Logo for Blue Moose in New Hope, PA

If you live in the Bucks County area and have never eaten at Blue Moose Restaurant and Cafe on Mechanic Street in New Hope, you should jot it down for your next dinner outing. It was started about 6 years ago by Skylar Bird when he was still in his teens, as the area’s first youth-run restaurant. He learned cooking skills first from his family, then apprenticed at a cafe in Lyon, France, and finally studied at Manhattan’ s French Culinary Institute. His restaurant is stunningly successful, and very reasonably priced for its farm-fresh and delicious offerings.  I can’t recommend it highly enough!

I drew the first logo for his restaurant when it opened, and my son, who is friends with Skylar, waitered there for a time.  The first logo, which Skylar wanted to look fun and bold, was this:

which was also used on signage outside the restaurant:

Over time and with Skylar’s upgrading of the menu and atmosphere, the name shortened to just ‘Blue Moose.’ With a lot of revitalization going on in New Hope and the renowned Bucks County Playhouse just a short walk away, Skylar was recently offered another opportunity to expand. His staff will create small meals for take out, for sale in shops near the Playhouse, under his new brand “Moose on the Loose.”

Skylar called me to discuss a related logo, and suggested the wonderful idea of a moose on a vespa. His restaurant partner, Kate, also thought including a hedgehog would be fun, so I sent them an initial sketch –

Skylar & Kate liked it and suggested using the colors on their website, a navy and tan, for the art. I did a quick color sketch and felt that navy, tan and a 50% of the navy would work –

With some tweaks to the drawing, we came up with the finished image, and I’m looking forward to picking up some of their great food on the go, next time I’m in New Hope!