CIAO!
Pasta To-Go with a Punch
CIAO! is a fast-casual to-go pasta brand made for messy cravings, chaotic energy, and people who eat with their instincts. The brand ditches traditional Italian tropes and embraces a bold, youthful identity that’s loud, modern, and sauce-stained in the best way.
The Problem
Most pasta brands lean into heritage and tradition — warm colors, old-school fonts, and family-style elegance. But CIAO!’s target audience doesn’t care about tablecloths or table manners. They want bold flavors, speed, and a brand that reflects their own energy: unfiltered, fast, and fun.
The Solution
The CIAO! brand identity embraces bold, expressive visuals and modern design. The custom wordmark centers on a smashed tomato "O," with vivid orange juice splashing out, evoking the delicious, craveable messiness of the brand’s food. A small splash of tomato on the 'I' adds a playful touch, reinforcing the brand’s fun, carefree vibe. The typography is a bold sans serif, ensuring clarity and legibility. Taglines, packaging, and loyalty cards all incorporate humor and movement, creating a cohesive and engaging system that mirrors the brand’s lively personality, approachable, vibrant, and as irresistible as the food itself.
Sketches & Early Concepts
Initial explorations included playful Italian-inspired ideas, like a marathon-style torch runner reimagined as a chef holding a fork with spaghetti, and moped-based concepts to nod to Italian culture and speed. While these ideas were fun, they leaned too heavily into tradition. To truly solve the branding challenge, I pivoted away from stereotypical Italian visuals and embraced something more unfiltered and unexpected, which led to the bold, graphic treatment of the smashed tomato “O” with vivid orange juice splashing out.
Final Logo
The CIAO! logo captures the brand’s bold and unfiltered personality through playful, food-inspired letterforms. The smashed tomato “O,” with vivid orange juice splashing out, reflects the messy, craveable nature of to-go pasta. This custom element adds motion, flavor, and character while reinforcing the idea that this brand doesn’t play by traditional rules. Paired with a clean, modern sans serif typeface, the logo creates a strong contrast that feels fresh, energetic, and perfectly suited for a fast-paced, no-manners-needed kind of meal.
Typography & Color
The typeface chosen is a bold, modern sans serif that supports the expressive logo while keeping the overall identity clean and readable. It reflects the brand’s fast-paced, youthful energy and helps balance the more chaotic illustrated elements. When building the color palette, I avoided leaning too heavily into traditional Italian flag colors. Instead, I pulled tones directly from the food itself: rich tomato red, warm pasta yellow, and a vibrant green inspired by fresh ingredients. To bring contrast and create visual tension, I introduced a deep orange that feels fresh and unexpected. The result is a palette that feels flavorful, energetic, and built for grabbing attention.
Branding Applications
To bring the CIAO! brand into the real world, I created a set of supporting applications including a loyalty card, to-go box, branded t-shirt, and a landing page. Each piece was designed to carry the same bold, youthful energy as the core identity, using consistent typography, color, and tone to reinforce the brand’s personality across different touchpoints.
