with premium melts and pastrami sandwiches instead of a fine a? la carte menu.
For the new identity, we wanted to capture a takeaway concept on par with the Nabo taste and quality. It was clear that we needed to keep a kinship between the two restaurants and shape from what’s made them successful to begin with – local food and contemporary atmosphere. But just as important was to differentiate the two concepts and their approaches. It led us to treat them like brothers, using recognizable assets – just adding a bit more punk and quirkiness to the personality of this new little brother restaurant.
The Nabo logo was kept uniting them. By adding a “wich” in a different font, we made a subtle reference to the word “sandwich” – and Nabowhich was born. With the exclusive Nabo Dark Green at the center, we swooped up the accent colour scheme with a punky pink. To add even more punk to the attitude, the imagery style was influenced by the aesthetics from menus and ads of fast-food shops, hot dog stands and kebab corners.
To further strengthen the on-the-go-theme, we illustrated a fast-running sandwich melt. It also gives this premium identity a touch of humour.
The result? A flexible graphic identity, wrapping up high quality Nabo food with a visually strong, new and faster brother in the hood.
