We created a brand identity for Hawkers which evoked the Southeast Asian cuisine and street hawker atmosphere, while remaining clean and repeatable so that Hawkers could easily use the brand as they expanded beyond Orlando.
Creative Exploration
When we build a brand, we do not go it alone. We foster an environment for creative collaboration. With Hawkers, we had numerous meetings and discussions with all stakeholders before starting to develop the brand identity.
From the time when Hawkers settled on their original location in Orlando, we would work with the team to hash out the essence of the Hawkers experience, while sitting in the empty restaurant that would transform into Hawkers. We conducted our research into Southeast Asian street cuisine and presented a creative brief focusing on the “eat the streets” motto which would become a cornerstone of the Hawkers experience.
Logo and Alternates
During our initial logo explorations, we began trying out Chinese hanzi characters to represent Hawkers. Eventually, we made an “H” stylized to look like a hanzi character.
It looked like a hawker holding his wares, so we adjusted it to make it more apparent, and the Hawkers pictograph was born. During the logo process, we went form a brush-style to a simpler iteration, both seen below:
Primary Logo
Color Palette
FireCharcoalChiliSteel
We settled on a core color palette of Fire (orange), Charcoal (dark gray), Chili (red), and Steel (light gray). These colors evoke the feeling of street food, from the open flame to the charcoal and stainless steel of cookware and street carts, to the vibrant red of chilis common to many Southeast Asian regional street food dishes.
“Eat the Streets”
Hawkers was meant to bring the unique experience of Southeast Asian street food to Orlando—and eventually, far beyond. To that end, we developed the initial brand campaign and slogan: “Eat the Streets”. “Eat the Streets” is about transposing the vibrant and tangible experiences of Southeast Asian street food culture to a restaurant environment.
Eating the streets
The “eat the streets” experience is about bringing the streets to you. It evokes the neon signage at hawker carts centers, the cacophony of the crowds in market streets, the textures of the stainless steel and charcoal, and the fusion of cuisines and cultures, in every bite.
Evoking the street food experience
We proposed bringing the streets inside in unexpected and delightful ways that would create story and inspire curiosity inside each restaurant location. We took some of the staples of the Southeast Asian street food experience and turned them into graphics. These are just a few of the examples.
Graphic Applications
For the original Hawkers location, we focused on printed graphics with simple to execute applications. Street hawker stands and hawker centers primarily depend on printed materials, such as fliers, table tents, tissues, and napkins.
We created a library of illustrations for use in printed materials that Hawkers could deploy as needed. We did this so that Hawkers could subtly change up the look and feel of their first location by simply changing items like napkins or table tents. See some of the early table tent illustrations here:
Early table tent illustrations
Takeout bagGlassesCoasters
Business CardsEmployee TeeCoaster MockupsBusiness CardsCoastersChopsticks
Environmental Graphics
We prepared a variety of graphics based on themes blending traditional and modern graphic styles.
For the original location, we limited the graphics to several easy to implement initial applications, such as boards set on the walls and vinyl wall graphics. By mixing from several of the graphic styles we created, it would allow for a more dynamic and varied look and feel for the restaurant.
Early interior environmental graphics
Bringing the Brand to Each Location
We helped build the Hawkers brand from the ground up. Because we focused on instilling the street fare experience into the fabric of the brand itself, Hawkers has been able to expand rapidly while keeping that experience alive and consistent across each of its restaurants.
Branding Across Your Locations
If you have a restaurant or retail chain with multiple locations and will be on expanding, we can build the parts you need to ensure a focused and consistent customer experience in each of your stores and in every consumer touch-point.
