Carla Palette’s brand for Romeo’s, with chunky text and juicy sandos, might make your tummy grumble

Romeo’s is Berlin’s first dedicated sandwich shop, and as the first, it wanted to do things a bit differently than normal fast-food shops. For its identity, the brand wanted both a bit of the past and the present – namely, an aesthetic that takes notes from old-school advertising, and then flips it on its head. Romeo’s needed a creative who was cut for the challenge and so, they decided to collaborate with designer Carla Palette. “The visual direction of Romeo’s is inspired by old-school advertising aesthetics, particularly vintage fast-food marketing as well as fast food culture. The brand draws from nostalgic visual styles while modernising them to create a fresh, sophisticated take on fast food. The combination of bold typography, a classic serif, and a nostalgic yet refined colour palette reinforces this connection,” Palette tells us. As she tells us, the research focused on classic fast-food typography, colour psychology, and witty advertising slogans, with influences from brands like McDonald’s and Burger King, as well as pop culture references – especially Romeo and Juliet – to shape the brand’s playful yet bold tone of voice. Taking visual cues from vintage fast-food branding and olden advertising trends, particularly from the 1970s-1990s, Palette opted for a confident typographic approach that cuts the fluff and gets to the point. “The bold, type-based approach was chosen to align with classic advertising aesthetics, making a strong visual statement while keeping the brand simple, direct, and instantly recognisable,” she adds. “By focusing on typography rather than overly complex graphics or imagery, Romeo’s leans into the timeless appeal of vintage fast-food branding, where typography played a crucial role in brand identity and messaging.”