Saint-Urbain’s identity for Emmy Squared Pizza revolves around “strange little pizza cannibals”

Launched in New York in 2016 as an extension of Emily and Matthew Hyland’s Pizza Loves Emily family of restaurants, Emmy Squared Pizza is the duo’s take on classic Detroit-stye pizza – a rectangular-shaped cousin of the traditional circular base we know and love with a crispy bottom, fluffy dough, cheesy ‘frico’ crust and stripes of sauce. The restaurant chain has developed somewhat of a cult following, not only for its squared pizzas but also for its award-winning double-stacked burger ‘Le Big Matt,’ as well as its selection of salads, pretzel bun sandwiches and NYC-style circular pizzas. Tasked with rebranding Emmy Squared Pizza with a cohesive identity system fit for its growth across eight US locations, NYC-based creative agency Saint-Urbain devised a straightforward yet playful typographic solution with illustration at its core. “The owner had made a couple of napkin drawings of strange little pizza cannibals, seen eating little burgers and mini pizzas,” Creative Director Alex Ostroff tells us, “they were genius – we love them and there was no debate in not keeping this illustration style exactly as is.” Despite the lo-fi, amateurish nature of their inception, the drawings possess a distinct and memorable character; stealing the show across pizza boxes, drinks cans, sauce jars, delivery vans and more. Futura Extra Bold behaves as the centrepiece of Saint Urbain’s typographic approach, which when paired with Roboto and BN Bergen makes for a well-balanced selection that intentionally lands somewhere in the middle of casual and high-end. The typefaces work together in a plethora of unmistakably American layouts, packed with curves, diagonals, outlines and symmetry. Alongside black, white and a sparingly-used yellow, Saint-Urbain chose dark green as the restaurant’s primary colour. “It makes the illustrations appear delicate and noticeable at the same time,” Ostroff explains, adding that “it really pops against a messy pizza or plate of tasty wings.”