Created in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Fall 2023.
THE STINKHOLE
The Stinkhole was an original restaurant I created a branding package for, as well as a branding and style guide. It is a themed restaurant, similar to Margaritaville and Rainforest Cafe, and the theme is house party. Relive the glory days of college by visiting The Stinkhole. Everything is just as you remember, sticky floors, frat guys, dim lighting, house music, trash can punch, and even a dingy bathroom. Every 45 minutes, a flash mob runs in to jump and dance around you, feel free to jump and dance with them!
The branding represents this experience. The logo replicates a hole punched into the wall by a raging Chad, and is also a play on words with the name. The copy font replicates handwriting, to give the impression that a couple of broke college students put it all together, just like a true house party.
In my research on themed restaurants and experiences, they really come together in the details. I invite you to take a closer look at the Stinkhole and all its collateral, as every choice was made with great attention to detail. I hope as you read the menu or the style guide you can picture yourself in the atmosphere of a dark, lively house party, trash can punch in hand.
Creation Process
A large challenge I faced while creating the Stinkhole was the subject matter and figuring out how to make it work. Have you ever considered a party house as âappetizingâ? I don't think I could have done it without my overthinking brain, sorting out so many small details of how the restaurant would operate.
A main challenge I faced when designing for the Stinkhole was the fonts I chose. I chose some very stylized fonts, and I tried to make everything with an easier font but it just wasn't the correct tone at all. So I had to figure out how to make the awful fonts work. Iâm really glad I chose the more difficult route because it really payed off in the end.
Menu
Business System
Employee Uniforms
Facade
Outdoor Signage
Stationary
To-go Packaging
Party Bus Delivery Van
Branding and Style Guide
After we had created our business system, we created a style guide for our brand and how to use the branding we had created. Same with everything else I had created for the Stinkhole, I wanted to keep the same dingy touch and feel. I did everything I could to make it look like it was created by a frat guy, in the most appealing way possible.
I also struggled a lot with what specific words and language to use, and I solved this problem with my favorite method: fucking around and finding out. It worked itself out in the end.
