DeGidios
SCOPE
INDUSTRY
STYLE
Branding, Digital, Signage
Dining and Hospitality
Vintage, Rebellious, Edgy, Approachable
DeGidio’s is a renowned Italian restaurant in Saint Paul, Minnesota, established in 1933 by Joe "Kid Bullets" DeGidio, a successful Prohibition-era bootlegger. With nearly a century of heritage, the owners set out to modernize the restaurant with a bold new brand identity. To make it happen, I created a secondary logo that I used in a series of customer touchpoints like takeout packaging, print menus and online marketing.
INSPIRATION
DeGidio's Royal Bar opened at its current location the year Prohibition was repealed, and quickly became a gangster-era hot spot, taking its place in the city's colorful history. While its mob ties are long in the past, it was vital to maintain focus on the restaurant’s authentic Italian heritage and deep roots in the community.
PROCESS
The logo takes cues from the Saltire, or St. Andrew’s Cross—a motif found in family crests and later reclaimed by the edgy aesthetics of punk rock and vintage vibes of the hipster scene. I used the four quadrants to call out the brand’s distinctive initials and the year the venue was established (Est. 1933). Every choice was made with an eye on the restaurant’s provenance so that the brand evolution feels like a natural progression of DeGidio’s rich history.
GOAL
We wanted to refresh the brand to make it feel as storied as the man who founded it. Balancing the brand’s legacy and charming backstory with a contemporary look and feel that spoke to DeGidio’s Italian heritage was the chief goal and challenge of this project.
RESULT
The refreshed logo was incorporated into custom ice cubes, adding a distinctive touch to DeGidio’s classic cocktails—with the understanding that mixology itself was born out of the Prohibition era. All of the storied establishment’s dining and bar menus were updated to give them a more modern look, while still honoring DeGidio’s rich history and heritage.