Brook is a Montreal-based pizzeria and café with a focus on the New York style slice. The project was initiated by Toby Bouchard, a master brewer who found himself liking the detour he took of fermenting dough shortly after setting up his own first brewery. Brook aims to become a staple in the neighborhood by serving food made from high quality ingredients.

With a lifelong DIY ethos he carried with him since his days in the punk rock scene, Toby approached me to conceive the brand while he was building the shop himself early in 2021.

The brand was meant to simultaneously reflect the irreverence of the DIY approach that sparked the project, a uncompromising kind of transparency towards the commitment to quality as well as the energy with which they intend to make a mark in their community.

The result is an identity comprised of a heavy charismatic wordmark that breathes of a warm familiarity yet feels structured; a characterisic tagline block that geometrically symbolizes the mission of the shop as well as pragmatically providing the location, all paired with a minimal design direction.

The juxtaposition of a classique grotesque, texturally stretched type, a stark colorway and punctual tension articulates a brand that has a blue-collar rugged appeal while having an upbeat yet irreverent attitude to it.