Luci
Luci is a lively Italian restaurant and bakery in Covent Garden. While their core branding was already defined, with a strong logo and font, it didn’t reflect the warmth and personality of the dining experience itself. My role was to evolve the brand without reinventing it, refining how it shows up across every touchpoint, from packaging and print to digital and loyalty.
role
Lead Brand Designer
scope
Visual Identity
Digital Design
Print & Packaging
Art Direction
The Challenge – A Disconnect Between Brand and Experience
Luci’s visual assets, especially the dark orange and minimalist layouts, felt too corporate, which clashed with what it’s actually like to dine there: sunny, expressive, and full of energy. There was a clear gap between the brand perception and real-world experience, which also made it harder to extend the identity into marketing and loyalty efforts.
We needed to evolve the brand system, not by changing what was already working, but by unlocking more expressive potential from within it.
The Strategic Response – Activate Existing Assets with a Systems Lens
Rather than introducing new logos or fonts, I reframed how Luci’s existing brand could flex and adapt across use cases. Using systems thinking, I treated every touchpoint, print, digital, social, loyalty, as part of a connected brand experience. That meant focusing on how elements behave across contexts, not just how they look in isolation.
Palette Rebalance: I shifted the visual emphasis away from the heavy burnt orange and elevated the lighter, sunny yellow paired with cream and striped accents, evoking light, warmth, and a relaxed Italian feel.
Illustration Language: I introduced playful, hand-drawn illustrations to add charm and soften the typography-heavy layouts.
Layout & Type System: I developed more dynamic, human-centric layouts that felt more aligned with Luci’s tone: energetic but elegant.
A Brand That Lives in Every Detail
One of the examples of this new direction was the Afternoon Tea experience. I designed the menu as a vinyl record sleeve, complete with playful copy and a QR code linking to a playlist curated by the chef, turning a simple meal into a multi-sensory experience. This was more than decoration; it connected Luci’s visual identity with how customers feel and interact in the space.
Club Luci – Making Loyalty Feel Like Belonging
When it came to Luci’s new loyalty programme, Club Luci, I made sure it became a natural extension of the brand.
I designed a full campaign system across:
Emails, social posts & animations
In-store touchpoints (postcards, vouchers, flyers)
Packaging
A dedicated landing page, where I created a full Framer prototype to show a more intuitive, engaging user journey
Outcome – A Cohesive, Flexible, and More Expressive Luci
The refreshed identity made Luci feel more like itself, expressive, friendly, and emotionally aligned with its physical space. Guests recognised the warmth instantly, while staff and internal teams found it easier to apply the brand across different materials.
This wasn’t a reinvention, it was an activation. The system worked harder across channels, scaling from printed menus to digital interfaces, from a QR-code vinyl menu to a personalised loyalty journey.
Reflection – Strategic Brand Systems at Work
This project helped me approach branding as a living system, where every decision shapes how users feel, behave, and return. It taught me that strong identities aren’t made with new logos, they’re built through cohesion, intentionality, and the ability to adapt with personality intact.