Skip to content
Maria Loureiro
Year
2023
Context
Academic collaboration, Aga Khan Foundation
Role
Identity Designer
Team
Three designers, with Maria Agrela and Marta Figueira

JóiadeÁfrica

An identity for an African cuisine restaurant that became a mobile catering station when the business model changed — designed, modelled and built as a working prototype.

Academic project · physical prototype

Jóia de África place mat mockup: an illustrated woman's profile in ochre, brown and red with the yellow Jóia logo

Challenge

It started as a restaurant rebrand. When the business moved away from a fixed venue, the identity had to live on something portable: a station that could be transported, set up and run independently.

Maria’s contribution

  • Identity design: handwritten Jóia wordmark and circular secondary mark
  • Graphic language drawn from African culture, warmth and community
  • Restaurant applications: place mats, menu, brochure, cards, apron
  • Station modelled in Blender, then built by hand as a physical prototype

Everything shown is shared work by a team of three; Maria's role was identity design. Restaurant applications are mockups; the station is a real prototype.

01Identity

A handwritten wordmark paired with a clean sans-serif, in warm yellow, ochre, red and deep brown.

Jóia de África primary logo with Cozinha Tradicional lettering, beside the circular Ja mark, in black
Primary logo and secondary mark.
Graphic element: abstract profile of a woman in brown, ochre and red on yellow
Graphic element: vertical band of red and yellow geometric pattern on ochre
The two graphic elements: an illustrated profile and a striped pattern.

02Applications

Place mat mockup with the striped pattern and the circular mark, cutlery in a denim pouch
Menu on a clipboard with the striped pattern and a yellow fork and knife
Ochre apron with the Jóia logo on a hanger
Tri-fold brochure with food photography and the illustrated profile
Business cards scattered on a grey surface, both sides visible
Menu, apron, brochure and business cards, shown as mockups.

03Process

The station was modelled in Blender first to work out the panels and compartments, then built by hand.

Blender render of the open station showing inner shelves
Blender render of the station with lid raised and strap attached
Blender render of the closed station decorated with the identity
Blender studies.
Hands painting yellow and red shapes onto a cork panel
Spray-painting a grey panel in the workshop
Fitting a leather strap and buckle to the cork-covered box
Gluing a strap onto the painted box
Pressing a painted panel onto the box during assembly
Painting and assembly.

04Final prototype

A box you can carry by its straps that opens into a small serving station, finished in the identity's colours.

Finished prototype: closed cork box with painted shapes and the Jóia logo on the lid
Finished prototype from the side with leather straps and buckle
Prototype opened up into a station with shelves and a raised back panel
A hand sliding a panel out of the open prototype
Closed for transport, open for service.