Dante came to us with a name, a product and a feeling: the corner shop in Italy where buying socks comes with an espresso and a conversation. The job was to turn that feeling into a brand that could hold up on a waistband, a flyer and a bus shelter without losing its charm.
We built the identity over two concept rounds in eleven weeks. A flowing script wordmark carries the romance. A stacked mark pairs an ornamental script with a condensed serif for packaging and signage. The DMS monogram sits in an oval for web and social, and comes out of it wherever it needs to be stitched. A serif type system and a palette led by Ivy Green and Newspaper White borrow from old Italian storefronts.
Then we drew the world around it. The brand's character, modelled on Dante's father, shows up in a suit, in his boxers and with an espresso in hand. The shop facade was drawn once and built in layers, so the same street can appear simplified at small sizes or fully dressed for a campaign, laundry line, café table, vintage car and all.
We handed over a complete brand kit with usage guidelines, in-situ applications from flyers and posters to letterhead, and the social graphics for his launch feed, so Dante opened with a brand that already had a story behind it.
