Bonehead

The team at Birmingham's cult fried chicken spot Bonehead came to us with a clear ambition: evolve the brand without losing the raw energy that made it what it is. The goal wasn't reinvention, it was refinement. To take eight years of credibility, chaos and cult status, and shape it into something sharper, more cohesive and built to travel.

Bonehead already holds a rare position. Loved by the alternative scene and respected across global hospitality circles, its reputation stretches far beyond Birmingham through collaborations and pop-ups. The challenge was to unify that presence: to create a single identity system that feels just as at home in a dive bar as it does alongside world-class operators, so wherever Bonehead appears it is instantly recognisable and impossible to ignore.

We started with discovery. Conversations, references and mood boards pulling from MTV, black metal artwork, He-Man and classic wrestling culture. That collision gave us the foundation for a new identity: a logo mark rooted in Bonehead's ties to metal, and a character system built around a new central mascot, Bonehead the Barbarian.

Contrast was the key principle. Bonehead has to feel at home in a dive bar and stand confidently next to some of the best chefs and operators in the world, so we built the system to be modular. It can be cranked all the way up or dialled right back depending on the setting, like a Marshall JCM 800 at full volume or sitting perfectly in the mix.

With the identity locked, we built out the world. A new website that carries the full energy of the brand while guiding people through the menu, the story and ecommerce. A launch merch range at full power. And the identity rolled across every touchpoint, from posters and neon signage to menus, packaging and stickers.

Then content. Bonehead already had strong food photography, but the atmosphere was missing: the queues down the road, the packed-out nights, the mix of creatives, musicians and industry people that make the place what it is. From Jason Momoa dropping in for a Bonehead signature cocktail to late-night parties and merch drops, we captured Bonehead as a cultural hub, not just a place to eat.

• Full brand identity system including logo suite, palette, typography and visual language

• New menu design

• New website design and build

• Social-first video content for launch

• Social assets and captions

A brand world that finally matches the Bonehead experience. In its first five days the new site pulled 1.5k unique visitors and 4.8k pageviews, close to half the old site's entire monthly traffic in under a week, with a 36.9% bounce rate and a 2m 13s average session. Strong numbers for hospitality, and a Birmingham institution that now looks as good as it tastes.