Location: Fortim, Brazil
Role: Freelance Brand Designer
Team: Just Me ☺
Timeline: September 2025
The Brief
Raízes is a restaurant and collaborative event space opened by French expat Vanessa Abras in the beachside city of Fortim, Brazil. The vision behind Raízes is to serve fresh farm-to-table meals utilizing exclusively locally-sourced ingredients, while acting as a gathering space where residents and vacationers can attend art and wellness events. While the vision was clear, the brand identity left by the previous owners of the space left a lot to be desired. In September 2025 Vanessa decided it was time for a total revamp in order to attract a more diverse clientele.
Challenges
Time Constraints: I met the owner of Raízes while backpacking through the northeast of Brazil and only planned to stay in the city of Fortim for one month. That meant that I needed to follow a tight timeline in order to complete the project before my departure.
Appealing to the Right Audience: Fortim is a tiny town with an older population and more traditional values. In order to attract a younger clientele (primarily vacationers and young relatives of French expats), the visual identity needed to stand apart from the typical local businesses.
Objectives
Create a brand identity that would bring color, vibrancy, and personality to Raízes
Develop a bright, saturated color palette inspired by the fruits and veggies on the menu
Incorporate punchy, playful graphic elements in order to carve out a unique presence
Design a cohesive identity to extend from the logo to the restaurant interior and beyond
Utilize the new brand identity to help Raízes strengthen their social media presence
Brand Mark
The root acts as a versatile symbol that can be used to create patterns, outline photos, and add colorful elements to digital marketing materials, print collateral, social media, and more!
