EMILIO’S BALLATO

EMILIO’S BALLATO REBRAND
A brand overhaul with real roots.

Emilio’s Ballato is a classic Italian restaurant located in NYC. The restaurant is known, especially among its celebrity guests, for its delicious recipes that make you feel like you’re having Sunday dinner with somebody’s Italian grandma. Despite their great reputation, their current branding is disconnected and blends right in with their competitors.

UPDATED LOGOS

TYPOGRAPHY

UPDATED COLOR PALETTE

Emilio’s Ballato’s current branding blends in with their competition. Sure, red makes sense for italian restaurants, and sure, Emilio’s is well-known as NYC’s “red sauce joint.” As it turns out, they find that term cheapening.

“Yeah we make a great red sauce, but we also make a lot of other great food.”
– Anthony Vitolo, head chef and Emilio’s son

BRANDED ELEMENTS

RESEARCH: CURRENT BRANDING

The restaurant, formerly associated with John Ballato, has been operated by Emilio Vitolo and his family for 33 years. Despite this, the restaurant includes wordmarks with only “Ballato,” hereby diminishing Emilio and his family’s presence. It became essential for me to include “Emilio’s” in each logo in the rebrand.

MOODBOARD

By uniting elements of Emilio’s Naples roots throughout the restaurant, we can create an almost overwhelming sense of family at Emilio’s Ballato. Note the beautiful blue waters of Naples and their infamous pottery that inspired my design.

CREDITS

Aleah Jones; design
Aleah Jones; concepting
Aleah Jones; a little copy
Aleah Jones; immersive researcher (ate their chicken parm)
Aleah Jones; patron (picked up the bill to get CC points)
Aleah Jones; Beli reviewer

back to my work

back to top

next up

aleahejones@gmail.com