ROCK & LOU'S PIZZA
ROCK & LOU
THE ASSIGNMENT:"Can you make a logo that looks like my dogs? We’re planning on building a food truck. Oh, do you also design food trucks?"
THE PLAN: How do you create a pizza truck logo featuring two pet dogs? Easy, turning them into mascots was the best way to have them front and center. My plan? Use the dogs in the logo but also have them appear in other places as a marketing tool to help create awareness and brand recognition.
The great thing about mascots is they are like actors. They can fill any role you can imagine. In this case, we wanted to lead with the characters, and what better way to do that than to have them portrayed as the pizza chefs?
Once their roles were set up, it was time to create something fun, memorable, and immediately recognizable. That’s the thing about food trucks, the more they stand out and the more memorable they are, the easier it is for your customers to find you next time.
When this truck came rolling down the highway or rumbling around the corner, we wanted people to stop in their tracks and be delighted by the unique and memorable design.
THE ASSIGNMENT
Create two main characters, Rock and Lou. They will be caricatures of the owner's two real-life dogs. Rock, a mixed breed, and Lou, an Italian Greyhound. They will appear on a food truck selling specialty pizza. The characters will be used in all marketing material and branding.
THE CHARACTERS
ROCK & LOU
Rock is a lovable mutt, and Lou is an Italian greyhound. Both dogs have tremendous personalities, so finding a likeness was vital. The owner sent me several photos of each dog and a description of their personalities. We exchanged a few sketches, but it wasn’t until I tried something a little off the wall that we landed on our solution. From there, it was a matter of fine-tuning.
After the initial interview, I often have a pretty good sense of direction, but I also find it essential to create checkpoints along the way. Once we’ve agreed on the approach, it’s time to solidify the look and feel. In this case, we were looking for something super-fun.
The beginning stages are where we set up the basics. That includes setting up guidelines for color palettes, fonts, design, etc. In this case, it took quite a few tries before we got it right, but the extra time was worth the effort.
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