For my Graphic Design class final we had to design our own food truck. This included the logo, employee T-shirts, menu, carry out box and, of course, the truck wrap itself. Being the good Marylander that I am, naturally I chose to design a crabcake truck! I wanted to incorporate the Maryland flag and colors into my design because here in Maryland we are obsessed with our state flag. I didn’t want to be too oblique with this theme though; I wanted to keep it classy. This is where my inspiration for Classy Crabcakes came from. This faux fancy crabcake truck is all about the bow tie. By keeping colors and imagery consistent across all platforms I am able to establish my brand.

I kept the logo simple by using only two colors and no shadows. When the logo appears on a black background I add a thick white stroke around the bow tie to keep things crisp and clean. For this project we learned about PANTONE, or spot, colors and had to use them for our T-shirts and carry out boxes. I have a version of my crab logo wearing a MD flag bow tie but used this sparingly. I made sure only to use the MD flag bow tie in instances where it would be large enough not to be too busy. For example I use it on the back of the truck and on the front of the employee T-shirts.

I had a great time creating the menu, even before I got the design aspect. I loved picking out my favorite locally brewed beers! The menu had to have a very specific trim size and live area with no bleed. For ease of reading and potential printing costs I kept my menu white and accented it with little black bow ties to create hierarchy. I kept my typefaces very consistent by only using font faces from the Rockwell family. I found Rockwell to be a very nice contrast to my hand lettered script for the logotype “Classy Crabcakes.” I created my own logotype because I was not satisfied with any of the script-like typefaces available to me. This proved to be quite a learning curve as I discovered the ins and outs of the pen tool as well as the importance of the pathfinder tool for cutting the holes in the letters.

Classy Crabcakes would make a great business venture for anyone willing to give us a try! We would fit in well anywhere in Maryland, from the Os and Ravens to outdoor weddings to OC and the OBX. This project definitely had me hungry the entire time! If you're interested in seeing more of my creative process (i.e. thumbnails and roughs), here is a link to my Classy Crabcakes Flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskJvy6KZ  Thanks for taking the time to check this out hon!