Roots is a food truck based in San Francisco. We work with local farms, restaurants, and grocery stores to collect all of the ugly, unwanted produce that can’t be sold and use it for our ingredients.

PROBLEM

I wanted to find a solution to food waste in California. There are about 3 billion pounds of produce wasted every year in California alone. As well as 1 out of 5 veggies and fruits, are too ugly to sell. I wanted to focus on these issues and create a food truck that helped minimize food waste. 

SOLUTION

I created a food truck, Roots, and their main goal is help reduce food waste by using unwanted, ugly produce.

SKILLS

Branding
Illustration

PROGRAMS

Illustrator
Indesign
Photoshop

PROCESS LOGOS

From the very beginning I liked Roots in a fluid, cursive typeface and since I created ugly vegetable illustrations I wanted to test how they would work together. In the end I decided to use the illustrations differently.

FINAL LOGO

When designing the logo I wanted a playful, fresh typeface that expressed the values of my food truck, but also one that was cohesive with the colorful and “ugly” produce illustrations that can be seen throughout the packaging and other brand items. Pacifico regular was the perfect font, but I added smooth transitions between each letter.

FOOD TRUCK DESIGN

Roots menu is always changing based off of the produce we collect each day. Therefore it was important to have an easy way to show and change the menu. Having a chalkboard made it easy to make those menu changes, but it also played into Roots environment friendly, veggie loving attitude.

PACKAGE DESIGN

Food packaging was an important aspect in this project. Similar to the other choices made, this design needed to feel cohesive with the rest of the brand. I created a pattern with the produce illustrations for a sleeve that would cover each item. This is a constant reminder for the customer to remember the message of Roots, and the importance of “ugly” produce .

In retrospect I would have loved to use a more environmentally friendly packaging material instead of plastic.