Branding - Caia

This exciting project gave us a huge amount of creative freedom, and we felt a real synergy with the client. Food, wine and music - what's not to love!

In workshops, we ran interactive exercises to get to the root of what the client wanted for the brand. This involved a thorough investigation of the customer journey, brand attributes and the all-important 'why' message.

During the process, the venue's name had to change a couple of times, so we helped generate potential names until Caia was finally settled on. The logo went through several iterations before the final script logotype was agreed.

As the venue itself is such an important part of the brand, our work had to evolve as designs for the interior and exterior developed.

It became evident that the brand itself needed to be a blank canvas, giving room for the restaurant owners to create a living pastiche of retro elements. Unlike a chain restaurant franchise, Caia needed a brand that could constantly evolve around different cultural elements to create a unique experience for the customer.

Because of this, we developed simple pillars for the brand to stand on, including a logo, fresh and versatile typography and a muted colour palette.

The restaurant is named after the Roman goddess of fire, so to match this we developed a logo that is elegant and feminine.

Tone of voice was an important part of this brand project. Storytelling, myth and folklore lie at the heart of the Caia experience, so we enjoyed developing a lyrical tone of voice to echo the literary traditions of ancient Greece and Rome.

We looked at some key touchpoints, including ideas for the shop front and signage.

As well as menu design and website concepts.

At the end of the project, we delivered the brand guidelines and brand pack, with a range of assets for use in Caia's marketing.

Zoe

She / her; green / blue. Zoe is a designer, daydreamer and self-anointed snack queen. Once described as “so awkward she’s charming” by a friend, there isn’t a day that goes by without her accidentally slipping in an innuendo. In winter, she hibernates in a blanket of books and netflix, but by late spring emerges with her trusty birkenstocks, ready to go on photography adventures and socialise with the neighbourhood cats. If she were a pokemon she would without a doubt be Pikachu, but a buzzfeed quiz has determined her to be a Magikarp. She’s a firm believer that buzzfeed quizzes cannot be trusted, under any circumstances.

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Matt

He / him; yellow. Creative jack-of-all-trades, Matt is "dangerously knowledgeable" in almost every facet of marketing. His favourite field is branding, and he loves developing inspiring, daring brand identities for organisations who are ready to do something different. But he's equally talented at front end web development and developing digital strategies. He's also the front man and guitarist in local parody heavy metal outfit Evil Scarecrow, plus a huge fan of music, eating in nice restaurants, and going on holiday.

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Mel

She / her; red / blue. Mel is a writer, editor and designer. Equally happy hiking a muddy trail as playing tabletop roleplay games by candlelight. Will seize any opportunity for a party, as long as said party features copious food, prosecco and hits from the 1980s. Her true passion lies in words. A student of literature, she is fascinated by enduring myths, etymology and science fiction. Kurt Vonnegut is her hero. “We are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”

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Iulia

She / her. Iulia is Rusty Monkey’s animation, illustration and 3D expert. Responsible for making everything beautiful, she also dabbles in graphic design and UX design. Among her credits is an animated music video for local parody heavy metal band Evil Scarecrow. A talented artist, she showcases her work on her Instagram channel. She usually spends most of her time in some random corner of the house with a drawing tablet and a pen, scribbling away. Cat obsessed. Professional house plant killer. Autumn lover. Maker of things.

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Chris

He / him. Chris is a co-founder of Rusty Monkey. Chris would like to think of himself as a branding philosopher but in reality it means that he can sit in his hammock and come up with great ideas around business and branding problems. He’s also a BBC-trained camera operator and has worked on many large scale TV events. A technophile. Loves the outdoors and will often head into the countryside with his wife, daughter and camera drone. Really interested in ethical thinking and business.

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PROJECT

A project can help you reach your goals quickly and cost-efficiently. We run our projects using WAgile project management.

THE CLIENT

Caia is a new restaurant in Notting Hill specialising in cocktails, food cooked over coals, and a vinyl soundtrack.

THE GOAL

Caia is a brand new independent restaurant who needed a brand identity building from scratch.

THE SOLUTION

Through a series of creative workshops and design phases, we developed a brand to match their aspirations.

THE TEAM

The creative guild, led by Matt.

THEY SAID

"Top team, creative, helpful, supportive and understanding of the market. Was a great experience and one that has cemented our brand! Would do it all again."

-- Tim Lang, Caia

THE OUTCOME

Caia opened its doors in Summer 2022 to critical acclaim. The brand is simple, classic and timeless, allowing the owners to infuse the venue with a pastiche of cultural references and tones to complement the menu and create a unique ambience. We popped down for an evening and have to say, it's fabulous. We're so proud to have been part of this project.