Uptown Sam's

Uptown Sam’s

Client: Elior North America
Design Agency: Vigor Branding
Creative Director: Aaron Tovi
Brand Strategist: Aaron Tovi
Design Lead: Ellie Varicak

Uptown Sam’s claims locations on university campuses, hospital campuses, and in office buildings, meaning they always encounter their patron away from home. Because of this, their driving purpose is to bring a moment of familiarity, or a type of kinship to these patrons. Uptown Sam’s visual identity needed to bring this grounded, craft-like spirit so that in environments more sterile and institutional, they could be a moment of warmth, a taste of something familiar, a home away from home.

The whimsical icon design for Uptown Sam’s breaks out into a broader design language for menu items.

The brand pattern for Uptown Sam’s is a unique take on the nostalgic and familiar checkerboard pattern seen in diners and on picnic blankets, with irregular squares giving the pattern a human touch.