Order’s up! Swimming in type, stickers, and gut, Red Antler serves up a ripper of a rebrand for Fuku

Fuku is a bit of an institution. The birth of the restaurant is tied to David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar in East Village, where the Fuku spicy sando was first debuted, going on to quickly become a cult favourite and earning its own restaurant, Fuku. Nearly a decade after it launched, the restaurant chain was ready for a design shake-up, and it reached out to branding and design agency, Red Antler, to show them the ropes. When it came to the facelift, the wordmark was already dripping with brand recognition, so it only needed slight tweaks and not a complete overhaul. “We didn’t want to create a completely new mark – that didn’t feel right spiritually. When it comes to rebrands, you have to evaluate what to carry through because you’re never starting from a blank canvas,” Creative Director Devry Drosky tells us. The team chose to keep the lowercase condensed sans, and dial up the details. They got rid of the italics, and made light-handed adjustments to the characters to bring in a modern edge. “Scalability and recognition were important considerations in landing the final result,” adds Drosky. “How does the wordmark translate through signage? How does it reduce down in smaller branded moments? And does it maintain its impact? The previous mark was lacking in that impactful presence, especially at varying scales.” The Fuku brand is all about a sense of no-nonsense honesty and this is felt in the logo – a literal chicken sandwiched between the buns. The design doesn’t leave you scratching your head, but tells you what you need to know quite simply, but effectively. “There’s a frankness and simplicity we wanted to celebrate. This attitude extends to our tone of voice, with lines like ‘take it or take it’ embracing the no-nonsense ethos of New York City,” says Drosky.