Pràctica’s identity for plant-based kebab shop Good Shit reimagines bold vegan branding

With plant-based diets booming in recent years, it’s easier than ever before to find vegan options at almost every pub, cafe, restaurant and supermarket. The shelves are lined with health-conscious, planet-friendly brands jostling for your attention. The packaging carries thoughtful messaging around nutrition, environmental concerns and animal welfare, encouraging shoppers to give the product a go for their own sake and everyone else’s. This kind of rhetoric works for most people, and yet not everyone responds as positively – some don’t want to feel as though they are being “lectured” about their food choices. For these people, more subtle encouragement goes a long way, and this was clear to a brand like Good Shit, Vegan Kebabs, whose entire identity has been built around humour and honesty, without the “do-goodism” these types of consumers usually associate with vegan brands.

Situated in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Good Shit was founded at the beginning of last year, offering city dwellers plant-based kebabs, which – whilst still not the healthiest option out there – are a far sight better than the alternative. But, before opening their doors to the public, they needed a name and identity that could communicate this straightforward ethos in an accessible way. Enlisting the help of local advertising agency Usted and design studio Pràctica, they began by establishing a suitable name for their eatery. “Good Shit, Vegan Kebabs” said everything they needed it to, and it got right to the heart of the issue, making it clear that the kebabs were plant-based, that they were still fast food (hence the “shit”), but that they were also consciously-made and really tasty.

The next step was to develop an identity that visually reflected these values. “Good Shit needed to express much more than just the idea of selling kebabs – the issue behind it is very serious: the survival of the entire planet. So, the activism is there, but the idea was to present it in a light-hearted way,” explains Pràctica’s co-founder Anna Berbiela. Taking inspiration from other pro-vegan movements, the studio chose to lean on the art of protest for the brand’s visuals. Using “the wide universe of expressive and spontaneous protest graphics”, they created a typographic system that referenced “the concept of activism” without allowing it to dominate the overall look and feel. Hand-drawn lettering made using spray paint, brushes and posca marker pens were digitised and applied to Good Shit’s messaging across its shop, website and social channels.

In order to counterbalance this, a Times New Roman-inspired typeface called Stanley was used for the wordmark, contrasting with the evocative lettering elsewhere by bringing a sense of calm to the identity and a more “sober tone”. Reinforcing the idea that Good Shit is serious about the issues at hand, Pràctica also opted for a black and white colour palette – not only to convey professionalism, but also for practical, sustainable reasons. “We are talking about a vegan kebab company, so it didn’t make any sense to go crazy on printing when one of their main goals is to reduce emissions,” Anna tells us. “So black and white printing over any sort of material seemed like a good solution.” She goes on: “However, to avoid monotony on the digital side, we chose five key colours to give rhythm and a stronger sense of identity.”

Together, these elements create a brand that is “able to connect with a young, non-vegan audience with misconceptions regarding such products”. In doing so, Good Shit takes an important step forward from the excessively friendly marketing made famous by brands such as Innocent Drinks, which communicate loudly without actually saying anything meaningful. Instead, they are to-the-point and honest. They don’t shy away from the fact that the food they are serving is junk food, but they also do a good job of letting you know that it’s not all that bad.