Su Mathews Hale Logo More Extensible And Loses The Apostrophe
Louisville KY-based pizza chain Papa Johns has unveiled a new logo, look, and store design as it moves away from its controversial founder and former chief John Schnatter. The brand refresh emphasizes premium ingredients, streamlines the pizza chain’s look, and the restaurant design makes significant changes reflecting how customers order pies.
The logo, designed by agency Su Mathews Hale, removes the green border and pizza banner up top, as well as eliminates the apostrophe. The new wordmark now reads ‘Papa Johns,’ set in the updated red from the new color palette that the brand says is inspired by its pizza ingredients. The pared-down logo is said to make it more extensible and easily presented stacked, stretched or in physical spaces such as store signage or pizza boxes, as well as digitally on its app and social media.
Additionally, London-based forpeople created a new visual identity system, including a custom font developed with foundry Colophon. The new font is more organic, and is reportedly inspired by how fresh pizza dough pulls and stretches as it is formed and flattened. The updated palette retains the core red and green but gives them a tweak, as Tangy Tomato and Fresh Basil. Other colors include off-white Fluffy Dough, light purple Punchy Garlic, and yellow-green Pickled Pepperoncini, reinforcing the premium ingredients.
As part of the update, Papa Johns also enlisted the services of Big Red Rooster to standardize its store designs, adding a self-service option and drive-up lanes. Stores will also feature open layouts where customers can see their pizzas as they get prepared. This new format is meant to remind customers of the brand’s premium products and convey warmth in a modern way.
