Ramsey’s Branding Nightmares

I’m not sure that accessibility standards in design were as much of a big deal in 2011 when this logo was designed, but that green type on red must have been headache-y to someone, even back then.

The gradient certainly demands attention though. As Gordon says: ‘Look at that, wow, you can see it from miles away’. Yep.

The owner Dr Una Morris also says ‘Now there is no way anyone can miss the sign’. Yep.

From very early on Gordon is not having Flamangos as a restaurant name. ‘Are you fucking crazy’ he says of it. Well, what’s a better name then, huh? I tell what is: The Junction. According to Gordon anyway. 

‘How appropriate is that?’ he says. ‘No more mangos’ he also says, on the big reveal of the name and logo.

He really, really likes the new name: ‘Junction means trains. But junction also means coming together.’

While I agree that ‘junction’ does indeed mean trains (to a 3-year-old at least), the logo is a bit lacking for me. Co-owner Adele is on the same page as I, when she says of the new branding: ‘I’m not happy about the name’ and going on to state ‘I don’t like blue.’

I do like blue though, and mangos too, for that matter.

Every so often you see and piece of graphic design that undoes all the positive achievements the iMac has made in our industry. 

Gordon was very enthusiastic about this one as he pulls the giant cloak down. ‘Look at that’ he says. We can’t look anywhere else Gordon.

He goes on to say of it: ‘Inviting, sumptuous, rich and clear,’ as though he’s giving a social media pep talk to Kim Kardashian.

Like a logo made by an 11-year-old boy, the distressed treatment on the new Mama Maria’s logo more screams ‘Stay out of my bedroom’ than fine Italian dining. 

In fairness, to quote Gordon the original sign did look ‘Like an eyesoar’.
I also agree with Gordon when he says of the new logo: ‘It says a lot first impressions, let me tell you’. You tell em Gordon.

Nothing says ‘hot potato’ like the colour sky blue. And we all know sky blue and bright red have always been the Pantone book’s answer to Sonny & Cher. The lower case h and p compliment the uppercase C (in the word Cafe) horribly and I’d be damned if that type is centred in the box it sits in. Gordon doesn’t agree with me though, asking the owners: ‘Doesn’t that look amazing? Isn’t it gorgeous?’

A close contender for the worst logo (of all time), this is only at number three in this list because the episode features a reviewer describing the restaurant as ‘Spuddy Hell’. 

Nothing makes an impact like the typeface, Impact. This logo says it all: fork, spoon, knife. 

There’s no doubt this logo is more striking than the previous one but I’d be worried motorists might stop in their tracks thinking this is a classic American stop sign, rather than a classic American restaurant. 

As Gordon fawns over the new logo he beams: ‘The first time I drove past it, I couldn’t even see the logo, we can see it now.’ 

We certainly can, Gordon.

When designing a Mexican restaurant’s logo there are a few things you must do: 

 ●  Find the most horrible typeface Da Font can serve up: Check

 ●  Outline that font with a nice thick, yellow stroke: Check

 ●  Throw as many colours as you can in the mix but be sure they don’t sit well together: Check

 ●  Create an icon so fiddly nobody could ever remember it: Check

Gordon was no fan of the original logo, rhetorically asking ‘what the fuck is that?’ at the start of the episode.

So keen is he to reveal the new logo, he waits until the end of service of re-launch night to show the owners the new branding outside. As the owners are looking at the new logo in tears, Gordon says he has the customers in mind: ‘We changed it so that when they park in front of the restaurant they know where they are eating’. Fair enough. 

Pointing at the logo he goes on: ‘Everybody who drove here tonight, saw that’. Gulp.

Fiesta Sunrise closed in September 2008.