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When: 2018 - 2019
Roles: Brand ID, UX/UI, Art Direction
Channels: Web, Print, Social
Client Project
When I was asked to join The Roughian team in late 2018 I was tasked with spear-heading the visual identity and overall design for the new brand. I worked with the team on the logo & creative styles for print and web with an emphasis on social media friendly assets. The work culminated in a minimal and bold landing for their very first website.
The Roughian is a pop-up supper club offering French inspired Texan fare across South Texas. It's the first of its kind south of Houston and is quite an unfamiliar style of fine dining to the people of Corpus Christi.
Let's have a walk around Corpus Christi, TX.
It's small - just 300,000 people or so - with most of its economic prosperity radiating from the oil industry and the nearby NAS Corpus Christi. And while there are nearby colleges and a very recent shift in age demographics (younger, educated), the real challenges of creating this brand are social, emotional, and cultural.
Without a physical location to lean on as a flagship for branding opportunities, I focused my efforts on social and small collateral channels as solutions for the trans-media problem of getting people up-to-date with the Roughian's fledgling presence. The mark and type are simple and timeless - Something you'd see dancing around the American South for the last 100 years.
I kept it easy and sophisticated with a wordmark and icon that worked well across all the physical collateral we'd need to print. Menus, business cards, invitations, & more were top priority and delivered in simple-to-print file types. This print collateral has paved a way for guests to go from table to web and back again.
branding at the table
Gift wrapped invites
Without a budget for marketing or a code-literate pair of hands - the website had to be no-code, CMS-rich, and design-friendly.
I built and designed a Google-approved and SEO powered landing with Squarespace and a robust set of social media (Instagram) guidelines for the two-woman Roughian team.
Drag and drop templates combined with rich & bold colors and type helped pave the way for an easy-to-maintain digital presence.
This critical consistency has helped give The Roughian the traction it needs in such a niche market. It's gone from 0 to > 1200 Instagram followers in 7 months, sold over 400 tickets, & has increased mo/mo revenue each month for its entire lifetime.
My work with The Roughian is far from over. While the initial brand identity and website have helped Natalie and her team make their mark, they have decided to shoot for a new brick and mortar restaurant deep in heart of downtown Corpus Christi in 2020.
I've been graciously asked to lead the interior design as well as the launch of another website this year.
If you'd like to dig deeper into my process, I've built a small instagram page where my sketches, ideas, and scratch documents end up for y'all.