De Luca’s – A Little Italy on the Prairies


[categories-list]

The De Luca’s family have given the city of Winnipeg a place to gather and enjoy a taste of Italy and Italian culture since 1969. Beyond a neighbourhood café and restaurant, coffee roaster, cooking classroom, and wholesale warehouse – what De Luca’s has always offered, is an invitation into a family, a home, and a world of knowledge about food. The atmosphere at the De Luca’s Market is relaxed, familial, timeless, comfortable, product-focused, diverse and incredibly well-curated. Today the Deluca’s family own two distinct shops, and as the family has grown, they have ventured into event- focused programming and extensive wholesale expansion to meet the demand.

 

Photos by Pauline Boldt.

As of 2017, 26 Projects has been engaged to bring a refreshed look to the brand through updated typography, an engaging digital presence, captivating food and lifestyle photography, and seasonally-focused and general print materials. Through a classic yet modern lens and art direction, we developed new food and lifestyle photography to represent the brand and animate the interior spaces of both market locations. Our ambition to amplify the scope of their communications led to the creation of digital marketing and print materials, and a revitalized website to bring their loyal audience closer to the brand.

A New Online Presence

Working within the existing website architecture, we designed a new homepage composed of a dynamic grid of portals. The website’s navigation was restructured and content was amalgamated, creating refined navigation and ease of access. A grid based on existing interior page proportions was kept and we converted the site’s existing tone from dark to light.

Our work on De Luca’s digital platforms guided our approach to several unique seasonal print pieces. These pieces featured holiday recipes and promotions expanding the reach of De Luca’s marketing material.

Elevated Labels for Elevated Product

A significant task for 26 Projects involved assessing all existing packaging lines with the goal of finding cohesion between several representations of the brand. We created a simple label design that highlighted the product name through the use of typography. The typography defines each flavour and a single dividing line grounds the title and can be adapted to various label sizes and products. The label design that resulted is simple, clean, and ultimately recognizable.