Dirty Habit
Devised as an intimate hideaway at the world's technology epicenter , Dirty Habit is a culinary provocateur that began five floors above San Francisco's SOMA district and soon expanded to Washington DC’s Penn Quarter. Concepted for those seeking an inventive and sociable drinking and dining atmosphere, Dirty Habit plays host to shareable, seasonal cuisine and a creative craft cocktail menu. Whether in SF’s film noir-inspired dining room or DC’s light-filled atrium, the brand promises you can revel in your new Dirty Habit.
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Trendsetting, Past and Present
The original noir-esque identity creates a connection between San Francisco's mysterious past and trendsetting present, lending itself to symbolism that extends from the linear type treatment. It's the first cue in the brand's edgy connection to the city's colorful past. For the DC adaptation, the logo design elevates the city’s masonic history via an ambiguous new short-form, pulling the curtain back on DC’s conservative exterior to reveal its salacious underbelly.
All the Dirty Details
FINE orchestrated all the nuanced components of the Dirty Habit brand, from name, overall attitude, and logo, to exterior signage, menus, and staff uniforms. Work for the initial San Francisco location spanned design and barware selection; new and vintage coasters; drink tokens and feather pens; and, of course, business cards, print collateral, website landing page, and a guiding document, intriguingly titled “Dirty Habit Spirit Bible."
Exposing the Conspiracy
To make the brand DC-centric, design builds tension through captivating photography inspired by infamous conspiracy theories. These images tell a titillating story throughout menus, postcards, and business cards. The city’s notoriously mysterious grid is leveraged on check presenters, concealing the bill within a custom-designed box to provoke a sense of speculation. Guests even clean up after dining with “dirty soap,” as permission for the uninhibited.
Location Allure
With San Francisco’s fifth-floor location, a speakeasy-styled sign at street level hits the right balance of mystery and temptation to attract customers attention upward. In DC, photo booths designed like vintage voting booths give guests a virtually anything goes hideout, for those private moments that are captured, documented, and as lasting as an official ballot.
“Private” Browsing
A must for the tech elite, Dirty Habit's handcrafted website sheds some light on their approach while leaving a little of the visual mystery. It's fully responsive, suited to a crowd that's embedded in their phones, and highlights press from publications as varied as Thrillist and Conde Nast. DC’s web presence builds on the brand’s digital beginning, showcasing gothic-inspired imagery and a dark color palette, with custom-copy that crafts a provocative narrative similar to that told through brand collateral. Whether in San Francisco or DC, guests are seduced into uncovering the secrets that lie within—perhaps even revealing their own.
