Creating a new identity with an old soul.
Creating a colourful, character-led identity for MARAIS Bistro.Bar – inspired by the visual language of another era and reinterpreted for a contemporary Aarhus restaurant.
MARAIS is a bistro and bar in Aarhus bringing together Middle Eastern and Parisian influences with roots in the north.
They wanted an identity that felt colourful, playful and a little unexpected — something with enough personality to become part of the experience rather than simply sitting around it.
I approached the project by imagining MARAIS as a place that had already been there for decades.
Something familiar. Something strange.
The visual direction takes cues from the expressive typography and graphic language of the 70s and 80s, reinterpreted through a contemporary lens.
The custom wordmark became the centre of the identity: bold, geometric and deliberately unconventional.
Rather than creating something perfectly polished, the aim was to give MARAIS character — an identity that could feel strangely familiar without belonging to one specific era.
Colour as part of the experience.
A vivid palette of blue, turquoise, green and orange pushes the identity away from traditional restaurant branding. If you visit, you'll see.
Combined with warm, tactile photography, the colours create a world that feels energetic and social while still leaving space for the food, drinks and people to take centre stage.
Designed to live.
The identity was built to move naturally between the different parts of the restaurant – menus, social, events, print and everyday communication.
The bold typography can be stretched, cropped, and combined with photography, allowing the system to change constantly without losing recognition.
That flexibility gives MARAIS a visual language that feels less like a fixed set of brand guidelines and more like something the restaurant can continue to make its own.
A little nostalgic. A little strange. Very much alive.
Scope
Brand Identity · Logo Design · Art Direction · Digital Design
