ABOUT

Great local eating venue seeks major facelift on its brand to coincide with
moving into new digs in the downtown Raleigh area. Hot Point is a local
institution that has seen its loyal clientele grow steadily since coming under
new ownership in 2007. With a new location, the owners considered a new
name to go along with a new look. I advocated that the name should stay;
it’s resonance with the current clientele serves as a foundation for any future
growth. Plus, it’s a damn good one.

I wanted to enhance their reputation with the locals—hence the emphasis
on a strong, slightly gritty, upwardly mobile urban feel—kinda like what the
city of Raleigh, North Carolina is experiencing these days.
The majority of their budget went into remodelling their new location, so
I decided to go with a strong typographic direction on the menus. That,
coupled with a clean white background throughout was intended to mentally
put the food front and center. The goal was to let the openness of the
design conjure the look of the dishes with patrons and to avoid and discard
any lackluster photography of menu items. The fact that Hot Point has the
most imaginative names around for their dishes further emphasized the
benefit of the new direction.