THE CHALLENGE: Create the brand identity and private label design for a new Tapas Bar in Bucharest.

THE CONTEXT: Tapas & Wine is an authentic lifestyle. It implies spending quality time amongst friends, having great conversation while enjoying good food and assorted wines. It's fresh, diversified and necessary for a true career in socialising. Its Spanish roots dictate an imperious relaxation without any kind of pretentious proprieties.

THE CONCEPT: Inspired by the Spanish culture, especially by the name of the Pedro Almodovar's homonymous film, Mala Educacion - Wine & Tapas BAR is a branding project that combines rich cultural references with contemporary design. It is a mix between classical paintings of Spanish artists, like Velasquez, and modern minimalistic graphics.

The logo is shaped as a stamp, usually used to emphasise the product quality. It has three symbolic features: the shape of an oval food tray used in serving the tapas, the silhouette of a speech bubble (referencing the conversational implication of the tapas lifestyle) and the shape of a stain with a small trail, left by a wine glass. 

The visual identity is focused on four categories: stationery (business cards, menu, table mat, flyer), branded appliances (plates, textile napkins, toothpicks jar etc.), private label packaging (olive oil, vinegar, wine and spices) and promotional (bartender/waiter t-shirt, complimentary tote bags).

The ceramic plate and place mat design uses as visual elements, black & white fragments of the famous portraits by the baroque artist Velazquez, depicting Spanish nobility. The ironic usage contrasts the infamous name of the bar - Mala Educacion (Bad Education). On the other hand, the rest of the appliances, like the fabric napkins, or the porcelain food trails contains only the simplified logo silhouette in a plain black version. This visual treatment makes the analogy to the speech bubble more obvious.

The brand slogan (The Bad Education of Good Food & Wine) is a play between the two antonyms (bad and good) that helps emphasising the brand philosophy: unpretentious quality. It is placed on all the materials, from the business cards to the tote bags. The slogan is diversified in contextualised forms. On the bartender and waiter t-shirt it appears as Badly Educated to Offer You Good Food & Wine. It can be used inside the logo silhouette, or as a stand-alone element as well.