Case study · Restaurant brand identity

Taco Saint

A taco concept with a satirical, unapologetic streak, raising money to open its first location in Utah. Before there was a kitchen, there had to be a brand people could believe in.

Client: Taco Saint Street Food
Industry: Restaurant
Location: Utah
Scope: Visual identity, packaging, social, merch

Taco Saint kraft takeout bag and box with the skull-and-roses seal on a red background

The challenge

A restaurant that doesn’t exist yet has one thing to sell: the idea. Taco Saint needed a brand that made investors see a real business and made the right crowd want to line up for it.

The personality was already there. Bold, irreverent, a little sacrilegious. It just had nowhere to live yet.

The approach

I built the identity around one tension: reverence and rebellion. A skull crowned in roses. Worn, hand-pressed type. A palette of cayenne, bone and onyx.

Then I pushed it into every place the brand would show up, from takeout bags and shirts to a social voice that turns church language into taco language.

Identity systemA primary wordmark, stacked lockups, and badge marks that hold up from a sticker to a storefront.

Taco Saint color palette: Cayenne, Bone, Ivory and Onyx — ColorCayenne for heat, bone for warmth, onyx for edge.

Taco Saint typography: Inlander Texture, Acumin Extra Condensed and Montserrat — TypographyInlander Texture for headlines, Acumin Extra Condensed for subheads, Montserrat for everything else.

Tacos arranged on a red background around the Taco Saint skull mark — PhotographyProduct shot flat on cayenne, with the skull at the center of the table.

Taco Saint social posts: Join us for Taco Mass, #Holy Guacamole, Praise the Fillings — SocialScroll-stopping posts that borrow the language of church: Taco Mass, Praise the Fillings, #HolyGuacamole.

Two black Taco Saint t-shirts with the skull-and-roses mark — MerchShirts that let customers wear the brand down the street.

A hand carrying a kraft Taco Saint bag printed with the skull and roses — PackagingKraft bags printed with the full mark, so every order is a billboard.

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