YANOUROS Cafe & Deli | Brand identity

You won’t find Yanouros in any dictionary - Greek or Italian. Yanouros is the result of cross-cultural banter between friends who dig at one another with mocking hand gestures and nonsense phrases. Over decades of friendship they have long enjoyed arguing about whose cuisine is better, whose accent sounds more ridiculous and whose beaches are the most beautiful.

Amidst a patriotic row the Italian exclaims one day in Mock-Greek, Gropios Yanouros! The phrase stuck, and has been kept alive between the two geysers for the last 38 years. Talk about beating a dead horse.

Inspired by Mediterranean charm, the word mark is fully hand-rendered and textured, along with variations that blend nostalgia and modernity. The sun icon is an homage to my Italian godfather’s sun tattoo that comes out of his bellybutton. Does anything else say Euro summer quite like that?