Overview

The brief was to create a believable food brand based on an assigned country. I was given Italy and developed Holy Cannoli, a dessert-focused food truck specialising in cannoli.

I carried the identity across the food truck, packaging, menu, promotional material and social media.

Problem

Italian food is already a very familiar category.

Pizza and pasta would have been obvious directions, so I wanted to find something that still felt recognisably Italian but had a stronger point of difference.

The second challenge was making one visual identity work across everything from a large food truck to a small takeaway box and an Instagram profile.

Solution

I chose cannoli because it gave the brand a more specific and playful personality.

The name Holy Cannoli allowed me to build the identity around a slightly cheeky mix of Italian and Roman-inspired imagery, cherubs, hearts, laurel shapes and the tagline “Only Sweet. Only Cannoli.”

The warm cream, terracotta, brown and coral palette helped make the brand feel nostalgic and handmade rather than overly modern.

I then carried the visual system across the takeaway packaging, advertising, patterns, the truck itself and social media. I also mocked up what customers would actually see when the brand appeared in their Instagram feed or when they visited the profile.

Reflection

This was one of the projects that really made me enjoy brand systems.

Instead of designing one logo and stopping there, I had to think about whether the same personality could still work across very different formats.

Looking at it now, I would probably refine some of the typography and simplify parts of the identity, but the project was important because it showed me how much stronger a brand can feel when the visual style carries through everything rather than stopping at the logo.