Case Study
Off The RecordA Vinyl Bar and Rotating Kitchen
ROLE
Brand Strategy, Visual Identity, Naming
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Logan Square, Chicago
TYPE
Concept Development
01-The Opportunity
Chicago has great restaurants and bars, but few places that intentionally blur the line between the two
The Gap
Logan Square has become one of Chicago’s most exciting neighbourhoods for food and drink, but it’s still missing a certain kind of vibe. Somewhere where the food is intentional and impressive, the vinyl is real and the vibe is comfortable enough that you stay longer than you planned.
Off the Record fills that gap. A vinyl bar and rotating kitchen inspired by London’s private member creative clubs, designed to feel like a Brooklyn transplant with the community and warmth of Chicago’s culture.
The Challenge
Building a hospitality brand from scratch means solving several problems at the same time: establishing credibility before you open the doors, creating programming that appeals to locals and attracts return customers, and developing visual language that signals “Brooklyn feel” without feeling forced or performative.
Logan Square audiences are design-literate and won’t hesitate to call out a fake.
02- Approach
The Residency Model
The concept centers on The Residency- a rotating chef model that brings new culinary creatives into the space seasonally while keeping the soul of the room consistent. This model creates a platform for emerging chefs, or a travel experience for established chegs from all over the world, and gives guests an exciting passport of food cultures from around the world.
For Chefs
A low-risk space to experiment and play outside of their main project. No lease, no buildout, just creativity and expression. Residencies rotate seasonally (3-4 months), long enough to develop a real menu.
For Guests
A reason to return, to stay invested and never get bored. The room and people stay familiar but the taste stays fresh. Each residency brings a different cultural and culinary point of view while the Vinyl keeps spinning. Favourite recipes from each chef can be brought back into Sunday family style meals, future cooking classes, or brought back for special events.
For the Brand
Ongoing content and collaboration opportunities without requiring a single culinary identity. The restaurant becomes a platform for many voices and creatives, not just a venue.
03- Naming
Off the RecordVinyl bar & Rotating Kitchen
The name had to work on multiple levels: literal (it’s a vinyl bar), tonal (intimacy, discretion, the eventism “had to be there” energy), and cultural (reflecting Chicago, a city built on jazz, blues and house music- vinyl isn’t just nostaligc, it’s lineage)
Finding the Right Name
-
Consideration:
Strong vinyl reference, community feel
Why it lost:
Too close to the Brooklyn venue with the same name -
Consideration:
Warm, tactile, nostalgic, anti-digital
Why it lost:
Generic- could be anything, not hospitality specific -
Consideration:
Print/music double meaning
Why it lost:
Leans journalistic more than musical -
Consideration:
Backstage & performance culture reference
Why it lost:
Feels more music venue than bar/restaurant -
Consideration:
Abstract, curious, playful
Why it lost:
Too cold, no warmth of invitation -
Consideration:
Film industry hat tilt
Why it lost:
Insider-y, excludes more than it welcomes
04- Programming
A Week at Off the Record
The weekly calendar was designed to give structure without feeling scheduled. Each night provides it’s own reason to spark curiosity. This isn’t just programming, it’s brand architecture.
Monday
Industry Night
Discount night for Service workers. Guest DJs welcome. The night off, done right.
Tuesday
Collage Night
Communal tables, bring magazines to donate, the rest of the supplies are provided. Bring your own crafts if you want to be creative but not collage (zines, watercolours, crochette, whatever your heart desires).
Wednesday
Open Decks
Sign up for a 30-minute slot to DJ, the booth is yours. Bring your own vinyls or use ours.
Thursday
Live Jazz Club
Rotating local musicians. Donation based cover. The kind of jazz your parents played when they thought you were asleep.
Friday
First Fridays
Monthly local artist showcase. Art on the walls, music in the air, something new to discover. Specials all night long.
Saturday
Craft Market + Late Sets
Monthly craft market by day, late night DJ sets after dark.
Sunday
Long Table
Community tables where everyone eats together. Everyone has a role in the kitchen, some weeks you cook, some weeks the chef teaches, some you just show up hungry and help clean.
Daily
Vinyl Hours
Staff picks on the turntable. Guests can request or bring their own.
05- Visual Direction
The Mood
Before designing anything, we needed to define the world Off the Record lives in. Four mood boards established the visual and experiential framework, guiding every decision that followed.
Warm, textured, analog. The 1970s filtered through a contemporary lens — nostalgic but not costume-y.
The Space
Dark wood, leather banquettes, brass details, coloured tile, industrial bones with residential warmth
The Table
Seasonal ingredients, natural plating, shared dishes, food that rewards attention without demanding it
The Sound
Vinyl stacks, turntables as furniture, album art as decor. The music is the architecture
The Details
Matchbooks, handwritten specials, vintage glasswear, worn menus, the ephemera that makes a place feel lived-in
06- Visual Identity
The Mark System
The brief was “Brooklyn feel, Chicago warmth”. Rather than a single logo, the identity is built as a system- three marks, each with a specific role, unified by a consistent hand-drawn line quality and terracotta-on-cream palette.
The Rabbit
Primary mark & brand character: rabbit with stacked wordmark. The text trails behind him- you’re following him into the space
Figure in Glass
Secondary mark. Used for coasters, matchbooks, glasswear, merchandise
Abstract Vinyl
Texture/ decorative element. Used for menu interiors, watermarks, backgrounds, small but important details
Explorations that led to the final system:
07- Applications
The Brand in Use
A brand system only matters if it works in the real world. These applications show how the identity translates to the things guests will actually touch and see.
Menu
Held on a wooden clipboard, easy to change, simple and chic. The rabbit presides, abstract circles add texture and hand-lettered section headers tie back to the wordmark.
Collage Night Poster / Social Media Post
Programming meets promotion. Collage Night brings the brand’s creative side to life and attracts an artistic crowd of regulars.
Matchbook & Coaster / Stickers
The small details you can pocket and keep. The coaster introduces the secondary mark- playful & a little cheeky, with the warmth of your favourite neigbourhood bar.
08- Deliverables
What Was Made
Strategy
Brand brief: positioning, audience, competitive landscape
Naming strategy and rationale
Programming calendar with strategic intent
Identity
Four moodboards defining visual territory
Primary logo: running rabbit with wordmark
Mark system: rabbit, figure in glass, abstract circles
Applications
Menu design
Event poster
09- Measuring Success
How We’d Know It’s Working
A concept is only as good as its ability to translate into real-world performance. While Off the Record is a speculative passion project (one of many I hope to bring to life one day), the strategy was built with measurable outcomes in mind.
Build a Regulars Base
Earn Discovery
Make the Residency a Destination
Attract Collaborators
The programming calendar creates repeat behavior- Industry Night for hospitality workers, Long Table for the Sunday crowd, Open Decks for the music enthusiasts and vinyl curious. Success looks like recognizing faces. The metric: repeat visit rate within 90 days.
“Off the Record” as a name implies word-of-mouth, not billboards. The visual identity is built to be shared organically & socially. The metric: percentage of new guests citing social media or friend referral as discovery source
The rotating chef model only works if it generates anticipation. Each new residency should feel like a reason to return. The metric: reservation volume in the first two weeks of a new residency vs. the final two weeks of the previous one.
If the concept is positioned correctly, chefs should want to be a part of it. A healthy pipeline means credibility in the culinary community. The metric: inbound residency inquiries and quality of applicats over time.