Founded by Phil Romano in 1996, Eatzi’s is not your typical grocer. Eatzi’s are only located in the DFW area. They’re designed to bring a European market atmosphere to the grocery experience. The hanging cured meats, the fresh selection of cheeses and wines, and yes, the graphic design all contribute to theme.

The color palette of red and white is simple, but eye-catching. The original logo incorporated yellow and green to capture Phil Romano’s Italian heritage.

So with two shapes and two colors, how does the designer grab our attention?

Contrast.

First, note the combination of serif and sans-serif fonts. Then the blend of capital and lower case letters. Interesting design choice here, the lower case serif-font dominates, while the all caps san-serif font supports the main text above.

Alright, one more bit of contrast that I noticed late, the kerning. The main text’s kerning is tight, but balanced, as it spreads across the oval. The support text kerning is wider, giving an elegant feel to the sans-serif font. This is my interpretation of course. A graphic design uber-expert may disagree.

With limited resources a graphic designer must pull from all their tools – form, typography, content and concept. Whoever designed the Eatzi’s logo, mission accomplished.