La Porteña | M8re Creative Services

La Porteña Chimichurri
project: ID/Brand & Packaging & Website
client: La Porteña
design: Matt Moore

Usually when a client comes to me with a laundry list of things they want to convey in their logo I have to be the "no" guy. I give them my "less is more" lecture and remind them people have the attention span of a gnat. This time I kept my mouth closed because the story and mythology of the family was fascinating. I soon realized I would be building on a family brand legacy rooted in antiquity.

As one of the most historical families in Italy the Viciconte family has always been up to something interesting. Their ruling class had an interesting symbology as well - an image of a dragon eating a human. You may have seen it on the iconic Alfa Romeo logo. The image goes back even further and some historians say the origin is more likely a snake - as in the Ouroboros (snake eating itself). It is also likely the human figure is not being eaten but being born from the snake.

In our version the man is a woman and the snake head abstraction opens like a ripe fruit at the will of the venus archetype. Are they menacing teeth or are they peppers or flames? They can be any of those. Either way we wanted it to seem a little more dangerous than your usual products on the shelf. My bet is that people that like chimichurri also like adventure. The figure is dynamic but simple so it reduces well. I even threw in the "V." Of course we realize people are not going to understand any of this when they see the logo and for us that is fine. I believe we are drawn to what we don't understand. Marketers fail to recognize this so they pander to trend. You don't see many logos like Alfa Romeo today. Mystery and marketing are words you don't hear in the same sentence very often and I think it is interesting. Back when I was in a large agency I was taught the magic arts. You know... Every successful ad plays on one or more of the three things always on our mind. 1) Sex, 2)Food, 3) Death. If you know they play these and can see the puppet masters at work you realize how powerful the formula is. I think there is one underlying theme in all of these that goes unnoticed and underplayed and that is mystery. It is what makes life worth living. It is what draws us in. What's the fun of having it all figured out?