Mitso's Taverna

This project was very personal to me as it was within the family. My uncle Dimitri had owned a beautiful ocean side restaurant in Chania, Crete for many years called Pyramis. Unfortunately at the end of summer 2023 he passed away and my uncle Manny bought it and renamed it Mitsos’ Cafe in Dimitris honor. I wanted to incorporate string Cretan motifs in the design of the menus and logo because Dimitri was from that older Cretan stock kind of man from the mountains. I wanted to incorporate the texture of a sariki - a mens headscarf that has a firsherman’s net appearance. It is a symbol of Crete and has a very unique knot pattern that I wanted to emphasize. I didn’t want to do light blue and white because I felt especially in Greece, especially 15 feet from the ocean it would seem a bit overdone or low hanging fruit colors-wise. I drew some bottles and glasses for a some graphics. The green from the trees and plants alone with the red iron rich dirt in Crete really inspired me when I visited family there. My family is from high in the mountains that are only accessible by thin dirt roads. It has to have the balance of the classic rustic taverna but also be applicable to a younger, vacation party people focus. A separate drink menu for those who just wanna drink but also a kids menu for earlier in the day. The restaurant is open from morning till early in the morning the next day so Al balance between families vacationing and party goers at night. I’ve worked at many restaurants in the past and the customers always felt more comfortable with what they are ordering (especially in a foreign country with a foreign palette) when there were photos of the means as they come out. My friend was visiting me while we were there who is vegan and many Greek foods are inherently vegan but if you didn’t know that, it wasn’t clearly shown. Legibility is always a huge focus for me and my biggest pet peeve when seeing graphic design in the world. Visual communication is visual of course but it is also about legibility.