“Sur La Mer” is a food truck/cafe located by the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. It specializes in pastries and artisanal coffees, with a French influence, inspired by the chef’s training in French cafes. The Basement Labs handled the project from Brand naming to branding, illustration, brand application, packaging, and brand strategy.

The name “Sur La Mer”, meaning “By the Sea”, is inspired by the location of the food truck/cafe, looking out at the Bosphorus, but also the city it’s located in, as Istanbul is surrounded by sea (Marmara Sea, Black Sea, and Bosphorus), giving the city life and character, which is reflected in the logo’s typography.

The colour palette and the style of the illustrations were chosen to reflect the french influence, using romantic, elongated, elegant figures, coloured in red, white, and blue (taken from the french flag), but with a Turkish twist, setting the characters to drink the famous Turkish tea, or have a bite of simit or watching a dervish.

The application and tone of voice maintained the french influence, using the colours of the french flag (white, red, and blue) as well as taglines such as “Made with l’amour” and “Experience l’amore at first sip”

For this project, we commissioned the multi-talented illustrator Arwa Ramadan to do the illustrations, which exceeded our expectations and imaginations and consulted with designers Ahmed Ramadan who helped our team tremendously in refining the logo, and Mohammed Badaam, who helped with the mockups and feedback.