Sofia Ayuso designed these business cards for Phôfinho, a Vietnamese pho restaurant in the heart of Lisbon, Portugal.
The owner of the restaurant reached out to Sofia for the branding project, including designing a logo, business card and other collaterals.
“The idea was to create a simple logo that looks like it could be a chain restaurant. Also, the main colour should match the interior design of the restaurant, which is red,” Sofia said.
“The client wanted the restaurant to have the brand’s strength and credibility of a chain restaurant while maintaining this cosy, friendly, and authentic vibe.”
Naming & Logo Design
The brand name, Phofinho, is a play on the Vietnamese word ‘Phở’ (a type of Vietnamese soup) and the Portuguese word ‘fofinho’ (means cute or cuddly). Sofia was inspired to create a mascot based on the name that has this chain restaurant feel while being cute and friendly.
The mascot is a Phở bowl with a cute facial expression that creates a straight forward connection to the brand’s main dish, while matching the restaurant’s brand concept. Not to mention, red is the perfect colour to go with the adorable mascot!
“The restaurant had been open for some time and its interior design was very distinctive. All bottom half of the restaurant was painted bright red, including the furniture – and even the toilet! So this shade of red was already a key element of the brand,” Sofia explained.
Typography & Business Card Printing
The main typography used for the business card is Muli (Extrabold), which is a sans-serif friendly looking typeface that includes Vietnamese alphabet characters. Vollkorn Regular is used for the body text.
The lettering is bold, bright red and uppercase, making it easy to read from all angles. Also, the rounded corners soften the lettering’s appearance, making it more friendly and less commercial.
The illustrations are fun and light, to keep in tone with the brand’s personality.
The business card can also be used as a loyalty card. After a certain number of stamps, customers can redeem a free meal.
The client handled the card-printing, but Sofia shared her ideas for printing the cards with us, “The card would be printed on a textured white paper, possibly in riso printing technique in order to attain a bright red tone.”
Designed by Sofia Ayuso
For Phôfinho
